One thing I can assure you was that the vast, yawning discrepancy between Press TV’s coverage of the Egyptian Revolution and their coverage of the democracy movement in Iran was not lost on any of my Egyptian neighbours and friends.

We were all stunned to learn from Press TV that the Egyptian Revolution was driven by a desire to implement an Islamic Republic here in Cairo – principally because that was of no interest whatsoever to anyone involved in the democratic opposition who drove the Revolution, nor the majority of its participants.

We were fascinated by Press TV’s coverage which managed – like many other news outlets, to be fair – to entirely ignore the role of the Egyptian trade unionists in the industrial cities of the Delta (rather like the totally ignored role of the miners of Tunisia in their Revolution), who began the revolutionary upheaval two years ago, in favour of talking heads drawn from the usual MB suspects and assorted overseas Islamist favourites with little or no connection to the events in Egypt.

We were wearily amused to learn that in Press TV world, Egyptian democratic Revolution = good; Iranian democratic Revolution = bad.

Spare us the nonsense that this is anything other than Propaganda TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hty3fhcLzPQ

OFCOM requires that Sky gives other broadcasters access to listings and a channel number on its Electronic Programme Guide in return for a fee or inclusion in Sky television packages.

I just wouldn’t want people to be mistaken in thinking that Sky will “do anything for money” or are somehow condoning the channel when it’s entirely out of their hands. It’s not the same as, say, Nokia and Siemens with their direct dealings with the Iranian state.