Don’t like what’s on TV? Shut down the network!
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill aimed at shutting down media outlets accused of inciting violence against Americans. First introduced in May 2009, Resolution 2278 is mainly aimed at Arabic language satellite TV networks like Al-Jazeera and Al-Manar.
Its passage though House vote in December went largely unnoticed by the U.S. press, but it sent media watchers across the Middle East into an uproar over the bill’s implications. Arab information ministers convened in Cairo last month called the bill “an interference in the internal affairs of Arab states who regulate media affairs according to national legislation.”
Lebanese Information Minister Tareq Mitri added, “We insist on media freedom and reject any restrictions on it.”
Reporters Without Borders warned, “It could eventually be turned into a formidable weapon against freedom of information.”
Mark Lynch, author of Voices of the New Arab Public: Al-Jazeera, Iraq, and Middle East Politics Today — a key inspiration of my SOAS Masters dissertation! — sounds equally concerned with the bill:
In short, H.R. 2278 is a deeply irresponsible bill which sharply contradicts American support for media freedom and could not be implemented in the Middle East today as crafted without causing great damage. … Hillary Clinton just laid out a vision of an America committed to internet freedom, and that should be embraced as part of a broader commitment to free and open media.
