'Taking Press TV off air: UK censorship'

Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:33PM GMT

A British journalist says the revocation of Press TV's broadcasting license and its removal from the Sky platform by the Office of Communications (Ofcom) is a blatant example of “media censorship,” Press TV reports.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV on Friday, Phil Rees said Ofcom's assumption of balance and impartiality is delusional, adding that UK laws are essentially geared towards “restricting debate” in the country.

On Friday, Ofcom revoked Press TV's license for what it calls breaching the broadcasting code.

This while, Ofcom had earlier hit Press TV with a fine of 100 thousand pounds. The British media regulator stepped up pressure on Press TV after the news channel covered British police crackdowns on anti-austerity protesters in London and other British cities.

Ofcom is said to have close ties to Britain's royal family. The cables released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks show that Press TV's programs on the royal wedding, which many in the country described as extravagant, angered the royal family.

Many observers have also noted that the British government's hostile campaign against Press TV has its roots in the channel's extensive and transparent coverage of the role that the British government played in the killing of tens of thousands of innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Press TV has extensively given coverage to Britain's support for autocratic Persian Gulf monarchies and even given legitimacy to the dictatorial regimes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

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