Iranian gov mouthpiece Press TV finally gets taken off the air in the UK
'The royal family done it', raves foam-lipped channel
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Iranian government-backed broadcaster Press TV has finally got its fondest wish and lost its UK broadcast licence, but its martyrdom is self-inflicted rather than the result of any government conspiracy.
The channel, which had a home on the Sky Satellite platform, has been claiming to have been banned since October, saying it frightens the UK establishment. It did get fined £100,000 in December for broadcasting a dodgy interview, and has now lost its licence on the grounds that the body holding said licence (Press TV Limited, the UK subsidiary of the Iranian organisation) wasn't making the editorial decisions.
Ofcom tells us it offered to help Press TV get a licence for its Tehran-based editorial operation, and reminds us that several channels have their editorial operations abroad and that's fine as long as those operations are the ones holding the licence. But Press TV refused such offers, and only the UK office holds a broadcast licence.
Ofcom rules are pretty clear that the body making the editorial decisions has to hold the licence, so the channel will get yanked off the air at midnight Friday.
Which is, arguably, just what Press TV wants. The channel has spent the last four months claiming its licence had already been rescinded on the orders of a British government conspiracy motivated to act by irreverent Press TV coverage of the royal wedding, so it risked looking pretty silly if the regulator had just slapped its wrist and issued a stern warning.
Just to be sure there's no residual sympathy Press TV has apparently "indicated it is unwilling and unable to pay the £100,000 fine", which was levied against the broadcaster after it transmitted an interview with a Newsweek journalist out of context.
But Ofcom isn't withdrawing the licence for that, only because the editorial decisions are being made by a body which doesn't hold the broadcasting licence.
So after tonight we'll have to stick with China Central TV, Russia Today and Fox News for our ideologically-motivated news coverage. ®
COMMENTS
Left wing? I don't think you know what that is
If you think CBS is left wing (or Obama for that matter) then I can only assume that you are either Hitler or Ann Rand. Or are so totally desensitised by the Tweedledee/Tweedledum nature of politics that you no longer know left from right.
"Has it ever occurred to you that the reason Fox has done so well is because they are the lone conservative voice on TV"
No. It has occurred to me that selling nonsense to gullible morons is never a bad investment, however.
"Consider just how balanced the nation has been over several election cycles with percentages in the 40's for both sides and independents/small segments swaying elections. "
Well, exactly. The difference between "left wing" and "right wing" in US politics is, to most outsiders, almost invisible.
In short, there's nothing of substance to report in US politics and one solution is to invent stuff and then scream about it. Which covers Fox News' entire editorial policy at a stroke. CNN is much the same although instead of being annoying it is simply sad and pathetic in its transparent manufacturing of fantasy news items.
It's not that the other networks are not reporting stuff, it's that they have not (quite) got to the moral nadir where they are happy to fill the air time with lies and fiction simply in order to get a reaction out of an electorate that, sub-consciously at least, know that whoever they vote for the country is run by and for big business.
errr
Exactly what Ideology are CBS and NBC motivated by?
As for BBC and NPR, if "to educate, inform and entertain the public" is an ideology now, I think I have my new religion....
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