Broadcaster Bars Deputy's TV Interview

Syrian state television has failed to broadcast a programme that was scheduled to include a member of parliament, the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression said.



The centre said on August 9 that the Syrian Minister of Information, Mohsen Bilal, had stopped the airing of the programme but later issued a correction. On August 11 it quoted the producer of the show, Ibrahim al-Jben, as saying that it was the director of Syrian TV, Diana Jabour, and not the minister of information who decided not to broadcast the interview.



It quoted him as saying unidentified officials were considering whether the programme might be broadcast at some time.



The programme, “Distinctive Mark”, a weekly political show on the Syrian national television, had advertised that it would carry an interview with the head of the foreign relations committee of the Syrian parliament, Sulaiman Haddad, on August 7.



Who has the right to talk in Syria if even someone who is a member of parliament, an assistant of the foreign minister and a prominent leader in the Baath party who has held many positions in the regime for the last 40 years was barred from talking on Syrian TV, the media centre statement asked ironically.