BBC Monitoring Text of report by provincial state-owned Afghan Herat TV on 16 August Providing information, broadcasting the public's views and thoughts and revealing the facts about current issues should serve national development, enlighten and improve people's awareness. This legal principle approved by the Constitution and the media law guarantees …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by Egyptian news agency MENA [LE 45 million to establish new Radio, TV transmission stations-MENA headline] Cairo 15 Aug: The Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) started preparations for a giant project to set up new transmission stations with adding more radio stations to FM …

BBC Monitoring Excerpt from report by Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran West Azarbayjan Provincial TV on 15 August [Presenter] The eighth nationwide conference of heads of TV and Radio Organization started in Orumiyeh today. Our reporter has more: [Correspondent] The deputy head of the Iranian Majlis affairs department …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by London-based newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat website on 16 August [Report by Khalid Mahmud in Cairo: "Al-Qadhafi's Son Launches New Satellite Channel"] Engineer Sayf-al-Islam, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, launched last night the test transmission of a new Libyan satellite channel called "Al-Libiyah", …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by French news agency AFP Rabat, 16 August: Foreign observers monitoring elections in Morocco next month expressed unease on Thursday [16 August] at court cases involving journalists, which they described as impinging press freedom. "There have been notable challenges to press freedoms in advance of …

May, 2007. Politics has become so divisive in Lebanon, on the streets and on TV screens, that the national media council chief urged the media in January to curb "tense rhetoric" that could instigate violence among the country's religious sects.[1] Lebanon was plunged into a power struggle on December 1, …

Politics have become so divisive in Lebanon that the national media council chief urged the media in January to curb "tense rhetoric" that could instigate violence among the country's religious sects, writes Contributing Editor Paul Cochrane. So what are the media up to? Are they guilty of fanning the flames?

BBC Monitoring Text of report by Turkish newspaper Sabah website on 15 August Emin Colasan, a known opponent of the government, has been silenced. Colasan had worked for Hurriyet for 22 years. Emin Colasan, a Hurriyet columnist known for his opposition to the government, has been fired. When it was …

BBC Monitoring Analysis by Peter Feuilherade of BBC Monitoring on 15 August The power struggle between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas is increasingly reflected in attempts by both sides to assert their control over media outlets. Earlier this week, the Hamas-controlled Executive Force intervened to stop journalists covering a …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by French news agency AFP Casablanca (Morocco), 15 August 2007: A Moroccan journalist with the [Arabic-language] weekly, Al Watan Al An, was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment today, Wednesday, while the paper's editor was given a six-month suspended sentence for the publication of "confidential documents" …