March 14 media campaign to be coordinated by America’s IRI Office

Who's coordinating the March 14 media outlets in Lebanon?

Indeed, according to Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, the International Republican Institute (IRI), believed to be part of the Republican party's electoral campaign in the United States, has opened an office in Beirut, parallel to the American University of Beirut (AUB).

By definition, the IRI opened Beirut office to work with political party leaders and grassroots activists to develop party platforms and initiatives that have cross-sectarian appeal. In addition, the IRI seeks to support the conduct of public opinion polling to inform political party leaders, civil society and elected officials of citizen priorities and help them conduct issue-based campaigns.

Given the highly politicized environment, IRI has given, according to the organization's website, careful consideration to maintaining a balanced and equitable approach, consistently reaching out to parties affiliated with both the opposition and the government coalitions.

However, according to Al-Akhbar, the office was politically affiliated since its establishments. All its workshops and studies were achieved with members of the March 14 political bloc. Moreover, trainings were tailored to the specific needs of individual March 14 parties and studies were prepared on the political and popular situation of the mentioned bloc.

Al-Akhbar said that another independent office was ramified out of the IRI. It's the Down Town Media Company (DTMC), located in Beirut's Down Town. This office is managed by Shon Welch, a US official, and appeared to be a typical sample of the American administration's structures based on the Dealing Desk. However, the surprise was that the distribution of these downtown offices came equivalent to the distribution of the various constituents of the March 14 bloc: one for the Future movement, a second for the Progressive Socialist Party, a third for the Lebanese Forces and a fourth for the Phalange party. Furthermore, new downtown offices were added lately, one of which corresponds to the March 14 Secretariat General and others for some northern MPs.

According to the Lebanese daily, party members were also appointed to manage contacts between the US office and their blocs. Those appointees were responsible of coordination with the Americans in the studies and polls, but also in the training sessions. Direct meetings were also held between the US experts and the March 14 politicians in the framework of an ongoing "coaching" process.

"Is it a merely technical process or more?" Al-Akhbar asked, concluding that "it doesn't matter given the results achieved by the Republicans in Washington and the March 14 bloc in Beirut, whether in politics or in media."