Former President, Amine Gemayel, on Thursday hailed the initiative of gathering the Lebanese University with documentation and research centers, saying that it has a tremendous importance given that it gets the state-run university closer to comtemporary problems.

During a Lebanese University conference on the future of the Lebanese press, Gemayel warned of "the dangerous quagmire" that publications are sinking in, outlining the impact of this issue on the Lebanese given their longstanding relation with the press and given the role that Lebanon has always played as an intellectual and cultural center.

Gemayel deplored hardships that forced many prominent and prestigious publications to shut down, saying that the rise of technology has exacerbated the financial crisis forcing the diminishment of the press.

“In a nutshell, the crisis facing the Lebanese press mirrors the country’s suffering. By analyzing the causes of the press decline, we would probably be also detecting the reasons behind the current political, educational, cultural, social and economic stagnation that we are living,” Gemayel pointed out.