Western media under fire for silence on Iran TV bans

The Western media outlets have come under fire for their silence on attempts by the Israeli-French CEO of the European satellite provider Eutelsat to take Iranian television networks off the air in violation of the freedom of speech.

European news agencies are now being criticized for failing to cover what’s being seen in Iran as efforts to stifle freedom of expression.

In recent months, European satellite providers have launched a concerted campaign to silence Iran’s international broadcasters.

In the most recent move, the European satellite provider Eutelsat pulled the plug on Iran’s Arabic-language channel, al-Alam.

On March 2, Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad slammed the West’s attempts to take Iranian channels off the air, saying such measures are doomed to fail.

“This is natural that they (the Western powers) make every effort to prevent the spread of the Iranian nation’s humane message, but they will not succeed,” he stated.

Eutelsat’s Israeli-French CEO Michel De Rosen has stepped up his restrictive campaign by appealing to major satellite providers in Europe and Asia to silence Iranian media.

The campaign has revealed the true face of the West, which preaches respect for human rights and free speech but practices the opposite.

On February 20, the Arab satellite provider Gulfsat banned Iranian channels iFilm and Al-Kawthar under direct pressure from Eutelsat.

The encroachment upon freedom of speech targeting movie channel, iFilm, and Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Kawthar came one day after Eutelsat asked Nilesat to take Iran’s English-language news channel Press TV off the air.