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Al-Manar

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Al-Manar
TypeSatellite television network
Country
 Lebanon
AvailabilityMiddle East, Europe, Internet
MottoStation of resistance (qanat al-muqawama)
OwnerLebanese Media Group
Key people
Nayef Krayem, director
Launch date
June 3, 1991
Official website
(Arabic and English)

Al-Manar (المنار; Arabic for The Beacon) is a satellite television station broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon.[1] The station was launched by Hezbollah in 1991[2] with the help of Iranian funds.[3] Al-Manar, self-proclaimed "Station of the Resistance" (qanat al-muqawama), is a key player in what Hezbollah calls its "psychological warfare against the Zionist enemy"[4][3] and an integral part of Hezbollah's plan to spread its message to the entire Arab world.[3] Al Manar does not aim to be neutral, but instead tries to broadcast in support of a partisan approach to today's news.[5] Currently, programming is geared towards coverage of the Palestinian cause, and the U.S. coalition's occupation of Iraq.[3]

Al-Manar was designated a 'terrorist entity', and banned by the United States in December 2004.[6] It has also been banned by France and Spain,[7][8] and has run into some service and license problems abroad[9] , making it unavailable in the Netherlands[10][11], south America,[8] Canada[12] and Australia[13][14] while it has not officially been banned in any of these regions.

In 2004, Al Manar was estimated to hold 10-15 million viewers daily worldwide[2].[5]

History

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Al-Manar is a Lebanese TV station, and it beamed its first terrestrial signal to Beirut, Lebanon in the June 3, 1991 and it began broadcasting via satellite in the year 2000. The cost was a couple of million dollars. [15] The station was located in the Shiite-controlled neighborhood Harat Hurayk in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the Hezbollah is also headquartered. [15] Originally, the station employed only a few men that had studied media in London during the mid-1980s. But almost a year later, Al-Manar was employing over 150 people.[15]

Initially, al-Manar would broadcast only five hours per day. Yet shortly before the 1992 election, it began broadcasting regular news bulletins in order to help the Hezbollah attain more votes and spread its message to more people. In 1993, the station expanded its broadcasting to seven hours a day and extended its signal to the southern part of the Bekaa Valley. Ahead of the 1996 Lebanese parliamentary elections, additional antennas were erected in northern Lebanon and throughout the Mount Lebanon range, so that the station could be viewed not only in Lebanon, but also in western Syria and northern Israel. Broadcasting was extended to 20 hours in 1998 and to 18 hours in 2000.[16]

In 1996, the Lebanese government granted broadcasting licenses to only five television stations, not including Al-Manar. Approximately 50 stations were forced to close at the time. Several stations appealed the government's decision, but only four of them were finally granted licenses, one of which was Al-Manar. On September 18, the Lebanese Cabinet decided to grant Al-Manar a license after having been requested to do so by the Syrian president Hafiz al-Asad. Al-Manar received the license in July 1997.[17]

Satellite broadcasting

During the 1990s, the popularity of satellite broadcasting greatly increased in the Arab world and in Lebanon. The first Lebanese station to use this technology was Future Television, launching Future International SAT in 1994, while LBCI and the Lebanese government followed by launching LBCSAT and Tele-Liban Satellite respectively. In order to compete with these emerging stations, and in order to find an international audience, Al-Manar announced its intention to launch a satellite channel on March 9, 2000. Muhammad Ra'd, a Hezbollah member of parliament and al-Manar's largest shareholder submitted the request to the minister of transmission, which was approved in April 2000. Although the launch of the satellite station was originally planned for July, the date was moved up in order to coincide with the end of the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon on May 25. This success led other television stations to follow in launching satellite stations, including Murr TV in November 2000, but it was shut down for "violating an election law prohibiting propaganda" — a fate, which al-Manar did not meet, although its programming was also considered propaganda by many analysts. ArabSat, a leading communications satellite operator in the Middle East, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was at first wary about collaborating with al-Manar, because of the station's sectarian agenda — the two companies agreed, however, that the programming would be adapted to the pan-Arab audience, leading to a slight difference between the local broadcast and the one via satellite. At first, only three hours of satellite programming were broadcast per day, but by December 2000, the station was broadcasting around the clock.[18]

Al-Manar was soon carried by many satellite providers. However starting with the removal of the station from TARBS World TV in Australia in 2003, many satellite television providers stopped featuring it. Until then the station was featured by the following providers at one time or another:

According to the BBC[19] on July 26, 2006, Al-Manar had three satellite signals:

  • ArabSat 2B at 30.5 degrees east
  • Badr 3 at 26 degrees east
  • NileSat 102 at 7 degrees west

Al-Manar during 2006 Lebanon War

Israeli Air Force strike

The Israeli Air Force struck Al-Manar on Thursday, July 13, 2006 during the 2006 Lebanon War. The attack on Al-Manar shortly followed a strike against the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut earlier that morning. Despite the attack the station remained on air, broadcasting from undocumented locations.

The IDF bombed Al-Manar's Beirut complex again on July 16 causing fire in the complex and surrounding buildings. The station's signal disappeared briefly several times, then continued its programmes normally.[20]

Criticism of bombing

The bombing of media outlets violates international law when these are not being used for military purposes ("it is unlawful to attack facilities that merely shape civilian opinion; neither directly contributes to military operations"),[21] according to Human Rights Watch.

This incident has been been condemned by the International Federation of Journalists.[22] The Israel Association of Journalists withdrew from the federation due to this criticism, claiming that Al-Manar employees "are not journalists, they are terrorists".[23][24]

The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists, has also expressed alarm over the incident as "it does not appear based on a monitoring of its broadcasts today to be serving any discernible military function, according to CPJ’s analysis."[25]

Content

File:Nasrallah on al-Manar television.jpg
Hassan Nasrallah on al-Manar

Al-Manar's programming consists of 25% music videos and fillers, 25% series and dramas, 25% talk shows, and finally 25% news and family shows.[26] Most of the programming is self-produced.

Programs

The news programming includes much footage from the international press, especially the Israeli. Additionally the station subscribes to the following wire services: Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France Presse, and Deutsche Presse Agentur. The station airs eight news bulletins a day in Arabic in addition to one in English and one in French.[27]

Several talk shows are regularly aired on al-Manar. The best known of these is Beit al-ankabut (The Spider's House); its title alludes to a metaphor, Hassan Nasrallah often employs to describe Israel. It is dedicated to uncovering the "weakness of the Zionist entity", i.e. Israel. It attempts to convince the Arab world that Israel could easily be destroyed, for example, by an increase in the Arab population and the implementation of the Palestinian right of return. Further talk shows include Hadith al-sa'a (Talk of the Hour), Matha ba'ad (What's Next?), Milafat (Files), Al-din wa al-hayat (Religion and Life), and Nun wa al-qalam (The 'Nun' and the Pen). Guests include well-known journalists, analysts, writers, Lebanese politicians, spokespersons of terrorist groups, and Islamic scholars, who then discuss current religious, political, and cultural, regional and global topics.[28]

Al-Manar often airs music videos and fillers in between full-length programs and during commercial breaks. The music videos generally are generally dedicated to the following seven purposes: the promotion of the Hezbollah, highlighting the importance of militant resistance against Israel, the glorification of martyrdom, spreading of anti-Americanism, denunciation of Israel and Zionism as the embodiments of terrorism, the appeals for the destruction of Israel, and the depiction of the future of Arab youths. The videos are on average three minutes long. The videos are usually professionally produced by the station itself and each usually takes about three to four days to make.[29] The filler material usually consists of appeals to donate money to the Hezbollah, lists of demonstrations taking place worldwide, and slogans in English, Hebrew, or Arabic.[30]

The station also offers sports broadcasting - such as the programs Goal and Tis'in daqiqa (Ninety Minutes) -, family programming - such as Al-mustakshifoun al-judud (The New Explorers), Al-Muslimoun fi al-Sin (Muslims in China), and Ayday al-khayr (Hands of Benevolence) -, game shows - including Al-mushahid shahid (The Viewer Is the Witness), where contestants attempt to guess the names of Israeli political and military figures, and Al-muhima (The Mission) -, and even a children's program called Al-manr al-saghir (The Little Manar), which is in the style of the American show Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, targeting three- to seven-year-olds.[31]

During Ramadan, al-Manar features special programs, many of which are self-produced. In 2001, Izz al-Din al-Qassam: Qisat al-jihad wa al-muqawam (Izz al-Din al-Qassam: A Story of Jihad and Resistance), a four-part drama based on the life of Izz al-Din al-Qassam, an early-twentieth-century Arab, after whom the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades are named. It was considered a success among Palestinians. The 2002 program Faris bi la jawad (A Knight without a Horse), which was produced by an Egyptian, was based on the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an old anti-Semitic text claiming a conspiracy of Jews to control the world, like many programs of the station. The 29-part series Al-shahat (The Diaspora), which was aired in 2003, was also based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and produced in Syria; it led to the banning of al-Manar in France.[32]

Religion and politics

Like Hezbollah, al-Manar promotes a radical Islamist ideology. Its primary message is the promotion of "resistance" and "jihad". It regularly legitimizes violence against the United States, Israel, and other enemies, not only by Hezbollah, whom it generally glorifies, but also by Palestinian militants. It always glorifies martyrdom in the fight against its enemies. The station regularly broadcasts speeches by Hassan Nasrallah and conveys statements from the Hezbollah. Islamic tradition is often invoked to justify suicide bombings, which Nasrallah called "a modest weapon and does not warrant that a world war be waged against it." Fatwas justifying this type of violence are often broadcasted and Muslim clerics such as Sheikh Babil al-Halbawi, imam of the al-Sayida Rikiyya Mosque in Damascus, explain their morality with quotes from the Quran. Suicide missions themselves are often aired on al-Manar as well as the video tapes made by the bombers hours before the attack. The station often asserts that it is not impossible to destroy Israel.[33]

Until the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon, al-Manar's programming political focus was mainly against the Israeli presence in Lebanon. The withdrawal in May 2000 left a void in the station's programming, however Hezbollah and al-Manar consider the Sheeba Farms to be Lebanese territory occupied by Israel, and this became a focal point for political programming. In September of that year, the al-Aqsa Intifada broke out, and al-Manar began to cover the issue of the Israeli Palestinian conflict more extensively, overtly propagandizing to support the Palestinian militants.[34]

Journalistic standards and neutrality

According to Al Manar's news director, Hassan Fadlallah, Al Manar does not aim to be neutral in its broadcasting, "Neutrality like that of Al Jazeera is out of the question for us," Fadlallah said. "We cover only the victim, not the aggressor. CNN is the Zionist news network, Al Jazeera is neutral, and Al Manar takes the side of the Palestinians...He said Al Manar's opposition to neutrality means that, unlike Al Jazeera, his station would never feature interviews or comments by Israeli officials. "We're not looking to interview Sharon," Fadlallah said. "We want to get close to him in order to kill him."[5]

Accusations and Restrictions

Designation as a 'terrorist entity'

Al-Manar has been sanctioned by the U.S. for ties to terrorism.[35][1][6]

Lebanon's ambassador to the United States, Farid Abboud, protested : "If you want simply to demonize or eliminate one side, you're not going to advance the issue. If you are going to focus on one side simply because of the political message, it's unacceptable and it's a grave breach of the freedom of speech.".[36]

Allegations of antisemitic programming

One of the satellite providers which have transmitted Al-Manar has been the French satellite Hot Bird 4, owned by the Eutelsat Satellite organisation. On December 13 2004, the French Conseil d'État, the highest administrative Court in France, ordered the French-based Eutelsat Company to shut down Al-Manar broadcasts following accusations that its programmes were anti-Semitic and could incite hatred.[37][38]

Al-Manar claims the French decision was political and not legal, influenced by Israel and Jewish lobbies.[39][40]

Al-Manar TV was also the channel to begin the rumor that 4,000 Jewish employees did not attend work at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and the allegation that the attack may have been masterminded by the Israelis.[41]

Banning of broadcasts

Wikinews has related news:

Al-Manar's broadcasts have been banned by the U.S., France,[7] and Spain.[8]

After the U.S. Department of State placed Al-Manar on the Terrorist Exclusion List on December 17, 2004, transmissions to North America via Intelsat's satellites were blocked.[36][42] Javed Iqbal a resident of New York is the first person to charged under this law. According to the BBC

"Javed Iqbal, originally from Pakistan, is accused by prosecutors of doing business with a terrorist entity. Mr Iqbal appeared in court on Thursday and was bailed for $250,000 (£132,300)."[43]

The Dutch Media Authority "discovered that a satellite owned by New Skies Satellites was carrying Al-Manar and has ordered the company to stop doing so, because the channel did not have the required Dutch licence."[44][45] Many, including Radio Netherlands Worldwide Media Network[10][11] consider this to be a ban.

"The Spanish authorities banned the retransmission of Al-Manar by Hispasat on Wednesday, 30 June 2005 (which effectively prevents its reception not only in the Iberian Peninsula but also in South America)".[46]

The lack of transmission from Intelsat had the effect of making Al-Manar unavailable in Canada, which some have interpreted as a "ban".[12] While Al-Manar is not approved for distribution in Canada,[47] there is no record of application for approval having been made.[48]

TARBS World TV voluntarily stopped broadcasting al-Manar in Australia on November 5, 2003, 15 days into an investigation by the ABA regarding accusations of "broadcast programs that are likely to incite or perpetuate hatred against or gratuitously vilify any person or group on the basis of their ethnicity, nationality, race or religion". The report for this investigation was never finalised as TARBS had gone into receivership by that time. Al-Manar is not currently licenced for broadcast in Australia.[13][14]

Trish Schuh has written that these actions were due to the influence of groups like the "Anti-Defamation League, CAMERA.org, American Jewish Congress and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies allied with AIPAC... The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)."[49]

Al-Manar provides a live feed of its programming on the Internet through its website. This effectively circumvents the bans as Al-Manar is still available in all the areas it does not broadcast to via satalite.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Elise Labott and Henry Schuster (2006). "Lebanese media outlets' assets blocked". cnn.com.
  2. ^ a b "Terrorist Television Hezbollah has a worldwide reach". National Review Online. December 22, 2004. Retrieved 2007-03-31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d Avi Jorisch (Winter 2004). "Al-Manar: Hizbullah TV, 24/7". Middle East Quarterly. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessed= ignored (help)
  4. ^ "Al-Manar Television". Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  5. ^ a b c Jeffrey Goldberg (October 14, 2002). "A Reporter At Large: In The Party Of God (Part I)". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-03-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b U.S. Department of the Treasury (2006). "U.S. Designates Al-Manar as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity". U.S. Department of the Treasury.
  7. ^ a b "France pulls plug on Arab network". BBC News. 2004-12-14. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
  8. ^ a b c Commission of the European Communities Commission document SEC(2006) 160 Accessed July 31, 2006
  9. ^ http://www.wales.gov.uk/keypubassemeuropeancomm2/content/euleg-0602/6448-06-add-1.pdf COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
  10. ^ a b Radio Netherlands Worldwide Blog Iranian commentator reacts to Dutch ban on two satellite TV stations Accessed July 30, 2006
  11. ^ a b Radio Netherlands Worldwide Blog Two Islamic TV stations banned in the Netherlands Accessed July 30, 2006
  12. ^ a b "Banning Al-Manar TV in North America and France(Chat session with Mohammad S. Dalbah)". Islamonline.net. 2004-12-30. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
  13. ^ a b ABA News Release NR 135/2004 22 October 2004 ABA investigation into Al Manar programming on TARBS Accessed August 15, 2006
  14. ^ a b "Cable broadcaster under investigation by ABA". ABC Australia. 2003-11-14. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
  15. ^ a b c Jorisch, Avi (2004). Beacon of Hatred: Inside Hizballahs Al-Manar Television. Washington Institute for Near East Policy. p. 26. ISBN 0-944029-88-4.
  16. ^ Ibid. Pg. 26-27.
  17. ^ Ibid. Pg. 23-25
  18. ^ Ibid. pp. 25–27
  19. ^ BBC News, July 26, 2006 Israel steps up "psy-ops" in Lebanon Accessed August 1, 2006
  20. ^ "Hizbollah rockets hit Haifa, Israel strikes Lebanon". Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  21. ^ "Can Israel attack Hezbollah radio and television stations? ". Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  22. ^ The "International Federation of Journalists condemned bombing of Al-Manar". Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  23. ^ Jerusalem Post, July 16, 2006, Israel threatens to leave World Press Federation Note that this article refers to the "World Press Federation" in an apparent error
  24. ^ Jerusalem Post, July 20, 2006, Israeli journalists pull out of IFJ Accessed July 27, 2006
  25. ^ Lebanon: "Israeli forces strike Al-Manar TV facilities". Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  26. ^ Jorisch, Avi: "Beacon of Hatred: Inside Hizballah's Al-Manar Television". Washington, DC, 2004. Pg. 36.
  27. ^ Ibid. Pg. 101
  28. ^ Ibid. Pg. 102-103.
  29. ^ Ibid. Pg. 104.
  30. ^ Ibid. Pg. 105.
  31. ^ Ibid. Pg. 105.
  32. ^ Ibid. Pg. 103-104; Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies: Legal proceedings to ban Al-Manar in France and Lebanon’s rushing to Hezbollah’s aid
  33. ^ Ibid. Pg. 80-81 and pg. 83
  34. ^ Ibid. Pg. 84
  35. ^ "U.S. Treasury List of Organizations sanctioned under Executive Order 13224" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  36. ^ a b Reuters, December 18, 2004 U.S. designates al-Manar TV as 'terrorist' Accessed August 1, 2006
  37. ^ (full text of the decision, press release, in French; BBC report)
  38. ^ EU, Brussels, 17 March 2005 EU Rules and Principles on Hate Broadcasts: Frequently Asked Questions Accessed July 27, 2006
  39. ^ Reuters, December 18, 2004 U.S. designates al-Manar TV as 'terrorist' Accessed August 1, 2006
  40. ^ Aljazeera.net, December 17, 2004 US designates al-Manar TV 'terrorist' Accessed August 1, 2006
  41. ^ "Absent without Leave". Urban Legends References Pages. 21 September 2001. 5 November 2006.
  42. ^ The Washington Times, December 19, 2004 Hezbollah's TV loses U.S. feed Accessed August 1, 2006
  43. ^ "US charges Hezbollah TV provider". BBC. 2006-08-25. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
  44. ^ Aljazeera.net, March 17, 2005 Al-Manar TV to go off Dutch platform Accessed July 30, 2006
  45. ^ Haaretz, March 18, 2005 EU blocks Hezbollah TV broadcasts in Europe Accessed July 30, 2006
  46. ^ Commission of the European Communities Commission document SEC(2006) 160 Accessed July 31, 2006
  47. ^ "Revised lists of eligible satellite services". July 28, 2006 accessmonthday=August 3. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  48. ^ "[[CRTC]] Search page". {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  49. ^ "Free Speech "Marked for Death": Lebanon's Al-Manar TV Targeted". Retrieved 2007-03-27.

References

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