Press TV News banned in UK
sourceFor the first time, British government censors have banned a 24-hour news channel from British viewers. As of the afternoon, UK-time, 20th January 2012, viewers of Press TV, an avowedly anti-imperialist TV channel headquartered in Tehran and featuring many of the voices found in CounterPunch, saw the words “Channel Unavailable” when tapping their clicker.
Unlike the US, whose authorities have so often had to get around the first amendment to ban media from Americans, the UK has no law against the abridging of freedom of speech or against “infringing on the freedom of the press”. The decision was made by Ed Richards, previously Senior Policy Advisor to Tony Blair and a Controller of Corporate Strategy at the BBC. He now runs OFCOM, a regulatory agency charged with judging what news Britons are able to view.
One of the broadcast regulator's central arguments about Press TV is that it is not convinced that editorial control is based in Britain. I've worked for numerous foreign channels that are allowed to broadcast in the UK, so I know this discrepancy will come as a surprise to my former employers at the London offices of CNN International, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera, all of which ultimately answer, editorially, to bosses in Atlanta, New York and Doha.
Press TV Ltd., a UK-based production company making programs for Press TV has also been fined USD 155,000. This was because the channel in Tehran, broadcast an interview with Maziar Bahari of Newsweek whilst he was in prison.
I just heard about this and i found it quite shocking. It was apparently only news but the British authorities denied it to go on. Is this possible? The reasons for the shut down are above (accodring to Press TV) and they have been fined too!!
Free speech, is it in UK anymore?
Note: Obviously Press TV is biased but should the government have the power to shut down channels it finds against "national security"?
Edit: a more reliable source - BBC
sourceIran's Press TV loses UK licence
Iranian news network Press TV has had its licence revoked by the media regulator Ofcom and will no longer be allowed to broadcast in the UK.
Ofcom said the state broadcaster's English language outlet had breached several broadcasting licence rules over editorial control of the channel.
Press TV has also failed to pay a £100,000 fine imposed last year.
The channel called the decision "a clear example of censorship". It will be removed from Sky on 20 January.
The £100,000 fine was imposed last year after the network broadcast an interview with imprisoned Newsweek and Channel 4 journalist Maziar Bahari, which the Ofcom said had been conducted under duress.
Ofcom said Press TV had "indicated it is unwilling and unable to pay".
It was during the investigation into the Bahari interview that the media regulator formed the impression that editorial decisions on the channel were being controlled by the offices in Tehran, instead of the UK.
Press TV was given the opportunity to respond and make the relevant amendments needed to comply with the broadcasting code, but "failed to make the necessary application", Ofcom said.
In a statement issued to the BBC, Press TV's newsroom director Mr Hamid Emadi said: "We asked Ofcom if Press TV Limited did not have control over the broadcast, why was it getting fined, if it did have control, why would the licence be revoked?
"Ofcom contradictions are nothing new for Press TV. The British government's tool to control the media has, on several occasions, changed its decisions regarding Press TV in its two-year campaign against the alternative news channel."
The statement also claimed that Ofcom, which it called "the media arm of the Royal family", had failed to respond to a letter sent by its Chief Executive earlier this month.
Press TV channel launched in 2007 to break what Iran's state broadcaster called a Western "stranglehold" over the world's media.
Still, how can the UK government fine a News Channel for having an interview?
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Originally Posted by Lord Mov
