EGYPT:Information ministers of the 22-member Arab League have adopted a proposal to regulate and restrict content broadcast by Arab satellite television stations and to prohibit material deemed offensive to Arab rulers. The ministers of Qatar, the sponsor of free-wheeling and feisty al- Jazeera, and Lebanon, which has long had unfettered media, opposed the measure.
The meeting was convened by league host Egypt and the resolution was sponsored by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, countries that curb the dissemination of information. Both have repeatedly lodged complaints against al-Jazeera for broadcasting material considered detrimental to their interests.
Anas al-Fiqi, the information minister of Egypt, which tightly controls its media, said it would be the "first to implement the Cairo document".
The measure demands that stations should not "offend [ Arab] leaders or national religious symbols" and "should not damage social harmony, national unity, public order or traditional values".
Channels should "refrain from broadcasting anything which calls into question God, the monotheistic religions, the prophets, sects or symbols of the various religious communities".
Broadcasters should eschew "erotic or obscene material" and programmes that "encourage smoking and the consumption of alcohol", banned for Muslims.
Programmes should also "protect Arab identity from the harmful effects of globalisation".
Overall, "freedom [ of expression] is to be exercised with awareness and responsibility to protect the supreme interests of the Arab states and the Arab nation". Only sports coverage remains untouched.
While most of the 500-odd Arab satellite stations carry only entertainment programmes, which could be severely disrupted if restrictions were applied to films they show, analysts suggest they will not be affected.
Lawrence Pintak, director of the Centre for Electronic Journalism at the American University in Cairo, argues: "This is clearly an effort to try to stem [ the] influence of satellite television on a political level."
The chief targets of the document are al-Jazeera; al-Arabiya, a more conservative, Dubai-based, Saudi-owned competitor; and US-financed and run al-Hurra.
Broadcasters violating the proscriptions will face closure of offices, withdrawal of work permits for staff and other punitive measures.
The Reporters Without Borders organisation condemned the move and said the regulations "are not only repressive but also retrograde. Instead of working to relax the often very rigid press laws in force in their countries, [ the ministers] have banded together to put pressure on news media that have been annoying them and escaping their control".
