The Guardian, 4 March

BBC Arabic TV is being launched at a very difficult time. Arab governments are increasingly seeking to censor existing satellite TV channels that ‘negatively affect social peace, national unity, public order, and public morals’, or ‘defame leaders, or national and religious symbols.’

The pioneering Qatar-based-al-Jazeera and Lebanon’s al-Manar TV, owned by Hizbullar, are seen as the main targets of the ‘charter of principles’ issued last month by the 22-member Arab League, opposed only by Qatar and Lebanon. ‘Media institutions should be watching governments, not the other way around’, said news editor at al-Jazeera.

The initiative came from pro-western Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which dominate the Middle Eastern media scene and dislike the anti-regime irreverence, anti-Americanism and Islamist bias of the channels. Al-Manar TV is seen as supporting Iran, often blamed for solidifying sectarianism that pits Shia Muslim communiies against the Sunni majority.
The league character, which has no legal force, recommends regulatory bodies confiscate equipment, impose fines, and suspend or withdraw licences from satellite channels that authorities deem to have violated its ‘principles’.

Arab ministers’ talk of codes of conduct and professional standards is seen by journalists and media watchdogs as a prelude to censorship and persecution. ‘Yes, we do need to prevent channels which promote heresy, pornography, and terrorism, from operating, but this is not the primary goal’, said the editor of Bahrain’s al-Wasat daily, Mansur al-Jamri.

Domestic laws in most Arab states already severly restrict freedom of expression. Egypt has repeatedly prosecuted reporters and editors. Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, and Morocco have all arrests bloggers and journalists, and Iraq has closed down three satellite TV stations since 2004.