2011年3月26日土曜日

Iran’s Arabic TV said “jammed from Saudi Arabia”

Iran’s Arabic TV said “jammed from Saudi Arabia”

Text of report in English by Iranian newspaper Iran Daily website on 17 March

The signal of [Iranian state-run, Arabic-language] Al-Alam satellite TV network has been plagued by jamming across the Middle East and North Africa and the electronic interference reportedly is from Saudi Arabia.

The Tehran-based Arabic-language TV, whose coverage of developments in crisis-hit Bahrain has been widely watched in the Arab world, first reported jamming on its [Arabsat-operated] Badr 5 transponder on Tuesday [15 March] evening and later on Badr 6 transponder early Wednesday morning, Press TV reported.

The jamming is reportedly caused by equipment capable of simultaneously interfering with Al-Alam’s frequencies on the Badr (formerly known as Arabsat) satellite [at 26 degrees East].

The report comes after Saudi troops forced their way into Salmaniya Hospital on Wednesday and prevented doctors, nurses and relatives of patients from leaving or entering the building. Several patients undergoing treatment in the hospital were injured in clashes with the police.

Bahraini police killed at least five protesters and injured dozens more on Wednesday as they assaulted a peaceful protest camp in the capital’s Pearl Square.

The attack occurred two days after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar dispatched troops to the diminutive Persian Gulf kingdom to silence anti-government protests.

The foreign military intervention in Bahrain was a source of concern to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who has called for a meaningful and broad-based national dialogue. The UN official urged Bahrain’s neighbours and the international community to support a dialogue process and an environment conducive to credible reform in Bahrain.

(Source: Iran Daily website, Tehran, in English 17 Mar 11 via BBC Monitoring)

Ethiopia Accused of Detaining Activists to Deter Uprising

Ethiopia Accused of Detaining Activists to Deter Uprising

Ethiopia has detained dozens of political activists as part of what opposition groups say is a crackdown aimed at preventing a North African or Middle Eastern style popular uprising. Our correspondent in Addis Ababa says the crackdown is focused on the politically sensitive Oromia region, home to more than one third of the country’s population.


Oromo opposition leaders say as many as 100 of their party members have been arrested in federal police sweeps over the past two weeks. They say many of those detained are charged with minor offenses such as quarreling with neighbors.

Bekele Gerba, deputy leader of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement says the arrests have spread fear among opposition activists in Ethiopia’s largest region.

"Anyone who speaks the language and does not belong to the ruling party is a suspect and can be taken to prison any time," said Bekele Gerba. "They want to show, if you don’t belong to us or you happen to support any opposition, this is your fate tomorrow. This is how we are going to drag you into prison. So people are intimidated now."

Bekele says opposition groups see the crackdown as a warning to anyone hoping to inspire a popular uprising like those sweeping other countries in the region.

"They are worried about what is going on around the world and what is happening to dictators around the world, and it is because of that that mass arrest and intimidation are going around," he said.

Oromia region officials flatly rejected any political motive behind the arrests. Spokesman Mesfin Assefa says the government respects people’s right to political dissent.

"There is rule of law in this country," said Mesfin Assefa. "There is due process of law. Everybody who violates the law or who breaches the trust of public will be liable. If certain guys commit crime, they will be liable for their offenses."

The arrests come at a time when government officials are admittedly nervous about unrest in the region. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi this month said he was especially worried about political turmoil in Yemen, just 150 kilometers from Ethiopia’s northern border. Mr. Meles said some domestic opposition groups were trying to incite a copycat uprising.

"We are aware that some parties who are legally operating in Ethiopia are praying this happens, and maybe playing a few games to try to accelerate such an event," said Prime Minister Zenawi. "So we are watching these issues carefully."

A sign of the government’s growing unease has been a partial resumption of jamming of VOA language service broadcasts to Ethiopia. The broadcasts are often jammed before Ethiopia’s elections, but the jamming stops after the voting.

Opposition leader Bekele says recent broadcast have been audible, except for loud noises that disrupt the signal when political issues are discussed.

"We have a lot of problem even to listen to the VOA," he said. "The jamming. There are experts who are standing by and ready to jam the wave every time if there is any political issue. Immediately the jamming starts. It has become virtually impossible to listen to the VOA on the radio. It is only possible on the Arabsat satellite."

VOA last year began broadcasts to Ethiopia by the Arabsat satellite after Prime Minister Meles authorized jamming its short wave radio signals. The VOAnews.com website is also blocked to Ethiopian internet users.

VOA is the only international radio service broadcasting in three main Ethiopian languages, Amharic, Afan Oromo and Tigrayan.

2011年3月23日水曜日

BBC Russian radio hits the off switch after 65 years

BBC Russian radio hits the off switch after 65 years

BBC Russian broadcast from 1950s Anatol Goldberg, who ran the service (second from the left), was removed in 1958 after a public campaign to discredit him by parts of the British Establishment and a right-wing magazine

Related Stories

At the end of this week, the BBC's Russian Service will close its radio frequencies for good.

The Russian Service began broadcasting to the Soviet Union in 1946 and quickly established a reputation with Soviet listeners, in the brief period before the onset of the Cold War.

From 1949 until 1987, the jamming of the signal by the Soviet authorities consumed vast amounts of money and technical expertise. For many years, a significant part of the USSR's entire radio broadcasting system was devoted to blocking transmissions from abroad.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn Alexander Solzhenitsyn insisted the BBC should not endow the Kremlin with a sense of legitimacy

The BBC's Russian Service was blocked selectively and varyingly. However, jamming was never totally effective, and listening to the Russian Service as well as other western broadcasters had, by the 1970s, become a ubiquitous phenomenon among the Soviet urban intelligentsia.

'Soft' on Kremlin

This week, the Russian Service is playing out audio postcards from listeners, revealing how they listened, and what it meant to them. One especially memorable episode comes from a listener in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, explaining how her family learned of the assassination of President Kennedy from the Russian Service's news broadcasts.

The Soviet authorities had started broadcasting in foreign languages earlier - in 1929. There was never any ambiguity about its purpose. Indeed, the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia states it "serves as a powerful weapon in the propaganda of Communist ideology, a highly effective way to speedily inform the toilers in foreign countries about life in the Soviet Union".

BBC Russian Service

  • Began broadcasting 26 March 1946
  • Jamming starts April 1949
  • During Cold War, millions of Russians listened by shortwave despite Soviet jamming
  • From 1992, Radio Russia broadcast several BBC programmes every week
  • By 1999, audience of 6m
  • FM broadcasts Nov 2006 halted following political pressure
  • Broadcasts continue on medium wave in major cities, shortwave and via satellite
  • End of radio frequencies 26 March 2011

There was no pretence that the output of foreign language broadcasting - Inoveshchaniye - was an honest or necessarily accurate reflection of Soviet life.

The ideological conflict between East and West had a direct impact on the BBC Russian Service. On several occasions, over the decades, it was accused of being too soft on the Kremlin.

The persecuted dissident writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, insisted over the years that it should not endow the Soviet regime with a sense of legitimacy.

The respected Anatol Goldberg, who ran the service, was removed in 1958 after a public campaign to discredit him by parts of the British Establishment and a right-wing magazine. Decades later, in the aftermath of the murder in London of Alexander Litvinenko, the service again faced accusations that it was soft on Russian official statements and positions. It strongly denied the accusations, citing the need to work to the BBC's editorial standards.

Media personality
Seva Novgorodtsev Many BBC presenters, like Seva Novgorodtsev, were household names in Russia

The BBC's Russian radio programmes evolved over time, but it was the opening up of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost that provided a massive leap forward. Mr Gorbachev said he had been a long-term listener. Suddenly, there was access to interviews and opinions from Russia itself.

Many of the Russian Service's presenters were household names in Russia and the countries once part of the USSR. In particular, Seva Novgorodtsev, who was one of the Soviet Union's first rock DJs and who opened up the western music scene to Russian listeners, remains a much-loved media personality in Russia.

The service recently celebrated his 70th birthday with a memorable evening hosted by him in St Petersburg. It attracted a great deal of local media attention.

In its heyday, the Russian Service provided a full range of news and current affairs, analysis, musical, medical, scientific, cultural and religious programmes. In the past week, the Russian Service has revived some outstanding material from the archives: an interview with Paul McCartney and a ground-breaking hour-long, live studio interview with Margaret Thatcher, answering questions from listeners across the Soviet Union.

It was an early, highly successful example of interactivity. A much more recent example was a live broadcast with students at Moscow State University, looking at the legacy of the USSR's collapse 20 years later.

One memorable quote came from the famous TV presenter, Vladimir Molchanov, telling us that such a debate would have been impossible in Soviet times - and it would also be impossible on state-controlled national television today, even if the Russian internet remains uncensored.

Cooling relations

In post-Soviet Russia, as Russia's own media blossomed and modernised, partnerships were sealed with Russian stations, some of them with nationwide FM networks.

The BBC hoped to access a much wider radio audience with its mix of BBC standards and expertise. However, with the cooling of British-Russian political links in recent years, the strategy was revealed to be vulnerable. One after another, often without explanation, partner stations in Russia announced they would no longer collaborate. This cut off a big chunk of the audience, in a country where people will not return to the culture of short-wave listening.

Over recent years, the Russian Service has invested heavily in bbcrussian.com, boosting its audio-visual content, interactivity, as well as its presence in international and Russian social media.

The context and depth of BBC material will continue to boost the service's coverage of key regional and global stories.

The BBC Russian Service goes on air for the last time on 26th March. However, the BBC's Russian output will continue on bbcrussian.com, where two radio programmes will be broadcast every Monday to Friday and one will be broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays.

2011年3月19日土曜日

Iran’s Arabic TV said “jammed from Saudi Arabia”

Iran’s Arabic TV said “jammed from Saudi Arabia”

Text of report in English by Iranian newspaper Iran Daily website on 17 March

The signal of [Iranian state-run, Arabic-language] Al-Alam satellite TV network has been plagued by jamming across the Middle East and North Africa and the electronic interference reportedly is from Saudi Arabia.

The Tehran-based Arabic-language TV, whose coverage of developments in crisis-hit Bahrain has been widely watched in the Arab world, first reported jamming on its [Arabsat-operated] Badr 5 transponder on Tuesday [15 March] evening and later on Badr 6 transponder early Wednesday morning, Press TV reported.

The jamming is reportedly caused by equipment capable of simultaneously interfering with Al-Alam’s frequencies on the Badr (formerly known as Arabsat) satellite [at 26 degrees East].

The report comes after Saudi troops forced their way into Salmaniya Hospital on Wednesday and prevented doctors, nurses and relatives of patients from leaving or entering the building. Several patients undergoing treatment in the hospital were injured in clashes with the police.

Bahraini police killed at least five protesters and injured dozens more on Wednesday as they assaulted a peaceful protest camp in the capital’s Pearl Square.

The attack occurred two days after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar dispatched troops to the diminutive Persian Gulf kingdom to silence anti-government protests.

The foreign military intervention in Bahrain was a source of concern to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who has called for a meaningful and broad-based national dialogue. The UN official urged Bahrain’s neighbours and the international community to support a dialogue process and an environment conducive to credible reform in Bahrain.

(Source: Iran Daily website, Tehran, in English 17 Mar 11 via BBC Monitoring)

2011年3月1日火曜日

Libyan Authorities Jam Rusiya Al-Yaum Signal

Libyan Authorities Jam Rusiya Al-Yaum Signal

MOSCOW, Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- RT's Arabic channel Rusiya al-Yaum, broadcast in Libya via the Nilesat (AB4) satellite, is being jammed.

According to RRsat Global Communications Network, a satellite TV provider, several attempts have been made to jam the Rusiya al-Yaum signal, broadcast via the open channel of the Nilesat (AB4) satellite. The company says Libyan authorities are jamming the signal to deprive the people of Libya of access to independent and unbiased coverage of events in the country and wider Middle East.

Rusiya al-Yaum, Russia's first news channel in Arabic, was launched in May 2007. It is freely available via satellite in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. According to Nielsen research, Rusiya al-Yaum has an audience of over 5 million viewers in Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The channel is available online at arabic.rt.com. Rusiya al-Yaum's best news stories and shows are also available on the channel's YouTube stream.

Website: www.RT.com

CONTACT: Ksenia Bregadze, +7-495-926-2450, kvbregadze@rttv.ru

SOURCE RusInfoService

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