Thales denies selling radio jamming kit to China 1 Apr, 2008, 0020 hrs IST, REUTERS

Print Save EMail Write to Editor

PARIS: French defence electronics firm Thales denied accusations by human rights campaigners it sold equipment to China that has helped Beijing scramble radio broadcasts. French philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy said in articles published in the past week that equipment sold by Thales was used to block foreign radio broadcasts into China, "particularly into areas such as Tibet". Media rights campaign group Reporters Without Borders has also said antennae manufactured by Thales is allowing China to interfere with radio broadcasts. Thales said a former subsidiary had indeed sold "standard short-wave radio broadcasting equipment to China" in 2002 but the equipment was designed for legal civil purposes. "The equipment has been exclusively designed for general public radio broadcasting, and is identical with equipment installed in numerous countries worldwide," Thales said in a statement. No other similar kit was sold to China, it said. Levy is among a number of high-profile campaigners urging the West to boycott the Olympic Games this year amid criticism of Beijing's response to recent anti-China protests in Tibet. "It's not too late to use the threat of boycotting the Olympics as a weapon," Levy wrote in Britain's Sunday Telegraph. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has not ruled out refusing to attend the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, after accepting an invitation from President Hu Jintao in October, but most European leaders have taken a wait-and-see position.

20 March 2008

Authorities obstruct foreign journalists, step up controls and propaganda in Tibet

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the methods being used by the Chinese authorities to obstruct foreign journalists trying to cover the situation in the Tibetan regions, and calls for the immediate and unconditional return of the foreign press to Tibet and to nearby provinces with a sizable Tibetan population.

At the same time, the jamming of international radio stations has been stepped up in Tibet and Internet café owners are being forced to increase the surveillance of clients, while government propaganda continues to rage at the "Dalai Lama’s clique" and foreign news media.

"The Chinese authorities are in the process of dealing with the problem of Tibetan demonstrations by means of force and silence," Reporters Without Borders said. "After ridding Tibet and the neighbouring regions of undesirable observers - foreign journalists and tourists - the security forces are crushing the protests without the international community being able to watch."

The press freedom organisation added: "For the repression in Tibet to end, the United Nations must demand the return of foreign journalists and the dispatch of independent observers."

Reporters Without Borders has recorded more than 40 serious violations of the rights of foreign journalists since 10 March. They have been prevented from working freely in the cities of Lhasa, Beijing, Chengdu and Xining, as well as in other places in the provinces of Gansu, Sichuan and Qinghai.

One of the cases cited by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China is that of a Finnish TV crew that was arrested on 17 March in Xiahe (in Gansu province), where there had been Tibetan demonstrations against the Chinese government. The TV crew was threatened and its video recordings were confiscated despite its protests. "You don’t want to know what will happen if you don’t show us the footage," one of the policemen told reporter Katri Makkonen.

Police forced journalists working for British television channel ITV to leave Xiahe the previous day after stopping them and taking a note of their names several times. They were also filmed by plain-clothes police. ITV correspondent John Ray said their Chinese driver was "terrified" when the police took down the details of his driver’s licence and vehicle licence number.

Police in Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan province) prevented journalists working for US television network ABC from filming in a Tibetan district on 16 March. The police told them to keep moving and made them leave in a taxi.

Correspondent Louisa Lim of US National Public Radio was turned back at several police checkpoints as she tried to travel to Xiahe. She was then followed for about 300 km by an unmarked police car until she arrived at an airport. At least two French reporters suffered the same fate in this region adjoining Tibet. Several reporters and photographers working for the Associated Press news agency were also prevented from working freely.

Spence Palermo, a US documentary filmmaker, was sequestered in his hotel room in Xiahe on 14 March to prevent him from seeing Tibetan protests. In an account he gave to CNN, he said several hundred soldiers were sent to Labrang monastery, where he had just spent several days. BBC reporters were denied access to the village of Taktser in Qinghai province, where the Dalai Lama comes from. The village is surrounded by police,

Journalists were also prevented from freely covering a small demonstration held in Beijing University on 17 March by Tibetan students, who lit candles. Dozens of the demonstrators were arrested.

In Tibet, Internet café owners have been ordered to prevent all "state secrets," including photos and videos, from being sent abroad. At the same time, the telephone service is still subject to extensive disruptions. Despite the blackout, some pictures of the recent protests continue to circulate and Reporters Without Borders was able to obtain footage of Tibetans who were shot dead in Lhasa and Amdo.

The Tibetan press is relaying violent statements by officials, including comments today by Zhang Qingli, the first secretary of the Communist Party of Tibet, talking of a "death struggle [with] the Dalai clique" and describing the Dalai Lama as "a wolf wrapped in a habit." Raidi, another Tibetan Communist Party leader, described the foreign press coverage as "outrageous and ill-motivated."

While state-owned Lhasa TV broadcast footage of the "agitators" behind the protests, the official Xinhua news agency reported that more than 100 demonstrators, described as rioters, had surrendered to the authorities. A Shanghai journalist told Reporters Without Borders that the Chinese media have been told by the Propaganda Department to use only Xinhua’s reports about the situation in Tibet.

Jamming of international radio stations has increased since the start of the protests. The director of Voice of Tibet, which is based in India, told Reporters Without Borders that the Chinese authorities have stepped up their use of small jamming stations located near cities to prevent the population from hearing of its programmes.

As Reporters Without Borders noted in Tibet in 2006, the authorities broadcast Chinese-language programmes and low-pitched noises, such as drumming and aeroplane noises, on the same frequencies as the Tibetan stations based abroad. Voice of Tibet has increased its daily broadcasts by two hours.

Jamming station in Lhasa

Jamming station near Lhasa

Reporters Without Borders comments on North Korean jamming

February 22nd, 2008 - 10:56 UTC by Andy

In its annual report on North Korea, press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders notes the resumption of jamming in 2007 of broadcasts beamed into North Korea. The organisation says:

Several foreign-based radio stations have increased their airtime, while newspapers available online, in particular Daily NK, have stepped up their coverage. But the regime responded to the challenge on 11 May by resuming jamming independent and dissident radios broadcasting to the people of North Korea: Free North Korea Radio, Voice of America, Open Radio for North Korea, Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Chosun. A manager at Open Radio for North Korea told Reporters Without Borders that this backward step could be linked to the opening of a railway line between North and South.

Jamming of short wave radios had noticeably eased after July 2006, since the authorities, hampered by a serious energy crisis, did not have the capacity to scramble broadcasts all day and on all frequencies.

(Source: Reporters Without Borders)

対北放送妨害電波拡大…政府の支援が切実 [寄稿] 北の住民 '精神的糧'の提供は放送が第一 ﾊﾟク･セギョン /東北亜放送研究会理事長 [2007-05-22 14:26 ] 最近、脱北者が運営する対北短波放送である自由北朝鮮放送に、強力な妨害電波が出され始めたのに相次ぎ、5月18日からは民間対北放送である開かれた北朝鮮放送も、妨害電波の影響を受けている。 妨害電波が北朝鮮から来ていることは、'東北亜放送研究会'の分析の結果、確かである。 これは民間対北放送が、北朝鮮の住民には有益な情報を提供する放送だが、政権にとっては極めて負担になる存在だからだろう。このため、北朝鮮の住民の‘秘密の’チャンネルの選択権は、一つ二つと減っており、対策が急がれる。 現在、韓国から北朝鮮に向けて送り出される対北放送には、公営のKBSの社会教育放送と、民間の自由北朝鮮放送、開かれた北朝鮮放送、北朝鮮宣教放送などがある。 社会教育放送を除いた民間対北放送は、外部の支援や一般の後援金だけでなんとか運営され、1日数時間放送している。しかし、受信状態は遠い所から送り出さ れるため、あまりよくない。それでもよくとらえられる方である自由北朝鮮放送も、これからは妨害電波によって到底聞き分けることができないようになってし まった。どうしてこのようになったのだろうか。 その原因の一つは、公営放送のKBSにもある。国内唯一の国際短波放送であるKBS国際放送は、去年10月末に経営の合理化政策によって、1日の送出時間と使用周波数を大幅に縮小した。社会教育放送も今年の1月から短波送出を廃止して、中波だけ放送している。 実は、北朝鮮は今年初めに廃止されたKBS短波放送に対して、この間持続的に妨害電波を放って来たが、KBSの短波送出の中断は、意図しなかったものであ り、北朝鮮政権としては妨害電波の送信機に大きな余裕が生じ、これにより民間対北放送に対する妨害電波の送出も有利になった。 もちろん、KBSも公企業として経営上問題を考慮しなければならないのは当たり前のことだが、国家的なレベルから見る時、こうした処置は、国家の基幹媒体としての本分をつくすことができないという批判を受ける可能性がある。 '心の糧を満たすために、今日も妨害電波がかかった微かな声に耳を傾ける北朝鮮の住民たちを思ったら、KBS国際放送と社会教育放送は、送出時間と周波数を再び増やすか、または他の方案を積極的に模索しなければならない。 もし、KBSがさまざまな内外的事情から、これを遂行することができなければ、対北放送の機能を外部に移転する方案も積極的に検討しなければならないだろう。 北朝鮮の住民に'心の糧'を与えねば 原因は他にもある。韓国政府の対北政策である ‘太陽政策’は、北朝鮮に対する経済的支援や交流協力事業に偏った、言い換えれば‘心の糧’ではない‘体の糧’を提供するのにとどまっている。現在行われ ている宥和政策は、北朝鮮の住民に対する情報の流入及び、人権改善などの政策が併行されていないため、国内の民間対北放送が韓国から電波を送ることができ ないのだ。 日本政府の場合、総務省が拉致被害者問題の解決のための民間対北放送‘しおかぜ’を国内から送り出せるように気配りし、この放送に対する北朝鮮の妨害電波 に直接抗議の声を出すことは勿論、政府内の拉致問題対策本部では、直接国営の対北放送を開局するための準備作業を行っている。我々の現実とあまりにも比較 されることである。 誰よりも北朝鮮をよく理解して抱擁することができる国が同じ民族である大韓民国であるならば、その社会の問題を改善して、住民の意識を改善させなければな らないという義務も、大韓民国政府にある。今すぐにでも韓国政府は、国内のすべての民間対北放送に、国内送信施設を通じた電波送出を許可して、北朝鮮人権 問題の改善努力と持続的な情報伝達を条件にした、放送発展基金などの支援方案の準備に取り掛からなければならない。 大韓民国に対北放送は確かに存在する。しかし 、‘あってもない’という状況になりつつある。北朝鮮の住民たちに希望のメッセージを伝える民間対北放送を、強力な電波にのせて安定して伝達することがで きるためには、KBSなど関係機関の協力と、政府の支援策が切実である。こうした動きが共に実現する時、対北放送は初めてその存在の意味と役割が明確にな るだろう。

ログイン メンバー登録 情報変更 今日のニュース ‘李明博政府’対北政策は第一歩・. “北 開放を選べば南北関係に新し・. “内政用の南北首脳会談はしない” “麻薬犯罪を隠蔽した‘保安署幹部・. RFA "'チョン･チュンシルタイ滞在・. 最も多く読んだ記事 “市場には将軍様の贈り物より珍・. 北 坑道崩壊, 教化所の収監者40人・. 北の住民22人北送問題…“北から送・. マケイン “国民を残酷に扱う‘北・. 北, 民主主義・市場経済とも‘世界・.

Ethiopian Authorities Accused Of Disrupting Radio Programs
By Douglas Mpuga Washington, DC 16 January 2008

Douglas's interview with Hassan Shire Shiek - Download (MP3)
Douglas's interview with Hassan Shire Shiek - Listen (MP3)

There are reports that Ethiopian authorities are jamming some international radio broadcasts, a charge the Ethiopian government denies. The stations allegedly affected are the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) and the Voice of America (VOA).

The chairperson of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, Hassan Shire Shiek, says the Ethiopian government has created stations to deliberately disrupt the signals of DW and VOA’s Amharic and Oromifa programs.

Shiek, who is currently in Toronto, Canada, told VOA reporter Douglas Mpuga that the Ethiopian authorities are denying the people what he called their basic right to know what is going on in their country.

He says the situation centers on the coverage of the controversial May 2005 elections, the Ogaden crisis and the Ethiopian government’s involvement in Somalia.

“The government has been cracking down on democratic forces, including legitimate voices of the Ethiopian people, such as civil society, political leaders and media houses,” he said. He added, “To deny the Ethiopian people the right to information, they (the Ethiopian government) have started targeting international broadcasters -- the only source of independent information.”

Shiek said, “Ethiopian involvement in Somalia is increasingly being questioned following the displacement of close to a million people and the highlight of grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Mogadishu. So the (Ethiopian) government has become jittery.”

But the Ethiopian government spokesperson, Zemedkun Tekle, described the allegations as baseless. Zemedkun told VOA that jamming international radio broadcasts is against [Ethiopian] government policy. “Maybe it is technical problems, but we are not aware that any broadcasts are being jammed. Those are utterly baseless allegations.”

Together, VOA’s and DW’s Amharic language broadcasts reach some 20 million listeners in Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea and hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians in the United States, Europe and other parts of Africa. VOA also broadcasts to Ethiopia in the Orofima and Tigirinyi languages.

Broadcast Jamming Continues in Post Cold-War World By Gary Thomas Washington 13 October 2005 During the so-called Cold War, totalitarian regimes sought to block radio or TV broadcasts, except the ones they controlled. The Cold War is over, but those jamming efforts continue in some parts of the world. VOA Correspondent Gary Thomas reports from Washington on the 21st century battle of the airwaves. Authoritarian governments still try to silence criticism and unfavorable news coverage in their countries by the age-old expedient of throwing critics in jail and shutting down their publications. But what does today's autocrat do about broadcasts being beamed into his country from sources outside his reach? Simple. He jams them. A longtime researcher on international broadcasting at the Voice of America, Kim Elliott, says the methods of jamming radio broadcasts are still much the same as they have been, even with new technologies. "It is simply a matter of putting a noxious signal on the same frequency as the broadcaster that is trying to get into the country. And it was that way during World War II, it was that way during the Cold War, and it is still that way. If you tune across your short-wave radio, you will hear a raucous noise on one frequency, and you will hear the hapless international radio broadcaster in the background trying to get into the country," he said. The result is rather like being in a crowded room watching a sporting event, with the cheering so loud that it is almost impossible to hear the person sitting right next to you. Free speech advocates have always condemned jamming as an attempt to cut off the uninterrupted flow of information. Kenneth Tomlinson, the chairman of the U.S. government's Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversees VOA, Radio Free Asia, and other government-sponsored broadcast entities, has said it is illegal, and interferes with the free and open flow of international transmissions. Experts say that, ironically, newer broadcast technologies, such as television, are actually easier to jam than old-fashioned short-wave radio, simply because radio can air on so many different frequencies at once. Broadcast researcher Kim Elliott says jamming TV signals, especially from satellites, is relatively simple. "Of all the media available to international broadcasting, short-wave is the most difficult to interdict. And that is because of the physics of transmission at short-wave frequencies," he said. "Signals from more distant transmitters come through better than signals from transmitters closer up. Television transmissions travel much shorter distances, and so those are much easier to jam. Or, if they are from a satellite, they are easy to jam because it only requires a few watts [of power]. And it does not have that kind of immunity [from jamming] that short-wave has." Asia specialist Vincent Brossel, with the French media research group Reporters Without Borders, says radio still remains the main source of information for many people around the world. "The radio is something like the most democratized and the most popular media in the world, due to the fact that many people cannot read, or do not have any access to Internet," he said. "The only way to touch millions, or billions of people around the world is radio." Analysts say this is why China has become the biggest practitioner of international radio jamming in the post-Cold War world. Mr. Brossel says Western firms, such as the French firm Thales', have sold broadcast equipment to China that also can be used for jamming. "What is very interesting is that some Western companies are selling technology to the Chinese, and Chinese are selling technology for jamming to some Third World countries," he said. "So, it means that, just for business reasons, foreign companies like Thales' are helping the Chinese government to prevent millions, or billions of listeners from getting some free and independent radio programs." Thales' officials have declined to comment on the company's sales. An American firm, Continental Electronics, also has sold transmission equipment to China, and to VOA, Radio Free Asia, and Taiwan, as well. Experts say the term "jamming equipment" is really a misnomer, since a transmitter is something of a two-edged sword that can not only be used to broadcast, but can be easily converted to jam broadcasts. Although Iran's theocratic government officially bans satellite television and has jammed foreign broadcasts, including those of exile Persian-language stations, the jamming has been sporadic, and is usually conducted during elections and other political events. Azadeh Moaveni, an Iranian-American journalist, who has reported from Iran, says the reality is different than official policy. "Satellite television is technically banned," she said. "It is implicitly tolerated. And you could, I think, say comfortably that the majority of the country has access to satellite news." Sometimes political jamming is tried as well. Eutelsat, a European satellite operator, earlier this said it would not renew its contract to carry the signal of a new language broadcast outlet called New Tang Dynasty TV, or NTDTV Its links to the Falun Gong group, which is banned in China, earned it official Chinese displeasure. Mr. Brossel of Reporters Without Borders said Eutelsat was under what he called "tremendous pressure" from China to cancel the NTDTV contract. But last month Eutelsat agreed to renew it. E-mail This Article Print Version

Related Stories Repressive Governments Use US Technology to Control Internet Access Top Story Parliamentary Elections Underway in Pakistan More Stories Kosovo Declares Independence Bush Calls for Fair Elections in Zimbabwe Rice Not Expecting Final Deal From Kenya Visit Suicide Bomber Kills 80 in Afghanistan Israeli Forces Battle Militants in Southern Gaza; 4 Palestinians Killed Woman Suicide Bomber Kills 3 in Baghdad Four Freed Cuban Dissidents to Arrive in Spain Delegates at Cluster Bomb Conference Hope for Decisive Action

FAQs | Terms of Use & Privacy Notice | Broadcasting Board of Governors | Site Map | Link to Us | Contact Us

thiopian Authorities Accused Of Disrupting Radio Programs
By Douglas Mpuga
Washington, DC
16 January 2008

Douglas's interview with Hassan Shire Shiek audio clip
Listen to Douglas's interview with Hassan Shire Shiek audio clip

There are reports that Ethiopian authorities are jamming some international radio broadcasts, a charge the Ethiopian government denies. The stations allegedly affected are the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) and the Voice of America (VOA).

The chairperson of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, Hassan Shire Shiek, says the Ethiopian government has created stations to deliberately disrupt the signals of DW and VOA’s Amharic and Oromifa programs.

Shiek, who is currently in Toronto, Canada, told VOA reporter Douglas Mpuga that the Ethiopian authorities are denying the people what he called their basic right to know what is going on in their country.

He says the situation centers on the coverage of the controversial May 2005 elections, the Ogaden crisis and the Ethiopian government’s involvement in Somalia.

“The government has been cracking down on democratic forces, including legitimate voices of the Ethiopian people, such as civil society, political leaders and media houses,” he said. He added, “To deny the Ethiopian people the right to information, they (the Ethiopian government) have started targeting international broadcasters -- the only source of independent information.”

Shiek said, “Ethiopian involvement in Somalia is increasingly being questioned following the displacement of close to a million people and the highlight of grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Mogadishu. So the (Ethiopian) government has become jittery.”

But the Ethiopian government spokesperson, Zemedkun Tekle, described the allegations as baseless. Zemedkun told VOA that jamming international radio broadcasts is against [Ethiopian] government policy. “Maybe it is technical problems, but we are not aware that any broadcasts are being jammed. Those are utterly baseless allegations.”

Together, VOA’s and DW’s Amharic language broadcasts reach some 20 million listeners in Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea and hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians in the United States, Europe and other parts of Africa. VOA also broadcasts to Ethiopia in the Orofima and Tigirinyi languages.