2010年4月3日土曜日

Broadcasting body calls on Iran to stop jamming

Broadcasting body calls on Iran to stop jamming

Fri Mar 26, 10:44 AM

GENEVA (AFP) - The UN's telecommunications agency called on Iran Friday to stop jamming foreign radio and television broadcasts, following European complaints.


ecommunications Union spokesman Sanjay Acharya said that "interference emanating from the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran... appear to be of a nature which is forbidden under radio regulations."

The ITU's radio regulation board "urged the administration of Iran to continue its efforts in locating the source of interference and to eliminate it as a matter of the highest priority." he added.

The regulation board issued its call following a complaint lodged by France on behalf of the management of the Eutelsat telecommunications satellite whose emissions to Iran were being jammed.

Acharya acknowledged that the ITU could not impose any sanctions against Tehran before its next world congress in some two years' time.

"What we can do at this moment is to add pressure on the government of Iran," he said.

EU foreign ministers on Monday vowed to "act" against the Iranian state's unacceptable jamming of satellite broadcasts and Internet controls, showing the bloc's increasing impatience with Tehran.

Nearly 70 foreign radio and television stations that transmit via the Eutelsat satellite to Iran were jammed on February 11, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, they said.

Iranian authorities have cracked down on the media and arrested scores of journalists since anti-government protests erupted after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election last June.

The Islamic regime has been targeting the BBC's Persian-language broadcasts in particular.

EU sources said that Iranians' text messages were also being intercepted by the authorities in Tehran.

The bloc's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said she was "extremely concerned" about Iran's jamming tactics, without saying what precisely Europe would, or could, do to counter Tehran's tactics.

Meles Vows to Authorize Jamming VOA Amharic Broadcasts

Meles Vows to Authorize Jamming VOA Amharic Broadcasts


19/03/2010

The Ethiopian leader denies having authorized the interference VOA Amharic listeners have been experiencing since February 22. But speaking to reporters Thursday, he acknowledged ordering preparations for jamming, and said as soon as the equipment is working properly, he would give the go-ahead.

[insert caption  here]
[Meles Zenawi]
"We have to know before we make the decision to jam, whether we have the capacity to do it," the prime minister says. "But I assure you if they assure me at some future date that they have the capacity to jam it, I will give them the clear guideline to jam it. But so far there has not been that formal decision to jam."

Mr. Meles said what listeners may have been experiencing for the past four weeks is testing of the jamming equipment.

In justifying his decision to order jamming, the prime minister compared VOA's Amharic Service to the infamous Radio Mille Collines, which broadcast hate messages blamed for inciting the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

"We have been convinced for many years that in many respects, the VOA Amharic Service has copied the worst practices of radio stations such as Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda in its wanton disregard of minimum ethics of journalism and engaging in destabilizing propaganda," Meles said.

Voice of America Director Danforth Austin issued a statement Thursday saying, "any comparison of VOA programming to the genocidal broadcasts of Rwanda's Radio Mille Collines is incorrect and unfortunate."

He added, "The VOA deplores jamming as a form of media censorship wherever it may occur.

"The statement said VOA's Amharic Service is required by law to provide accurate, objective and comprehensive news and information and abide by the highest journalistic standards."

Austin also noted that "while VOA is always ready to address responsible complaints about programming, the Government of Ethiopia has not initiated any official communication in more than two years."

VOA language service broadcasts to Ethiopia have been jammed in the past around election times. The next election for parliament is just over two months away. But in past instances, the government denied being responsible for the jamming.

Monitors say the recent jamming has only been aimed at Amharic broadcasts, and has not affected other Horn of Africa transmissions to Ethiopia in Afan Oromo and Tigrigna. They are heard on the same frequencies before and after the Amharic broadcast.

The Voice of America is a multi-media international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government. VOA broadcasts more than 1500 hours of news and other programming every week in 45 languages to an audience of more than 125 million people.

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