One more news item that just came in.<br /><br />EU urged to monitor 'hate' TV<br /><br /><br />From http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3483092a12,00.html<br /><br />BRUSSELS: The EU should set up a watchdog to monitor Arabic-language television stations broadcasting in Europe to prevent the dissemination of hate messages, a Jewish-funded Brussels-based think-tank said. <br /><br />The Transatlantic Institute, funded by the American Jewish Committee, said Middle East-based satellite stations were broadcasting anti-Western programmes that dismiss women, threaten Jews and advocate violence to further radical Islam. <br /><br />"The continuing transmission of hate ideologies that threaten the very essence of the European social ideal is a matter of ongoing concern, as is the lack of enforcement mechanisms to prevent such messages from being propagated on European television screens," it said in a report. <br /><br />"The European Union should establish a specialised watchdog agency solely devoted to addressing these cases," it said, adding that the body should have powers to prevent such programmes from being aired in Europe. <br /><br />The Arab channels singled out in the report, al-Manar television, mouthpiece of Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group, and Saudi-based Iqraa, denied broadcasting hate material. <br /><br />Arabic-language satellite stations have been under scrutiny in the EU since France banned al-Manar last year, saying its programmes were anti-Semitic and could threaten public order. <br /><br />A few days later, the United States listed al-Manar as a terrorist organisation, ending its US satellite transmissions. <br /><br />In March, EU broadcasting regulators took al-Manar off European satellites at a meeting to step up action against broadcasts which incite hatred or promote racism or xenophobia. <br /><br />Al-Manar, reacting to the institute's report, said Jewish groups were acting as if they are the "custodians of the media" and denied it carries any anti-Semitic message. <br /><br />"Of course, we put the practices of the Israeli occupation under the spotlight and reveal its barbaric practices against unarmed civilians, which is a humanitarian right," Ibrahim Farhat, al-Manar's public relations director, said. <br /><br />"We respect Judaism as a religion and we engage it in dialogue and we have no problem with it," he said. <br /><br />The institute said the number of satellite dishes receiving Arabic-language television in Europe was rising. Some channels had "incendiary content potentially disruptive to public order". <br /><br />It said European enforcement of broadcasting laws was lax and urged more dialogue with authorities in Middle Eastern countries where most such programmes are made. The al-Manar case should set a precedent for other networks "that transmit identical material," it said, naming Saudi-based Iqraa as one of many such broadcasters. <br /><br />Nabil Hamad, director of Iqraa Television, which broadcasts from the Jordanian capital Amman, said Islamist radicals had often attacked it "because we are moderate and we are against fanaticism, against the explosions, the suicide attacks". <br /><br />He said calls for justice should not be confused with anti-Semitism. "The only freedom is to attack Islam, or belittle Arabs, or attack Palestinians," he said, citing the output of several major Western-owned networks. <br /><br />Jihad Ballout, spokesman for Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television, said he was concerned that the institute's proposal targeted only Arab media, rather than being universal. <br /><br />"I hope that this endeavour is not being politicised," he said in Dubai. "At any rate freedom of expression and responsible journalism should be maintained. I'm very concerned at the level of politics that will be at play."