The Arab League’s fear of phone-ins

More evidence, if it was needed, of the gaping chasm between how Arab governments view the media, and how the media actually is. The Arab League is proposing a satellite broadcasting charter which would entrench state control over broadcast media and curtail political expression, reports Arabian Business.
The move is thought to be in response to TV talk shows, and the worry that privately-owned stations are too viewer-focused. The paper says Saudi Arabia appears to have recently banned live talk shows after someone mocked the size (30 per cent!) of a civil servant salary increase - a position seen as a criticism of the royal family. Saudi stations still run phone-in programs but it is not clear if they are still live.
The charter would ban broadcasting material seen as undermining "social peace, national unity, public order and general propriety" – a broad catch-all that could be used for the most minor of statements.
The move comes as Saudi blogger Fouad Al-Farhan spends his third month in jail, with charges yet to be brought – and if they haven’t found anything yet, it is unlikely they ever will.
As we’ve said before, frightening journalists when you only have half a dozen daily newspapers and a handful of broadcasters is easy; scaring citizens with 24-hour access to blogging software is not.