Press TV is mere propaganda for Iran. It must close

by Houriya Ahmed, The Times, 1 December 2011


Closing down the Iranian Embassy in London is not forceful enough. After the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran by a mob of petrol-bomb-hurling hardliners, the British Government was right to move beyond impotent expressions of "outrage" and demand that Iran's embassy staff leave the UK within 48 hours.But Britain can do more in the face of what looks like officially orchestrated violence.

There is an arm — albeit unofficial — of the Islamic republic at work here that could be punished to show British disapproval: Press TV's London operation should be shut down.

Launched in 2007 as an "alternative" to Western media, Press TV is an English-language satellite television channel with a licence to operate in London. It is funded by, and acts as a mouthpiece for, the Iranian regime. Muslim and non-Muslim female presenters are required to wear the Islamic headscarf in front of the camera while broadcasting from London.

The truth is distorted and its reports manipulated to fit the Tehran regime's agenda. One former correspondent, Jody Sabral, recently resigned in protest over the way Press TV covered the uprisings in the Arab world. She castigated the channel for ignoring much of the protest taking place in Syria, an Iranian ally, while providing "urgent" coverage of the Shia protests in Bahrain — hardly an accident, given Iran's interest in fomenting unrest there to increase its power base.

The Iranian Green Revolution and the murder of Neda Agha Soltan by pro-regime thugs have been presented as Western conspiracies by Press TV. The channel even broadcast a coerced confession by Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek journalist while he was imprisoned on espionage charges. Ofcom is considering revoking Press TV's licence after its investigation found that the channel should have declined to air the interview as it was clearly obtained under duress. In response to Ofcom's findings, Press TV has claimed that it is a victim of "censorship" by "certain members of the Royal Family and Government".

Although Press TV is an instrument of propaganda, the Foreign Office has been apprehensive about closing it down for fear that it would be challenged under free speech laws.

The siege of the embassy and the expulsion of the British Ambassador demonstrate that Iran intends to heat up its public diplomacy war. Free speech laws should not extend to hosting the propaganda service of a belligerent government. As long as Press TV is funded by the current Iranian regime, the closure of its London operation is a necessity.



* Houriya Ahmed is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society Free speech should not extend to hosting a belligerent government

I hold no brief for the Iranian government, but The Times criticism of Press TV for bias could equally apply to the BBC's World Service or the The Times itself. The Times has a long history of self-censorship going back at least as far as the pulling of the special report prepared by the respected Sunday Times Insight team: 'Who are they Travelling With?' which looked at the way UK politics was being subverted by US intelligence financed media projects and organisations,

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If Press TV bothers the British government and its media supporters so much, they can challenge it by using the laws on freedom of speech, rather than censoring it. Everybody has the freedom to reply, no? They can always print editorials picking apart or ridiculing its bias and inaccuracies, and presentation.
This would of course be somewhat hypocritical given that the British media is also biased in favour of the country's government, at least to the extent that the BBC et al will broadcast or print government statements without analysing their truthfulness or commonsense. But they can't have it both ways. Or should I say, if they want to have it both ways, perhaps they should consider that it's only authoritarian regimes that allow freedom of speech only to the media outlets they approve of . Like Iran.