Excerpts: Lebanon "shifting from consensus position".Saudi-Egyptian proposed
potential censor of TV critics January 23, 2010

+++NAHARNET (Lebanon) 23 Jan.'10:"Geagea Calls on the Lebanese to Rally in
Martyrs Square on February 14, Says Suleiman Shifting from Consensus
Position"
SUBJECT: Lebanon President "shifting from consensus position"
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. . . stressed that the February 14 rally
will have a special flavor this year given that "the other coalition has
insisted on repeating, since one year and eight months, that March 14 ended"
as a political camp and that there is "no more Cedar Revolution nor cedars."

... Geagea answered a question about "the campaigns targeting" President
Michel Suleiman by saying: "First of all, I believe that the president is
the one subjecting himself to those campaigns, that is to say every time
they put obstacles in his way or wage attacks, he tries to stop those
campaigns by satisfying them. When they found that suitable for them, they
persisted in that direction.""This direction, in my opinion, made the
president shift from his consensus position … because if we observe his
stances at all Arab and international forums, or even in Lebanon, we find
them closer to the other camp."

Geagea hoped that President Suleiman "would return to his consensus position
despite the attacks he is being subjected to from the other camp, because if
he decides to give them what they want under pressure of attacks, they will
always attack him."

As to Lebanese-Syrian relations, Geagea stressed that he has never called
for building a separation wall between Lebanon and Syria or to cut the
relations.

"We were demanding that Syria engages with Lebanon in a state-to-state
approach … but in the last two weeks negative developments occurred whether
through 'summoning' Abu Moussa to the Lebanese scene after a 25 years
absence, or through today's reports about live ammunition exercises taking
place in Quosaya," added Geagea.

+++SOURCE: EGYPTIAN GAZETTE 23 Jan.'10:"TV police plan 'disturbing' ",
Agence France Presse

QUOTE: "super- police could be used to censor all TV stations that criticise
regional governments" to

FULL TEXT: A proposal to create a pan-Arab television monitor is a
"disturbing" move that could could lead to censorship of broadcasts critical
of Arab governments, a media watchdog said Saturday. A Saudi-Egyptian
proposal to establish a regional office to supervise satellite broadcasters
is aimed directly at Qatar-based Al-JazeeraAl-Jazeera, the Palestinian Hamas
group's Al-Aqsa TV and Hizbollah's Al-Manar channelAl-Manar channel,
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said.
"This proposal is disturbing, to say the least," the group said in a
statement.
"The danger is that this super-police could be used to censor all TV
stations that criticise the region's governments. It could eventually be
turned into a formidable weapon against freedom of information."
The proposal to create the "Office for Arab Satellite Television" is to
be discussed when information ministers from Arab League countries meet in
Cairo Sunday.
Reporters Without Borders said the proposal stems in part from a recent
move by the US Congress to allow satellite owners to be branded "terrorist
entities" if they allow broadcasts by television channels also branded as
such.
But it also represents an effort to strengthen "traditional values", the
group said. The two leading regional satellite operations are
ArabsatArabsat, created by the Arab League and based in Riyadh, and Nilesat,
based in Cairo and controlled by the Egyptian Government.
The two groups carry a broad range of hundreds of free-to-air and pay-TV
channels in Arabic and other languages, from regional and global channels.
Not all of the 22 Arab League governments support the proposal, Reporters
Without Borders said, citing opposition from Qatar and Lebanon.
"Some fear this office would end up controlling content on privately
owned TV stations. Others have voiced concern about loss of sovereignty,"
the group said.
===================================================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA