Free speech in the media during the Libyan civil war describes the ability of domestic and international media to report news inside Libya free from interference and censorship during the civil war.
This synopsis from Al Jazeera gives a sense of what the media war was like as of 12 March: When protests first began in Libya the media presence there was scarce so the story filtered out via social media thanks to courageous citizen journalists. Then, when the fighting intensified, global media numbers increased exponentially. Now there are hoards [sic] of international news teams camped out with rebel forces or reporting from the country's capital and Gaddafi stronghold, Tripoli.
There is a cacophony of competing narratives coming out of Libya. From propaganda on the country's state-run broadcaster, to propaganda on rebel-controlled radio, to international reporting with a clear agenda, it is enough to make your head spin.
Media conditions prior to the civil war
According to a BBC overview of Libyan media , "the state strictly controls the media", "the Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation is the state broadcaster", and "most Libyan newspapers are either directly or indirectly owned by the government".
The Libyan government authorized non-governmental media in 2007, leading to the launch of newspapers and a satellite TV service by a company affiliated with one of Colonel Gaddafi's sons. But the nationalization of these ventures in 2009 signaled the end to several years of improving conditions for the media. In January 2010 Libya began censoring the Internet. YouTube was blocked on 24 January following the posting of videos of demonstrations by the families of prisoners in the city of Benghazi, and of footage of members of Muammar Gaddafi's family attending parties. Other independent opposition websites were blocked at the same time.
In 2009 Libya had 1.1 million fixed-line and 5.0 million mobile-cellular telephone subscribers for a combined fixed-mobile density approaching 100 telephones per 100 persons. In 2009 a single government-owned service-provider offered Internet access to an estimated 5.5 percent of the population.
Libyan law provided for freedom of speech "within the limits of public interest and principles of the Revolution", but in practice freedom of speech and the press was severely limited, particularly criticism of government officials or policy. Penalties included life prison-sentences for spreading news or information that could "tarnish the country's reputation or undermine confidence in it abroad" and the death penalty for "whoever spreads within the country, by whatever means, theories or principles aiming to change the basic principles of the Constitution or the fundamental structures of the social system or to overthrow the state's political, social or economic structures or destroy any of the fundamental structures of the social system using violence, terrorism or any other unlawful means". Given the broad nature of these prohibitions and the harsh penalties attached, Libyan journalists practiced a considerable degree of self-censorship.
Television
Libya's state-owned TV made no mention of the anti-government protests in the east of the country on 16 February and continued with its usual programming on 17 February. During its morning bulletin, Libyan TV continuously showed demonstrations in support of leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, which the TV said had been held "across Libya". There were about 200 to 300 demonstrators, the vast majority of whom were men, at each protest shown. At one point, a crowd could be heard chanting anti-Al Jazeera TV slogans. The TV started broadcasting a pro-Gaddafi demonstration live from Sirte, his home town, at around 1000 GMT. The numbers demonstrating were significantly greater than the previous day, with the crowd chanting: "Oh Jazeera! You despicable one." The TV aired live coverage of a speech by Gaddafi from the evening before, in which he denounced both the United States and their "Zionist" allies in front of a cheering crowd.
The signal of the TV satellite operator Nilesat was jammed starting 23 February. The stations carried by Nilesat included U.S.-based Al-Hurra, Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, and UAE-based Al-Arabiya, which had been providing live coverage of the recent events and interviewing residents by telephone.