- TEL AVIV (Reuters) - 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.
-
- 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.
-
- A source close to Ram Belinkov, who will be chief
executive
of a merged company of the three cable providers -- Matav Cable Systems
Media, Tevel and Golden Channels -- said the firms were "dissatisfied
with CNN's political coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian
situation."
-
- "Turner's comments were the latest in a long line
of biased coverage (against Israel)," the source said. "We are
very dissatisfied with CNN's coverage. It's very problematic."
-
- The source said Belinkov would meet CNN representatives
in London within a couple of days and that the cable companies might soon
reach an agreement to broadcast the Fox News Channel, owned by conservative
Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch.
-
- Removing CNN from the air would need the approval of
the Israeli Satellite and Cable Television Broadcasting Council. The
council
has already granted approval to YES to broadcast Fox News, though the
satellite
company has not yet done so.
-
- CNN "PUZZLED"
-
- TBS, the parent company of CNN, said the cable companies'
comments were "disappointing and truly puzzling."
-
- Ron Ciccone, managing director of TBS Middle East, said
TBS had assisted in the development of Israel's cable industry and its
commitment in the region had been and remained absolute.
-
- "Recently the marketing and content executives
representing
Israel's three combined cable companies approached TBS for help with their
current financial difficulties. They have received a high level of
understanding
and cooperation from us.
-
- "Effective commercial discussion between
longstanding
partners should be taking place at the negotiating table and not in the
media," Ciccone said in a statement.
-
- Eli Fastman, senior producer at Fox in Jerusalem, said
he was opposed to taking CNN off the air but added that Fox would be
broadcast
in Israel regardless of what happened to CNN.
-
- In an interview with London's Guardian newspaper, the
outspoken Turner said the Israelis and Palestinians were "terrorizing
each other."
-
- "The rich and the powerful, they don't need to
resort
to terrorism...The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers
-- that's all they have," said Turner, now vice chairman of AOL Time
Warner Inc.
-
- "The Israelis...they've got one of the most powerful
military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are
the terrorists? I would make the case that both sides are involved in
terrorism."
-
- His comments, published on the morning of a suicide bus
bombing in Jerusalem that killed 19 people, caused an uproar in Israel
as it combats a 20-month-old Palestinian uprising against occupation in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip ( news - web sites).
-
- At least 1,403 Palestinians and 539 Israelis have been
killed since the Palestinian revolt erupted in September 2000 after peace
talks envisaging a Palestinian state stalled.
-
- YES, 45 percent of which is held by state-controlled
phone company Bezeq Israel Telecom, competes with the cable companies in
providing television services in Israel.
-
- YES has about 300,000 subscribers in Israel, compared
with about 1.1 million for the cable companies combined.
|