Iran launches English TV channel

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Iran's state broadcaster has launched a 24-hour English-language news channel.

Press TV, based in Tehran but with 26 correspondents around the world, says it aims to break a "stranglehold" it says the West has over world media.

Mohammad Sarafraz, vice-president of Iran's state broadcaster, said Press TV would offer "another point of view" unlike Western channels or al-Jazeera.

Press TV's debut follows recent launches by al-Jazeera English, Russia Today and France 24.

Correspondents say the channel will be entering an increasingly crowded international news market.

'Unbiased'

Mr Sarafraz said Press TV would offer an unbiased view, unlike al-Jazeera, which he said had supported the Taleban and the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Since the 9/11 attacks in the US in 2001 the world's media had divided into two camps, he said.

On the one side was the perspective offered by Western media, while the other side was pro-Taleban and pro-al-Qaeda, Mr Sarafraz said.

He said Press TV wanted to deliver a different view of the security situation in Iraq, US military threats and the push for democracy in the Middle East.

Iranian media reports have said that documentary programmes are in production in a number of countries, including Germany, the UK and Switzerland.

There are also plans for a programme called Children of War, which will examine the effects of war on children in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.