ARABSAT AND AL-ZAWRAA TV

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000669 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/13/2017 TAGS: ETTC IZ JO SUBJECT: ARABSAT AND AL-ZAWRAA TV REF: A. 06 AMMAN 9101 ¶B. STATE 14149 Classified By: Ambassador David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Polcouns made ref B points February 12 to Thamer Adwan, the Foreign Minister's office director. Adwan, although not familiar with Al-Zawraa, agreed that the Al-Zawraa's broadcasts polcouns described were harmful to both the U.S. and to moderate Arab states like Jordan. He noted that Jordan's influence on Arabsat was limited, but undertook to see whether the GOJ had any leverage. (Note: as reported ref a, the GOJ owns only four percent of Arabsat's stock, and no longer attends Arabsat board meetings.) ¶2. (C) Econoff made the same points to Afram Jamil, acting Secretary General at the Ministry of Information, SIPDIS Communications and Technology. Jamil echoed Adwan's response, noting that Jordan's four percent ownership limits its participation to the General Assembly. Additionally, Jamil added that the only voting members are Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, who together have over fifty percent ownership in Arabsat. Post will report any further GOJ response. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ HALE