Date: Aug 21, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Journalists protest financial difficulties in Lebanon BEIRUT: Around 100 journalists gathered in Martyrs’ Square Tuesday morning to protest the neglect of journalists and their profession. A number of Lebanese newspapers have closed in recent years, owing to financial difficulties. “Lebanon's press and media have long been a symbol of freedom, democracy and ... prosperity. It’s a shame that this sector is abandoned in the days of its ordeal,” said head of the Lebanese Journalist's Union Joseph Kassaifi. "We ask the rulers of the state where the laws regarding the press and the media are, after time has made the current laws obsolete,” he added, in televised remarks during the protest. Kassaifi also called for a portion of funding from the state budget to help fund the press and media sector. Most newspapers in Lebanon are privately owned and usually affiliated with the country’s political parties. Despite the recent opening of Nidaa Al Watan (Call of the Nation), multiple Lebanese newspapers have been shuttered. They include Al-Mustaqbal in January, Al-Anwar in September 2018, the Lebanon office of the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat in June 2018, and As-Safir in March 2016.