Global Media Journal Arabian Edition Fall/Spring 2012-2013 Vol. 2, Nos. 1 -2, pp. 127-146 Confidence in News Media: Exploring Lebanon Hejase & Hejase | 127 Confidence in News Media: Exploring Lebanon Ale J. Hejase * School of Business, Lebanese American University Hussin J. Hejase * Faculty of Business and Economics, American University of Science and Technology Little is known at the most basic levels about news media assessment in countries like Leba- non. While organizations like Gallup and Pew in the United States continue to issue periodical reports about press accuracy, fairness in dealing, confidence in news, bias in reporting, and many more issues information from other countries on the same issues are often more difficult to ob- tain. In countries such as Lebanon, where the news media play a crucial role in public indoctrina- tion and mobilization, news media studies that are able to provide a realistic unbiased assessment of the news media are lacking. This article seeks to lay a foundation for a triggering mechanism to assess and rate the differ- ent news media with Lebanon being the focus of this study. Thus, this research explores Leba- nese public opinion towards the major issues of news media to provide estimated guidelines that may be assured or refined by further studies. Therefore, the present study aims at highlighting the accuracy of news in Lebanon, the biases and trust of news organizations through a survey administered to a sample of 4,850 different Lebanese respondents over more than four years. Literature Review The issue of trust in news media has been always a major concern for both governments and societies. In fact, many people have expressed a wide diversity of opinions about news reporting, its fairness, accuracy, deepness of coverage and biases. Three years ago, the Pew Research Cen- ter for the People and the Press, released the results of a survey of 1,506 Americans (Pew Re- search Center, September 13, 2009). The New York Times reported: * Ale J. Hejase is a professor of Management Science, School of Business, Lebanese American University, Beirut; Hussin J. Hejase is dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, American University of Science and Technology, Beirut. Address all inquiries to hhejase@aust.edu.lb.