This rapid review synthesises data from academic, policy and NGO sources on the role media can play in creating/easing tensions between refugees and the host community, and within the host community itself.
Acknowledging the importance media can play in perceptions, and considering the confessional and political nature of the media, the review also maps the media/social media in Lebanon and highlights some successes in utilising media to ease tensions.
Lebanon witnessed a vicious civil war between 1975 and 1990 in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed, injured, displaced, disappeared, or harmed in the violence. The Ta’if Agreement ended the war; however, by dividing power between the three main confessions it entrenched divides within society. Moreover, by creating an amnesty for crimes during the civil war, the past has never been fully addressed and tensions between communities remain beneath the surface (International Center for Transitional Justice, 2014). The protracted conflict in Syria has led to Lebanon taking in the most refugees per capita in the world with over 1.5million in total.
Given that Lebanon itself is recovering from civil war and has prominent political
divisions, bad public services and strained infrastructure, the large number of refugees has exacerbated these pre-existing issues and pushed a large number of Lebanese citizens into poverty. The history of occupation and exploitation of Lebanon by Syria has created animosity in large sections of the population, whilst close trade, religious and family connections have created strong ties with other sections of the Lebanese population, leading to a complex situation of intra and intercommunity tension.
