Israeli television broadcasters are considering pulling the plug on the CNN news channel in protest at comments made by U.S. media mogul Ted Turner, officials and sources at the companies said on Thursday.
Turner, founder of the 24-hour Cable News Network, was quoted on Tuesday as saying the Israeli military was engaged in "terrorism" against the Palestinians that could be compared to Palestinian suicide bomber attacks on Israelis.
Within this framework, Yes satellite television will begin broadcasting the Fox News channel Thursday, Israel Radio reported. Yes had submitted the request to air Fox News to the Cable and Satellite TV Council some time ago, and in the last two days had stepped up contacts with the U.S. station. The deal was closed late Wednesday night.
Even before Turner's comments, Israel's cable and satellite companies had received numerous letters from viewers requesting that the Fox News station be added to the viewing package, because they consider its coverage of the Middle East more balanced than CNN's, the radio said.
A senior board member at the YES satellite television broadcaster and a source close to the head of Israel's three cable providers, now engaged in a merger, said the companies would weigh taking the widely watched CNN off the air.
"At least two of us (board members) have demanded that YES management take CNN off the air for at least 24 hours in protest over what Ted Turner said," the board member, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. He said he expected a response from the chief executive of YES within the next few days. Board members will also seek to have CNN permanently replaced by another all-news channel, he said.
Israel’s Communication Minister Reuven Rivlin said Wednesday that CNN "has broken all the limits and red lines in the way it covered Israel." The minister said that if Turner had made his comments in Israel, he would have been declared persona non grata. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
