The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) established the Coalition Against Terrorist Media in 2004 to halt the broadcasts of Hezbollah's al-Manar television, Hamas's al-Aqsa television, and other terrorist-owned and -operated media outlets throughout the world. The Iranian regime is the principal backer of many terrorist media outlets.

The ongoing project has briefed more than 900 lawmakers, national security officials, diplomats, and private-sector executives in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia on the threat posed by Iranian-backed terrorist media. CATM officials have appeared scores of times in the media in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. In the March 2005 issue of Commentary, FDD's legal expert Andrew C. McCarthy refuted First Amendment objections to banning terrorist media in a carefully researched legal paper, "Free Speech for Terrorists?"

As a result of CATM's educational campaign, the following goals have been achieved:

• The U.S. State Department in 2004 added Hezbollah's al-Manar TV and al-Nour Radio as well as their parent company, the Lebanese Media Group, to its Terrorism Exclusion List. This allowed the U.S. government to deport or deny entry to any alien contributing to these entities.

• In 2005, the European Commission and the authorities responsible for regulating the communications industry of individual European countries agreed that al-Manar violated the governing European Union directive opposing hate broadcasting.

• In 2006, the U.S. Treasury Department designated al-Manar, al-Nour, and the Lebanese Media Group as Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities. This allowed the government to freeze al-Manar's assets in the United States, bar financial transactions with al-Manar, and make it illegal for anyone to provide material support to al-Manar.

• Ten of the 13 commercial and government-owned satellite companies that have broadcast al-Manar have stopped doing so, including French, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Australian, Barbadian, and Brazilian satellites. Al-Manar was taken off the air in the United States, Canada, Central America, South America, Asia, Australia, and parts of Africa. It has since returned to parts of Asia and Australia via an Indonesian satellite company. Today, only Saudi Arabia's Arabsat, Egypt's Nilesat, and the Indonesian company broadcast al-Manar. CATM continues to seek the removal of al-Manar from these satellites.

• After CATM contacted multinational corporations advertising on al-Manar, these corporations withdrew more than $4 million in annual ad revenue. To date, Hezbollah has been denied more than $12 million in funds.

• In 2008, CATM persuaded the German government to ban al-Manar under the German constitution.

• CATM secured an agreement in 2008 from Europe's largest supplier of hotel entertainment to remove al-Manar and al-Aqsa from more than 2,000 hotels.

• CATM provided assistance in the conviction of two New York City-based owners of a satellite company distributing al-Manar in the United States. In 2009, they pleaded guilty to providing material support to Hezbollah and al-Manar. Both men are now serving time in prison.

• Since 2004, CATM officials have written groundbreaking opinion pieces and had their work featured in publications including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Financial Times. They have appeared on CNN, Fox News, NPR, and dozens of other national and international media outlets.

“Al Manar is bitterly racist, anti-Semitic. It glorifies suicide bombing. It’s not only yelling fire in a crowded movie theater—it’s providing the match, the gasoline, and the arsonist.”
—FDD Executive Director Mark Dubowitz, National Public Radio

CATM has also focused on Hamas's al-Aqsa television, which also is heavily bankrolled by Iran, with articles in the Wall Street Journal and the Philadelphia Inquirer exposing al-Aqsa programming, and in briefings to European officials. In December 2008, CATM secured a ruling from the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) of France, which warned that al-Aqsa television could violate French law that bans incitement of hatred and violence.

CATM also focuses the growing terrorist presence on the Internet. To combat this threat, CATM encourages American and European governments to take action against terrorist online media. It also works with ISPs to encourage greater self-regulation and the removal of terrorist content.

Despite these successes, the battle is not over.

Al-Manar is still distributed to the Middle East, North Africa, and much of Europe by Saudi and Egyptian satellites. Al-Aqsa has penetrated the European market via the French satellite Eutelsat. Furthermore, al-Manar and al-Aqsa are not the only media channels that routinely broadcast murderously anti-Semitic or anti-American programs. Nor will putting them out of business end the threat, particularly as more terrorist media appears on the Internet.

Nevertheless, by waging a campaign against Hezbollah's propaganda machinery, CATM has put the worst offenders on the defensive-and, equally important, helped set the legal precedent for going against others. CATM continues its multipronged efforts to remove al-Manar, al-Aqsa, and other terrorist media from broadcast throughout the world.