Al-Jazeera is reporting on the first satellite television station operated by the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood. The report begins:
07 Apr 2013 10:20 No revolution erupted in Jordan but many Jordanians have reaped benefits from the ‘Arab Awakening’, mainly in the form of greater freedoms. It used to be taboo to even question the monarchy in a private conversation inside a friend’s home. Now, some protesters carry banners with slogans that blatantly criticise King Abdullah II. This relaxation is the government’s way of containing dissent, and it has been a smart move. It’s part of the reason why protests in Jordan have largely remained peaceful. Envious of the gains their friends made in Tunisia and Egypt, Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood was among the first groups to jump on the bandwagon and take advantage of improved freedom of expression. Towards the end of 2011, the group launched Al Yarmouk, its first satellite television channel. Had it not been for the Arab Awakening, Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood would have never dreamt of having its own TV channel. According to Al Yarmouk’s General Manager Khader Al Mashayekh, the channel’s audience is not only ‘Islamic’. Lots of Jordanians watch the channel, he says, because it addresses all sectors of society through its variety of political, cultural and social programmes. The Muslim Brotherhood, was among the first groups to make its voice heard in the Arab Spring. Al Mashayekh says this has helped the Brothers enter a ‘new sphere of influence’. But he admits if the channel wants to be successful, it has to listen to all views and address all issues to appeal to more people, because Muslim Brotherhood followers still remain a minority. The channel is conservative. However, its management says it’s not a religious channel. It hosts unveiled female activists and politicians. But it will only hire female reporters and presenters who wear the veil. Its capabilities are modest. The Amman-based channel has only 20 staff employees and operates out of four tiny rooms, including only one studio. It has about 30 different programmes that are mostly interactive and heavily reliant on viewer participation. This is why the channel receives hundreds of calls and up to 3,000 text messages from its viewers every day.
Read the rest here.
A post from March 2011 reported on plans by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to set up its own satellite TV channel.
A post from May 2012 reported on the selection of a new leader for the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, described as a “hardliner.” Previous posts have reported on various extremist positions of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood including:
- Praising Turkey’s decision to expel the Israeli ambassador and calling on Jordan and Egypt to do the same.
- Demanding punishment for those in Jordan who may have warned Israel about the terror attacks in Eilat.
- Calling the French ban on full face veils “the beginning of a dangerous battle.”
- Suggesting that Israel might be behind a bomb attack on an Egyptian Coptic church.
- Support for Sudanese President Omar al- Bashir, accused by the International Criminal Court of genocide in Sudan.
- Support for marriage of girls at age 15.
- Participation in incitement centered on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
- Calling on Palestinians to begin a “Third Intifada.”
- Calling for martyrdom over religious sites in Israel.
- Opposing a U.N treaty on the rights of women.
- Supporting a boycott on goods produced by “enemies of Islam.”
- Calling for more suicide attacks against Israel.