(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has challenged the 13 December 2004 order by the Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, instructing the French-based Eutelsat satellite to cease broadcasts of Lebanese television station Al-Manar within 48 hours. “Ordering the closure of a media outlet is never a good solution,” said RSF. “Admittedly, Al-Manar has broadcast unacceptable anti-Semitic […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has challenged the 13 December 2004 order by the Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, instructing the French-based Eutelsat satellite to cease broadcasts of Lebanese television station Al-Manar within 48 hours.
“Ordering the closure of a media outlet is never a good solution,” said RSF. “Admittedly, Al-Manar has broadcast unacceptable anti-Semitic remarks,” the organisation noted, while adding that the broadcast regulator (Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel, CSA) and French authorities had rushed to judgment without allowing enough time for reflection.
“Perhaps it would have been better to take a less radical line against the station? Less than a month after receiving CSA approval, Al-Manar finds itself banned from a satellite. This fast track procedure is worrying. What steps are the French authorities going to take next? Are they going to target other Arab media outlets that some people accuse of justifying bombings of civilians? Will they try to cleanse France’s broadcast landscape?” RSF asked.
In a 13 December statement, the Council of State said it had “told Eutelsat to halt broadcasting Al-Manar television on its satellite within 48 hours, or face a 5,000 euro fine for each day it continues to broadcast after the deadline.” The court ruled that the programmes broadcast “were in a militant context, with anti-Semitic connotations.”
“It cannot be ruled out that the transmission of such programmes (. . .) could have harmful effects on public order,” the Council of State added.
Al-Manar’s management said it was studying the ruling “attentively” before reacting. Eutelsat Chief Executive Officer Giuliano Berretta said he would “do everything possible to put the ruling into effect as quickly as possible.”
“In any event, the cut and dried reactions of several French officials have given Al-Manar free publicity that its programmes certainly do not deserve,” RSF added.
