Summary
In America's losing battle for Arab hearts and minds, Al Manar propaganda is as effective as American propaganda is impotent. Lebanon's "Daily Star" quoted an estimate that Al Manar has up to 200 million viewers via satellite, correspondents worldwide, and a nightly news program that often outranks Al Jazeera. It broadcasts in Arabic, English, French and Hebrew. An American AUB professor in Beirut, Dr. Judith Harik, told me that Al Manar often features video not seen elsewhere. "Many people here tune into Al Manar whether they are Christian, Druse, Sunnis or what, because Al Manar has very good reporting. Their analysis is very precise and very well thought out. They're very shrewd, forthright and are taken very seriously."
As a "fair & balanced" Arab TV network, Al Manar TV dubs itself 'the media of resistance' to Israeli and American occupations. Al Manar's blunt, relentless criticism of U.S.-Israeli policy has been called hate speech and incitement to violence. The U.S. State Department deems Hizbullah and its TV station, "the A team of terror" and more dangerous than the "B team Al Qaeda." Ironically, the U.S.-sponsored Tolo TV in Afghanistan regularly features Taliban/Al Qaeda interviews along with Taliban chanting. Attempts to halt such broadcasts were condemned by the international community as censorship.Al Manar TV has been boycotted for inciting violence and suicide attacks against Israel in its MTV-inspired videos, and "Death to America" is a signature slogan. Ms. [Mariam Karnib] dismissed the idea that Al Manar clips were powerful enough to produce this result, and felt sloganeering could not be taken seriously. The most effective training for 'militants' was American cartoons, she explained, which "are filled with alot more violence, terrorism and hatred - and they are aimed specifically at children." She also criticized video games which promote brutal killings of 'Arab terrorists' and 'Muslim fanatics'.See the full content of this document
Extract
Lebanon's Al Manar Tv Targeted
After years of asymmetric attacks on the First Amendment - assassinating journalists, surveilling dissent, and censoring the free flow of information - the Democracy Mukhabarat rules. Using the concept of national security to prohibit scrutiny or prosecution, the Bush administration labels opposition media as the criminal, declaring the Fourth Estate to be the Fourth Front. U.S. policy equates 'unfriendly' media with enemy propaganda, declaring both "a weapon of war" and a legitimate military target.
In 2004, the U.S. government also declared it a Terrorist Organization. Under U.S. Executive Order 12334, Lebanon's Al Manar TV was the first television st...See the full content of this document
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