Daily Star Stops Publishing

As long-time readers know, I am highly critical of the Daily Star, Lebanon's English-language daily newspaper.

The Star never seemed interested in addressing any of the major problems it faced. The management would come up with a quick-fix solution, which did nothing to solve any problems, and generally added more burden to the troubled paper.

It is with sadness, however, that I watch the Daily Star's troubles plunge it into bankruptcy and a cessation of publishing.

Despite its flaws, the Star provided a needed service. The dire need for a competent English-language paper was the main reason I so criticized the Star. No other Lebanese publication provides nearly as much to English-language audiences.

NOW Lebanon, Naharnet, and Ya Libnan are not newspapers.

NOW Lebanon does little reporting, and rarely follows up on a story. It does not break news (an exclusive interview does not count as breaking news). There is no diversity in the opinions found in NOW's pages, and there is far less content than that provided in the Star. Contrarily, Michael Young did a phenomenal job editing the Daily Star's opinions page. Diverse opinions were ubiquitous, and interesting articles originally published in other publications found their way to Lebanese audiences.

NOW provides interesting analysis long after an event occurs, but rarely has reporters covering beats and reporting from scenes of importance. Almost all of their stories can be written from the safe confines of an office, and are thus more analytical than journalistic.

NOW Extra provides a unique service, but is not comparable to the Daily Star's culture page, which regularly provided useful information and commentary.

NOW does not want to be a newspaper. It does not profit from its publication, and is arguing on behalf of a specific agenda, as noted by the "AGENDA" heading under which many articles appear on the main page.

NOW could be much better than it is, but it does not want to be a newspaper, and definitely not a "paper of record."

Naharnet provides a newswire service on events, but like all wire services, leaves readers with more questions about what happened and why. There is no analysis.

Ya Libnan survives by pilfering newspapers, magazines, and blogs of their content and repackaging it. It depends on the activities of other publications.

I'm sad to see you go, Daily Star. :(