Al Jazeera: Philippines largest TV network ABS-CBN ordered shut

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ABS-CBN, the Philippines' largest television network, has been ordered to cease operations after President Rodrigo Duterte's allies in Congress refused to renew the station's 25-year licence.


In an order issued on Tuesday, the government agency tasked with awarding broadcasting licences said "absent a valid Congressional Franchise, as required by law", the network should stop its various television and radio operations.


In a speech at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Congress member Arlene Brosas denounced the order as a "brazen clampdown of the freedom of the press."

Danilo Arao, journalism professor at the University of the Philippines, said that NTC's decision reflects that limits of its independence as a government body under the office of the president.


This closure order is clearly an attack on press freedom and we should confront this head on. The administration should be exposed as the real enemy of press freedom," he told Al Jazeera.

Since becoming president in June 2016, Duterte repeatedly expressed his disdain towards the television network, which is owned by one of the richest families in the Philippines.

Duterte claimed that ABS-CBN refused to run his political advertisements during the campaign season - allegations denied by the network.

ABS-CBN's coverage of Duterte's so-called war on drugs, which has killed thousands of people, also angered the Philippine president.

On many occasions, Duterte has threatened to block the renewal of the network's franchise, while suggesting the owners should sell the company to break the impasse. At the same time, he insisted his hand-picked leaders in Congress were free to decide on the issue.

 

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