FC: First-person account: Israeli army shutters Palestinian TV station

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Mon Apr 08 2002 - 13:21:37 PDT

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    From: "Xeni Jardin" <xeniat_private>
    To: "Declan McCullagh" <declanat_private>
    Cc: <dkuttabat_private>
    Subject: Kuttab op/ed on media in Ramallah (was: re: pornocasts aimed at 
    Palestinian TV)
    Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2002 08:21:41 -0700
    
    Declan,
    
    In light of last week's politech item on <...pornocasts aimed at
    Palestinian TV...>, I thought you and politech listmemembers might
    appreciate this op/ed from the pov of a Palestinian independent media
    organizer. I'm forwarding it with permission from Mr. Kuttab, who is a
    journalist from Jerusalem. He is director of the Institute of Modern Media
    at Al Quds University, which operates Al Quds Educational Television (the
    subject of this story).
    
    All best wishes,
    -----------
    Xeni Jardin
    freelance journalist + conference manager
    xeniat_private | www.xeni.net | YIM: xeni_jardin
    
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    The following appeared in the NY Times
    
    April 6, 2002
    
    Forced Off the Air in Ramallah
    
    By DAOUD KUTTAB
    
    AMMAN, Jordan
    
    I still remember the day early in March 1997 when I was handed a piece of
    paper issued by the Palestinian Authority allowing us at Al Quds
    University's Institute of Modern Media to establish a local television
    station in Ramallah. With lots of energy and almost no resources we began
    the process of setting up Al Quds Educational Television. We wanted to
    build an independent TV station that was neither a government mouthpiece
    nor a commercial station that would live by game shows and shampoo.
    
    It wasn't easy, but we were largely successful until this week.
    
    Five years after launching our first broadcast - using a 40-watt
    transmitter to televise a goldfish in a glass bowl swimming to the sounds
    of Beethoven - our dreams have been shattered. Our station, which has
    grown in size, viewership and programming, has been closed, our equipment
    has been destroyed and Israeli soldiers are using our offices and studios.
    No order was issued for this closure. We didn't violate any law. The
    destruction was simply an act of unprovoked aggression.
    
     >From early on the going was tough, but our existence until this week was
    never in doubt. Our mission to stay independent received only limited
    help. Many major international donors wanted to help the state-run
    television as a means to boost the Palestinian Authority. But with
    assistance from Palestinian foundations like the Welfare Association and
    international organizations like the Open Society Foundation and the Ford
    Foundation, we were able to create an alternative Palestinian television
    station that produced public service programming like that on PBS and
    C-Span.
    
    Senior leaders in the Palestinian Authority were not happy with us. When
    we started broadcasting live sessions of the elected  Palestinian
    legislative council, the official Palestinian Authority TV station started
    jamming us. When we aired a session that dealt with corruption in the
    Palestinian Authority I was arrested and held in a Palestinian jail for
    seven days. My
    release, as a result of local and international pressure, helped secure
    our station's continuity.
    
    Since then, and despite some programming critical of the Palestinian
    Authority, we have been left alone. We have dealt on the air with subjects
    ranging from the physical and sexual abuse of children to the problems of
    early marriage among young Palestinian women to the lack of respect for
    people with disabilities. We have tackled issues like the environment,
    public health and family planning. As part of the vision of the president
    of Al Quds University, Sari Nuseibeh, we embarked in 1997  on a
    groundbreaking partnership with Israeli educational television to produce
    a Palestinian-Israeli version of "Sesame Street." The program was produced
    with the aim of teaching both Israel and Palestinian children mutual
    respect and tolerance.
    
    Freedom of expression and presenting diverse opinions on social, economic
    and political issues were our aims. We felt firmly that we were laying the
    blocks for a cohesive, progressive society that would be the foundation of
    an independent state.
    
    None of this was easy in the face of the Israeli occupation. Yet we
    refused to give in to despair. When the latest Israeli incursion occurred
    we tried our best to keep doing our work despite the next to impossible
    mission of running an educational television station in such times. Tanks
    were rolling around our city, our staff were under curfew and we were cut
    off from  each other except for telephone contact. The fact that our
    station was on the edge of town spared us in the early days of the
    incursion. We kept running our station with a mix of public service
    messages (for example, showing phone numbers for medical services) plus
    programs like a series we produced with Unicef to help parents and
    children deal with the trauma of violence.
    
    Then on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers came to the four-story Medical
    Professions College building, where our studios are located, and began
    destroying what we have worked to build. Every office in this educational
    facility was broken into, equipment was destroyed. Our two remaining staff
    members manning the broadcast were arrested and held for four hours before
    being
    released.
    
    While being held, they saw television cameras and invaluable video
    archives thrown from the fourth floor, where our equipment and studio are
    located.
    
    I am fortunate that my family and our staff have not been physically hurt.
    When our fates are compared to those of others, we must be grateful. But
    what happened was not just property damage, but an attempt to destroy our
    dream of building a useful educational TV station and helping build a
    viable state with healthy civic institutions.
    
    It will not be easy to pick up the pieces after experiencing such
    brutality. I have no doubt that we will rebuild our television station and
    reclaim the hope that we had five years ago. At the same time I am
    confident that our people, with the support of the international
    community, will rise from the pain and build the foundation of a society
    that can live in peace with its neighbors.
    
    
    ******************************
    
    
    
    
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