Calling the move a “flagrant violation of freedom of speech,” Press TV stated Saturday that the channel had been dropped from the Galaxy 19 satellite platform which broadcasts its news to the United States and Canada.
The action is another aspect of the United States comprehensive set of sanctions against Iran. The result is, people in the region will not have the Iranian take on world affairs. In this moment when there are widely differing influences moulding what is taking place in the Middle East and Syria, with Russia and China also coming in from different angles, this lack of ‘another view’ means anyone seeking such wider view has less possibilities.
Freedom of information is a real boone for any democratically inclined group of people and it is a disservice that the cut-off means North American cable networks are agreeing to pull the plug on the English-language news network Press TV, citing its government control.
Lauren McCauley, staff writer at Common Dreams reports that the new sanctions announced by the US Treasury Department this week blacklisted Iran’s state-run television network, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), as well as its director, Ezatollah Zarghami.
“So long as Iran continues to fail to address the concerns of the international community about its nuclear program, the U.S. will impose tighter sanctions […] against the Iranian regime,” David S. Cohen, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence stated. Not seeing his hypocrisy he continued with: “We will also target those in Iran who are responsible for human rights abuses, especially those who deny the Iranian people their basic freedoms of expression, assembly and speech.”
Intelsat, the Luxembour-based company that owns Galaxy 19, has not commented on its decision, reports Al Jazeera. In October, the Paris-based Eutelsat, one of Europe’s major satellite providers, cut Iranian state television and radio broadcasts in compliance with tougher European Union sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The Eutelsat decision affected 19 channels provided by IRIB, including Press TV.
In January, the Spanish government also ordered the Press-TV-affiliated Spanish language channel Hispan to stop broadcasting on the Hotbird satellite platform.
These are acts of ill portent at a time when a more generous distribution of views from countries such as Iran is needed, because isolation is dangerous.
