Srinagar, July 16: Lebanon’s oldest newspaper, Annahar, has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to publish a special edition that rearranges its pages to draw attention to the country’s displacement crisis.
Launched on World Refugee Day, The Displaced Edition deliberately disrupts the newspaper’s usual layout by placing pages, headlines and stories out of order. Even the front page was moved from its traditional position, allowing readers to experience the confusion and disruption associated with displacement while reading the paper.
The initiative comes as Lebanon faces one of the most severe humanitarian crises in its history, with more than one million people forced to flee their homes. Proceeds from every copy sold will support humanitarian response efforts through UNHCR and local NGO partners, helping fund essential relief.
The campaign extended beyond the printed newspaper. Broadcasts and digital screens also incorporated elements of displacement, including a primetime Annahar news bulletin in which the news presenter appeared deliberately cropped off-screen.
Nayla Tueni, Editor-in-Chief of Annahar, said: “When 1 in 5 people in Lebanon is displaced, nothing stays in place. Not our homes, not our lives, not our dignity. At Annahar, we refuse to let their struggle be ignored. The Displaced Edition puts their stories front and center. A call to see them, hear them, and act. For the people of Lebanon, this is a reckoning: displacement is not invisible. Their pain is real. Their voices matter.”
Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative of Lebanon, said: “We are proud to partner with Annahar, one of Lebanon’s most longstanding and influential media institutions, on this special edition on displacement. By bringing the stories and experiences of displaced people to the forefront, this initiative complements UNHCR’s efforts to raise awareness of the challenges facing affected families across Lebanon. It is a powerful reminder that solidarity, being present on the ground – with and for the people – and a whole-of-society collaborative approach are at the heart of supporting families and communities to regain their safety and dignity and rebuild their homes and lives.”
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for IMPACT BBDO, a leading Middle East advertising agency, said the newspaper’s unconventional format was intended to give readers a sense of the uncertainty faced by displaced people.
“More than simply tell the stories of displaced Lebanese people during these unfortunate times, we wanted readers to feel the discomfort and uncertainty that displacement brings. And the best way for a newspaper to do that was to disrupt its own order.”
The campaign sought to keep attention focused on Lebanon’s humanitarian crisis on a day dedicated to refugees worldwide, using the newspaper’s altered format to underscore the realities of displacement.
