The UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) has declared a war on Iran’s English-language satellite TV channel Press TV for covering the alternative issues.
UK’s media watchdog has decided to remove the channel from the SKY platform for what it calls “breaching Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code”.
Seemingly, Ofcom has succumbed to the British royal family’s demands to ban Press TV activities despite the Iranian news network’s compliance with the law.
The move is considered to be an abuse of the UK media law and the result of mounting pressure on the organization by certain members of the royal family and government.
Ofcom issued a verdict on May 23, 2011 that Press TV has breached its rules by airing a 10 second extract from an interview with Iranian-born Canadian Journalist Maziar Bahari while he was still in detention in an Iranian prison.
Bahari claimed in the interview that he had been lured into giving a Press TV interview in 2009 with the promise of release from jail on condition that he would “condemn Western media” and that his alternative option would be to wait six years in jail for his actual trial, after which he might face execution.
Despite cogent explanations provided by the Iranian news outlet that it “neither asked Mr. Bahari to condemn Western media, nor did Press TV broadcast any footage of Mr. Bahari doing so,” the British media watchdog has since sought desperately to levy statutory sanctions against Press TV for what it calls “breaching Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code.”
In separate interviews with the Tehran Times, many international journalists and intellectuals condemned UK media regulator’s moves against Press TV during the last week of October.
Renowned American historian and IPS correspondent Gareth Porter said: “There is no conceivable justification for the UK to take Press TV off the air in that country. It is not necessary to argue that a particular news outlet offers objective coverage, because all the international competitors have their own slant on the news. But it is safe to say that without Press TV, British viewers will not see a range of interpretations and views that it provides, especially on U.S. and NATO policies and military operations.”
Anthony Lawson, independent video-journalist and political commentator, noted, “The banner heading on Ofcom’s website is: Ofcom, Independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. However, one section of Ofcom’s mission statement is as follows: Ofcom operates under the Communications Act 2003. This detailed Act of Parliament spells out exactly what Ofcom should do – we can do no more or no less than is spelt out in the Act. So, quite clearly, Ofcom is not independent, it is bound by a detailed Act of Parliament which means, in fact, that what everyone in the United Kingdom is allowed to watch, listen to, or use to communicate with each other, via the Internet, telephones or any other form of electronic people-to-people interface is controlled by those who rule the nation,” he told the Tehran Times.
“The Communications Act of 2003 contains no less that 411 sections, and may even cover what one is allowed to write, or, more importantly, not write in a greetings card, so to say that Ofcom’s decision to prevent Iran’s Press TV English channel from being broadcast on the Sky platform is not government-instigated censorship would be absurd,” Lawson added.
“The current U.S./Israel sponsored acts of slander and libel against Iran, regarding an alleged assassination plot, are clearly being backed by the government of the United Kingdom, which is hell bent on preventing Iran’s side of the story from being heard. This is not only morally reprehensible it is in direct contravention of Article 19 in The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers,” he said.
“Therefore the forced removal of Press TV, by Ofcom (what a stupid name), from the Sky satellite platform is in direct contravention of The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and is clearly designed to prevent the population of the United Kingdom from obtaining important information that should be protected by that declaration,” Lawson underlined.
Moign Khawaja, an editor of Outer Nationalist and editor in chief of the Dubai-based Arabian Gazette, said: “The decision made by Ofcom is deplorable and should be considered as an attack on freedom of information and freedom of speech. It exposes the hypocrisy of the Western governments that profess their commitment to human rights and freedom of speech but in reality their policies are nothing but a sham. The Iranian government is routinely accused of violating human rights and suppressing freedoms of its people and mainstream media news channels spare no opportunity to bash Tehran for imposing curbs on Western journalists. But what we’re not told is the way Western governments operate and use their mouthpiece media to propagate disinformation and sow confusion among the masses.”
“Given the track record of Western mainstream media outlets like BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC etc. is questionable and their coverage during conflicts is very biased and one-sided. From a neutral perspective, the performance of both Western media outlets as well as their Eastern counterparts comes under severe scrutiny if reviewed under journalism laws and acceptable practices. However, banning a news outlet altogether or imposing media restrictions is outright dictatorial and against democratic norms and values,” he added.
Khawaja urged the British government to revise its decision and allow its citizens to have unrestricted access to Press TV as an independent and alternative source of information: “I urge British media regulator Ofcom to reverse their decision and restore Press TV channel on the Sky digital network. The British people must be given the choice and freedom to decide what news channel they tune into instead of depriving them their right to know and imposing censorship through such arbitrary measures. I hope the British public will realize the motives of this decision and demand their rights to be restored.”
The Beirut-based international lawyer and author Franklin Lamb is also among the critics of Ofcom’s decision to ban Press TV in London: “The UK’s Office of Communications (Ofcom), in applying its regulations in a clumsy attempt to curtail a progressive and increasingly popular TV channel is far overboard in its application of the intent of Ofcom regulations. Ofcom is apparently trying to fit into the pattern of certain Western countries in depriving the international viewing public of more than 66 Middle East satellite channels exactly as was attempted last year by the U.S. Congress when it sought, unsuccessfully via AIPAC proposed Congressional legislation to cut off all channel providers that carried the popular Al Manar channel from Lebanon. The White House asked Johny Kerry to kill the bill in his Senate Foreign Relations Committee and he did.”
“Similarly in Australia, the Zionist lobby tried to ban Al Manar under almost the exact regulations that Ofcom is now employing. Australia’s ACMA declined to ban Al Manar. The public has communicated in both of the above noted cases that they want access to a broad range of points of view. Hopefully citizens of the UK will follow these recent decisions and reject Ofcom’s anti-free speech campaign against Press TV,” Lamb told the Tehran Times.
Prominent journalist and former BBC Panorama correspondent Alan Hart also talked to the Tehran Times about the new limitations imposed by Ofcom on Press TV: “Ofcom’s decision is outrageous. Press TV’s English language coverage of world affairs is, generally speaking, among the very best. There are a growing number of people in the UK and also Europe and North America who look to it for a more honest coverage of events than they can get from Western mainstream television.”
William A. Cook, the professor of English at the University of La Verne, has also talked of his cooperation with Press TV and the impartiality which the news channel has maintained: “My association with Press TV over the last few years has been professional and very positive. The issues I have been asked to address, alone or as a panel member with other experts in London or elsewhere, have been open and constructive. No one at Press TV ever attempted to challenge my perspective or expect me to alter my views on subjects. It appears to me that Press TV seeks to provide an open forum for discussion through interviews and through the U.S. Desk that allows a diversity of opinions to be presented to their audience. That I would think is a desirable goal.”
Lawrence Davidson, an author and professor of history at the West Chester University, stated: “My guess is that the shutdown is part of a concerted effort to isolate Iran at all levels. Those who did this no doubt, fancy themselves in some sort of ideological battle between freedom and religious extremism. However, the fact that freedom of speech is not a primary concern for them, suggests that their notion of who is free and who is not is confused. In the end they are just another set of bureaucratic ideologues insisting that ‘enemies’ must be silenced.”
Mark Glenn, a radio host and journalist, has said that Ofcom’s decision is hypocritical: “Firstly, we must consider the utter hypocrisy surrounding this move. The West is constantly lecturing the countries of the Middle East and especially Iran on how to adopt ‘democratic’ methods, including freedom of press and yet here we see blatant censorship of material that the West and more importantly, Jewish interests don’t like.”
“Secondly, I believe it shows how important the control of information is to someone with an imperialistic agenda. There is an old saying thus –’Where the head goes, the body follows’, and the West knows they can only continue to keep people politically subjugated by making sure they are mentally subjugated, and this means controlling what they hear, see, read, etc,” Mark Glenn said.
“Press TV, with its high journalistic standards and adherence to the truth, obviously has become a thorn in the side of those wishing to maintain a backward, regressive position vis a vis the Middle East and the changes that must come of there is ever to be peace, and this latest move on their part is just one piece of proof in that direction,” he added.
