Press releases & protests

For Immediate Release                                                                              Contact: Mark Bench, 703.715.9811
                                                                                                                                   embench@wpfc.org

Arab Governments Seek Tighter Grip on Satellite TV

Reston, VA, USA, February 19, 2008 — The World Press Freedom Committee sees adoption of the charter “Principles for Regulating Satellite TV in the Arab World” on February 12 by the Arab League’s ministers of information as a threat to press freedom and freedom of expression everywhere, not just the Arab world. The ministers have agreed that they want to control what the world sees and hears about their countries.

This charter contradicts Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that “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.” The Arab League’s governments have been committed to the Universal Declaration.

The Arab League’s document entitled “Principles on regulation of radio and television satellite transmission in the Arab region” was proposed by Egypt and backed by Saudi Arabia. The independent-minded Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV, which has angered many Arab governments since it was launched in 1996, appears to be the charter’s main target.

The 12-clause charter calls for satellite stations not to “negatively affect social or national unity,” and states that freedom of expression should be practiced “in a way that would protect the higher interests of the Arab countries and the Arab world, respect the freedoms and rights of others and abide by the ethics of the media profession.” It calls upon Arab satellite stations to “refrain from broadcasting anything that involves disrespect to God, heavenly religions, prophets, doctrines and religious symbols.”

The World Press Freedom Committee holds that this call for a charter “to protect the Arab citizen’s right to healthy media that respect their traditions and customs,” means that the officials issuing it do not want to be criticized and seek to protect their governments’ ideas and prevent information different from their own.

WPFC believes that the broadest, most open and free exchange in the world of ideas will produce the most educated voters, and calls upon the Arab governments to reject the document as stultifying to the development of the Arab world and its news media. It is a generally established principle that it is the media themselves, not governments that must determine their own professional standards.

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