Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Guess who's getting a new newspaper, radio and tv stations!!!

HAMAS!!!!
The information dissemination representative [I love that title!!!] of Hamas in Tehran has said: The Islamic Resistance Movemement (Hamas) will set up satellite and radio networks as well as a newspaper in the near future.

Speaking to Fars, Ahmad Hamdan said: Hamas does not have a newspaper exclusively for itself, but many newspapers express its viewpoints and opinion. However, in the future, we will express our opinion in Hamas newspaper.

He said: We have specific plans for the circulation of Hamas newspaper and how to publish it. But in view of the current developments, we cannot reveal the financial sources of the newspaper now.

...

Source: BBC Monitoring/BBC Source: Financial Times Information Limited

Guess where this announcment was published!!!!

Iranian Fars News Agency

Hmmm... so Iran is the first country to announce Hamas' new "media wing." I wonder where all the money is comming from???

Okay, considering that the government Hamas currently oversees is utterly bankrupt and unable to pay the thousands of armed men who are on its payroll, I wonder about the party's ability to set priorities.

I have to admit though... if indeed these media projects are funded by Iran, then it is a brilliant move. During a time in which Arabs fear the "Persians" more than the Israelis, what better PR tool than Hamas could the Iranians ask for?

Not only is Hamas an Arab organization. But, unlike its Lebanese counterpart, it is Sunni! Iran will essentially possess Sunni-Arabic media outlets echoing its own message to the Arab world. Brilliant!

3 comments:

JoseyWales said...

What difference will that make?

Most Arab media/intellectuals are implicitly or explicitly pro-Hamas, from the secular to the religious zealots. And Al-Jazeerah is their cheerleader.

The catastrophe of the one-idea culture continues unabated.

Raja said...

I thought about that Josey... but could these Hamas media outlets be a little less hostile to the Iranians than, say, al Jazeera?

JoseyWales said...

Right Raja,

May make a difference to them (hamas and Iran etc).

But for you and me, wrecking the region in the name of Arabism/Palestine is same as wrecking it in the name of Islamism/Palestine.

The words will be different, the result the same.