May Chidiac
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
May Chidiac (Arabic:مي شدياق) (born 1964) is a Lebanese Christian Maronite journalist.
Chidiac is a television journalist at the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, where she was also one of the station's main television anchors until the assassination attempt on her life. She was one of the few critics of Syria's hegemony over Lebanon. Syria kept troops stationed in Lebanon even after the end of the Lebanese Civil War and the Taif accords which stipulated that Syria withdraw from Lebanon. Under heavy American and international pressure, Syrian troops withdrew in April 2005. On the day she was nearly killed, she had hosted a talk show in which she criticized Syria's continuous meddling in Lebanon's affairs and voiced fears over further violence ahead of the UN report on the death of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
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[edit] Terrorist attack
Chidiac was seriously injured on 25 September 2005, by a car bomb in Jounieh, Lebanon. The bomb which nearly killed her was a one-pound device, detonated as she entered her car. Her left leg below the knee was blown off and her hair and clothes were set on fire. She was said to be in stable condition following the amputation of her severely injured left arm. The blast was one of a series of bombings in Lebanon targeting critics of Syria, in which one other prominent journalist, Samir Kassir, and anti-Syrian politicians including George Hawi and Gebran Tueni, editor and publisher of the daily newspaper, An-Nahar, have been murdered.
After months of treatment and numerous surgeries in Beirut and Paris, May appeared on TV on May 25, 2005, defiant, smiling and promising to return to journalism.
On 27 January 2006, Chidiac announced her candidacy for the vacated Maronite seat in Lebanon's Baabda-Aley district in a televised interview.
On 12 July 2006, May Chidiac returned to Beirut. Her first visit in Lebanon was to the shrine of Saint Charbel, in the Byblos region. This was the location where she spent the day before the terrorist attack on her life. She participated in a thanksgiving mass celebrated by the superior of the monastery, Fr Tannous Nehme.
May Chidiac is one of the foremost political journalists in Lebanon. Her new show, "Bi Kol Jor'a" on LBC is a big hit.
In 2007, May Chidiac published her biography, Le Ciel m'attendra in which she tells her painful experience.
[edit] Awards
- Courage in Journalism Awards
On 27 October 2006 May Chidiac received one of the three Courage in Journalism Awards presented by the International Women's Media Foundation. The award ceremony was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. An American reporter kidnapped in Iraq and a Chinese journalist twice jailed for her economic and political reporting also received this award.
- Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize
On 3 May 2006, UNESCO awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to May Chidiac in recognition of her courage in defending and promoting freedom of the press.
- Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur
On 3 May 2007, the former french president, Jacques Chirac awarded May Chidiac the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur at the Elysée Palace in Paris.[1] Chirac described Chidiac as a "symbol of free speech in Lebanon."[2]
