Lebanese media warns of ban if US hits out at Hezbollah TV

Beirut - The National Lebanese Council for Audio-Visual Media and the Lebanese Press Association on Saturday urged the United States to reverse a decision to take "punitive measures" against a satellite broadcaster run by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. The Council hinted that it will resort to banning from Lebanese airwaves US-networks such as Cable News Network (CNN) and others financed by the US.

Council head Abdel Hadi Mahfouz said that if the US bill against Hezbollah's al-Manar television was adopted, "we as an independent council can cut off transmissions of US-based stations such as CNN and (US-backed Arabic satellite channel) al-Houra by asking cable distributors in Lebanon not to air such channels."

"We have expressed our refusal for such a legal measure against al-Manar and other channels which the US has listed as Arab terrorist entities," said Mahfouz.

The US House of Representatives passed a bill in December 2009 calling for "punitive measures" against Middle East television networks, including al-Manar, seen to be fueling anti-US sentiment.

The bill was adopted in a decisive 395 to 3 vote against media outlets that broadcast "anti-American incitement to violence in the Middle East."

The networks listed in the bill include Al-Aqsa, the television station of the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas, which broadcasts from the Gaza Strip, and Hezbollah's al-Manar.

Hezbollah mouthpiece al-Manar broadcasts from Beirut. It was launched in 1991. In 2004 it was banned from broadcasting in the US, France, Spain and Germany.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305368,lebanese-media-warns-of-ban-if-us-hits-out-at.html.