Saturday, January 21, 2012

Press TV is not Off the Air

I doubt if any UK licensed television broadcaster has ever broken so many Ofcom laws as Press TV has. False news, unlawful accusations of innocent people, parading people on TV under duress,  enticement to violence, state controlled editorial and the list goes on and despite all these contraventions of Ofcom rules, Press TV has received the most gentle treatment by the useless independent regulator in UK, Ofcom.

Even an open and shut case referred to by the Iranian journalist, Maziar Bahari, to Ofcom, that he was being interviewed by Press TV under duress while he was in prison in Iran, took Ofcom two years to finally issue a mere pathetic £100k fine.

Apart from breaking all Ofcom rules, there are other justifications to close down Islamic Republic controlled Press TV's UK operation. Islamic Republic regularly jams other TV stations and it has expelled all foreign journalists. Islamic Republic restricts Iranian people's access to information and fears free access to information as its nemesis. So a tit for tat treatment for Press TV will be welcomed by many Iranians. Lets not forget that Press TV is not the only Islamic Republic media outlet operating in UK, Press TV is its English speaking propaganda on air.

Over the last months, Press TV have on several occasions wrongly claimed that Ofcom have taken them off air - yet another contravention of Ofcom rules, i.e broadcasting false news. Finally,  Ofcom announced yesterday they are revoking Press TV's licence. At the end, it was a bit like the case of Al-Capone, who was imprisoned not for the gangster related crimes which he committed but for his non-payment of taxes. Press TV's licence was revoked not because it committed so many offences but because it simply refused to pay its fine to Ofcom and refused to have its editorial in UK rather than in Tehran - ( so much so for Roshan Salih's claim in the Guardian, Press TV Speaks for itself), despite all offers of assistance by Ofcom.

The initial euphoria that Press TV's operation in UK has been halted, quickly subsided however. Ofcom have only removed Press TV from BSkyB. Press TV's UK operation will continue and UK viewers will be able to watch Press TV in more than 11 ways. So Press TV - the Voice for the Voice Stranglers - have hardly been silenced and they seem to be as happy as pigs rolling in the shit with their new status of TV martyrdom. Press TV have been crying victimisation non-stop since the news broke out. They are blaming the Royal family and the UK government's rage at the station's coverage of UK police brutality and many other unrelated reasons.

George Galloway, that gallant champion of the oppressed masses with his £25000 monthly income from Press TV, wrote on his facebook page:  "Champions of liberty, the British govt, have now taken Press TV off Sky". More than 121 useful idiots 'liked' his Facebook post and over eighty of them left comments of how 'shocked' and 'saddened' they were at not being able to watch their Gorgeous George
on Sky!

Just a random selection of some of the comments under Galloway's Facebook post:

Kieran Gallagher: Why?
Salma Al-Ali: I'm just wondering where are all the "Freedom Of Speech" whiners now..


Alex Simpson They've done what? This is the first I have heard of this, what a disgrace. Who would have thought that in the 21st century, our "civilised" governments would be fighting to surpress the truth! I think Press TV makes a complete mockery of our mainstream "news" channels, and this is what they are running scared of. More and more people are waking up to the realities of the practice of our governments that lie behind their carefully constructed realm of public relations, a term coined by Edward Berneys as an alternative to the word PROPAGANDA. Well, here we have it.... I think that by taking such ridiculous measures of banning real credible and news worthy sources, our governments just make themselves look even sillier than what they already do....


Curtis Francis Bloomin eck whose brilliant was that ofcom i shall be writing to them To give them more food for thought. Arseholes

Tafara Ndiya Press tv advocates for truth and justice,it is only the evil doers wh

Michael Luscombe I had not heard of Press TV until this news broke. I am now watching it as much as I can. Surprising what censorship can do to encourage the opposite.



  

3 comments:

Daniel Brett said...

A couple of weeks ago, Press TV interviewed three men identified as "Khalgh-e Arab terrorists" involved in an "Al-Ahwazi separatist group" - there is no group called Khalgh-e Arab, it's a fiction of the regime. Two of the men are highly qualified teachers who have been held in a secret detention centre since last February and have certainly been tortured. They have not been charged, have had no access to lawyers or their families and the first time anyone has seen them in months is on Press TV. These young men were involved in the student movement during Khatami's presidency and their sole activity has been running cultural evenings and poetry competitions for the youth of their neighbourhoods. Yet, here they are admitting to being supported by Qaddafi and Mubarak. Press TV is not just a propaganda channel, it is part of the regime's oppression.

Waybec said...

Eloquently and brilliantly put Potkin. Naturally I agree a 100 percent! PressTv's insidious headquarters should be kicked out too! I'm sure after living all the perks and privileges of London's high life, it's Iranian staff will only be tooooo happy to return to Tehran! The place they constantly wrote to be a place of milk and honey eh? HA!!!
However, for the brainwashed viewership out there still beguiled by the propaganda sour grapes of PressTV -just remember you're not really serving the cause of proper freedom of speech and democracies. Only the coldly calculating and cynical bullies who expolit such causes for purely political gain! THe bottom dollar is this! By supporting PressTV you also support the murderous and tortuous oppression of Iranian's, Syrians and even factions of Lebanon! By all means - yes - you can rightly complain about the geo-strategic hyprocrisy and complicit Zionist silence of the West. As indeed I do - But please.... Just don't do it at the price of all the above countries being denied their proper rule of law, justice and liberties! HAVE A PROPER OBJECTIVE and INDEPENDENT BRAIN! Thereby instead of mourning or decrying PressTV being taken off the British airwaves - celebrate it instead! Ultimately it is just another nail in the Coffin of Khamaenei's black vulture tyranny. And that hopefully the British and Iranian people can at last join hands as true like-minded friends of secular democracies! Azardi Irani!

Anonymous said...

I thought the news was too good to be true. The terrorists can broadcast as long as they pay their dues to the Ofcom pimps.