Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

The Times calls for Press TV closure

Press TV | 01.12.2011 20:07 | Anti-militarism | Other Press | Repression | South Coast | World

An editorial in the Times, headed by scandal-struck Rupert Murdoch, has called on the UK government to shut down Press TV's London office simply because the alternative news network is funded by Iran.



An editorial in the Times, headed by scandal-struck Rupert Murdoch, has called on the UK government to shut down Press TV's London office simply because the alternative news network is funded by Iran.

“As long as Press TV is funded by the current Iranian regime, the closure of its London operation is a necessity,” Houriya Ahmed said in an editorial titled “Press TV is mere propaganda for Iran. It must close.”

The call comes on the heels of an announcement by the British government's broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, to impose a 100,000-pound fine on Press TV, despite the regulator's earlier threats to close down the alternative news network.

Ofcom announced last month that it has decided to remove the Iranian English-language news network from the Sky platform under the pretext that Press TV made administrative errors in its application for a license in 2007.

However, the British regulator later claimed that Press TV violated Ofcom's broadcasting codes by airing a 10-second soundbite belonging to a journalist, Maziar Bahari, in 2009.

In the 10-second clip, which was part of an interview conducted with Bahari, he said, “On Monday, June 15 [2009], I sent a report about the attack against the base, a military base of Basij to Channel 4 News as well as to Newsweek magazine.”

The 100,000-pound fine by Ofcom has now been imposed on Press TV over broadcasting the 10-second soundbite.

This comes while, in numerous later interviews with Western media outlets, Bahari himself readily confirmed what he had said in the 10-second soundbite, i.e. he was the person who sent the footage.

Independent analysts say Ofcom is under mounting pressure from the British royal family to silence Press TV's critical voice. The British royal family exercises an overarching power over all branches in the political system of the country, including the government and the parliament, as well as on Ofcom.

Press TV had criticized the royal family's lavish expenditures at a time of great economic difficulty in the UK. The royal family later sent a message to Press TV, asking the network to stop criticizing them.

Recent documents released by WikiLeaks have also revealed that US and UK diplomats had explored ways to limit the operations of Press TV in Britain.

The latest call to stifle the voice of Press TV adds further credence to the notion that previous accusations against the news channel have been no more than a pretext to counter the alternative news network.

This silencing of any dissenting voice by the UK stands in glaring contrast to the country's purported claims to “freedom of speech”.

Press TV
- Homepage: http://www.presstv.com/detail/213213.html

Comments

Display the following 3 comments

  1. Full text of the editorial published in The Times — addition
  2. Another addition — Ashe
  3. If it bothers them so much — pinkolady

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech