Future News, the all-news offshoot of Lebanon’s Future Television, began 24-hour broadcasting in December after several delayed launch dates. With an operating
budget of $12 million to $15 million per year and no more than 300 employees, the channel is smaller than the region’s two 24-hour news giants, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya.
“We’re going to be the number one news-gatherers, for and in the region,” says Dr. Nadim Munla, project leader for Future News. “We’re a fully-equipped studio,” Munla told MEB Journal,  “which means we have everything we need to broadcast from
right here.” Munla’s glass office overlooks the three-level steeland-glass atrium that is the new center for Future TV’s news operations. “You can shoot from eight angles here,” Munla says, gesturing to point out cameras in all parts of the studio, “and this red border
can change to seven different colors, which gives us a total of 56 possible production combinations.” The studio is lined with red and blue neon lights. Munla has been quoted in the press saying his budget is “modest,” but he told MEB Journal he only means to distinguish Future News from Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. “You can’t compare,” says
Munla. “Our business plan and strategy is entirely different than theirs,” adding that he expects the station to break even in “two to three years.” Future News aims to get more than half of its revenues from the Lebanese market. “We’re tapping the local market,” says Munla, listing potential advertisers in the real estate, auto, tourism, and financial sectors. “You won’t see commercials for laundry detergents or housecleaning products.”
Also unlike the region’s news channels, says Munla, Future News will have a “CNN-like grid,” airing non-political programs and segments. Twenty-six programs are in-house productions, “and over half of them are non-political,” notes Munla. FUTURE NEWS
GOES 24 H O U R S The channel has signed a “cooperation agreement” with
French broadcaster France 24 to co-produce a program by the end of the year.
Munla says the channel’s niche, and strength, is in its local newsgathering operations in Lebanon. “We focus on newsgathering in Lebanon in two ways,” he says. “First,
we have more resources on the ground to cover the regions outside of Beirut. And second, we cover a wide range of news – not just politics – from culture and science to technology and youth.” Future News has three local offices, in Tripoli, Saida,
 and Chtoura. The Tripoli office, which covers North Lebanon exclusively, includes a fully-equipped studio with 24-hour broadcast connectivity. On an international scale,
the broadcaster has correspondents in 12 cities and will be adding two, in Amman and Moscow. “The whole channel is based on the concept of empowerment through information,” says Munla. Future News’ slogan promises viewers “the right to know.” Accordingly, Munla calls his team “integrators of information” and says he believes in “providing information that is otherwise not available to people from one source.” As for Future Television’s political allegiance to Lebanon’s Al-Hariri family, Munla says Future News started its first news bulletin by stating its editorial policy. “We made it clear that, when it comes to issues related to the homeland, we are not neutral,” he says. “If the question, for example, is one of sovereignty, there’s no debate. We only have one position on Lebanon’s sovereignty.” After one week on the air, Munla said there is “high
awareness” of Future News. Viewers in Lebanon are pushing to get the channel, he says, which is not broadcast terrestrially. |
