Lebanon, a New Jersey-sized country of only 4 million people, has four major newspapers, many smaller ones, and more than forty television stations -- a press that has long served an audience beyond its borders. Since the media in other Arab countries are, as one editor put it, "organs of their governments," Lebanon's relatively independent press serves most of the Arab world.

Under billionaire Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, however, that independence is eroding. Critics see Hariri as clamping down in two ways -- using his governmental powers to discourage dissent or even shut down news outlets, and using his immense wealth to buy shares in newspapers and television stations, as well as loyalty from journalists.

In the spring of 1993, the government temporarily suspended the operations of two newspapers, Nida Al Watan and As Safir, and closed the International Communications Network television station. The Lebanese army shut the TV station because, according to the public prosecutor, it broadcast "tapes, news, and images that undermine national unity and security by instigating confessional passions and conflicts among various sects of the nation."

Meanwhile, Hariri's critics say he is trying to build his own media monopoly. He owns three newspaper publishing licenses and, according to observers, financially influences several newspapers, both through ownership of shares and through payoffs. He also owns Future Television, a television station known for modern production techniques, and two years ago purchased almost half of Tele-Liban, Lebanon's official -- and only legal -- television station.

According to an employee at Future Television, Hariri pays his employees up to quadruple the salaries paid at other television stations, helping create a system of loyalty. "The editors are picked not for professional skills, but for loyalty to Hariri," he says.

Hariri's move into television comes at a time when the government is attempting to reel in the country's many illegal stations. During Lebanon's fifteen-year war, various factions and entrepreneurs opened private stations. Under a law that the government is drafting, most of these will probably be forced to close. "The government considers television a greater threat than the print press," says Francois Akl, the respected editor of An Nahar, Lebanon's leading daily newspaper. In the future, he predicts, television will be less independent. "Laws will be strong and taxes and licensing costs high. Only the rich will stay."

Money is a factor. "No newspaper can support itself, so it depends on outside help," says Muhammed Moughrabi, an outspoken lawyer who watches the media and warns that Lebanon is on the verge of having a "controlled press." The Lebanese press, Moughrabi says, "is a high-priced call-girl ring. They maintain a certain independence based on bed partners." Before the war, the newspapers used to choose among such benefactors as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Libya for support. Now these oil-producing countries have less money and feel less of a need to influence the Lebanese press, according to Moughrabi. So the number of "bed partners" is dwindling. Most of the money, he says, now comes from conservative gulf states B and from Hariri. Now, says Moughrabi, "we have only one big bed."

Meanwhile, Lebanon's press, like the country itself, lives under the shadow of Syria, which moved its troops into Lebanon in 1976 and was quickly associated with the kidnapping and killing of several journalists who took anti-Syrian stands. Now the Syrians have hegemony over most of the country, and their legacy of intimidation has left its mark. "I know what not to write," says one prominent journalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It is hard to be a journalist and close your eyes, but ninety-nine percent of Lebanese journalists do this, perhaps because they are afraid. They have had certain terrible experiences."

So, Hariri is not the only problem. As prime minister he has closed news outlets. As businessman he is buying up the media. But he, too, must answer to Syria. As An Nahar's Francois Akl puts it: "Hariri is prime minister as long as he has good relations with Syria."

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