Thursday, May 21, 2009

Jamming of Arab News Network

As a child I used to find politics boring and tedious. I had two goals, to do well at sports and have fun. All this changed with the 'Cultural Revolution' in Iran, when I saw illiterate gangs rip up posters, burn and tear up books and smash the book stalls set up outside the university after the revolution. Destroying books to me was a hideous crime, a book was for reading, you either liked it or you didn't. For me, if someone destroyed books it was like destroying knowledge itself.

With all the technological advances today, there are modern day equivalents of burning books. Jamming television signals of a rival news station is no different than burning books. Despotic regimes have understood the importance of television and news dissemination very well. They have a large budget allocated for their TV broadcasts and have set up so many channels in so many languages for their propaganda purposes. Yet these despots are so insecure that they fear even one voice of dissent if it is run well and run professionally.

Jamming of ANN signals has stopped the broadcasts of this television channel since May 9Th. Yet this blatant attack on freedom of speech and freedom of expression is making little headlines so far.

It is up to the international media and human rights organisations to react to this act of piracy of freedom, quickly and swiftly or we will have nothing on the air waves but despotic state sponsored channels monopolising and poisoning the young impressionable minds.

4 comments:

Winston said...

I wouldn't expect shit from the human rights organs. or media. We're on our own!

Anonymous said...

Sadly, Winston is right... But we in Human Rights organisations can only try.

Hidden Author said...

While free speech is good in general, what about extreme cases? Like a pedophile's pamphlet on how to lure little boys. Or a website listing the addresses and phone numbers of political rivals. Or a how-to guide on how to assemble a nuclear bomb.

Azarmehr said...

Sure there is limits to everything. But hardly relevant to this post or what ANN broadcast.