PressTV Poll: Britains outreach means Hezbollah victory

A two week Press TV reader poll asked "What is your opinion about UK officials signaling willingness to hold talks with Hezbollah?" The reader's response suggested that viewers felt that Britain's willingness to hold talks with Hezbollah is an indication of the resistance's success in the region.

Of the 5991 respondents, 34.47 percent said it show Hezbollah success; 30.21 percent said that the talks would be in the interests of the UK and Hezbollah; 19.21 percent said that the UK is seeking to convince Hezbollah to abandon its policy of resistance and 16.11 percent said that such talks would bear no fruit.

On March 7, UK Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell told MPs that the government would authorize "carefully selected" contacts with the political wing of Hezbollah, which is represented in the Lebanese parliament.

Hezbollah welcomed the change in Britain's tone and its interest in holding talks with the resistance group saying, "This policy revision is a step in the right direction and we shall see how it translates in practical terms."

The decision marks a significant change in Britain's policy, which has shunned contact with Hezbollah since 2005 due to its anti-Israeli stance. The policy shift will also distance London from Washington's position toward the Islamic group, which it has listed as a terrorist organization.

PressTV Viewers have Suprising Opinions and Surprising Nationalities.

In this week's PressTV.com "Quick Vote" visitors are asked the following;

QUICK VOTE

What will be the most likely scenario for the aftermath of the US economic crisis?
It will lead to the collapse of capitalism The capitalistic system will modify itself and survive the crisis Obama will defuse the crisis without any major modifications in the capitalistic system
	Results

The results are interesting in that the majority of respondents feel that it will lead to the collapse of capitalism though a close second goes to those who believe the system will adjust and survive.

Results
It will lead to the collapse of capitalism (46%)
The capitalistic system will modify itself and survive the crisis (41%)
Obama will defuse the crisis without any major modifications in the capitalistic system (13%)

What makes this poll even more interesting is looking at who these respondents are. I referred to Alexa which tracks website traffic to see who PressTV's audience is. According to Alexa..

Presstv.com users come from these countries:

United States22.0%

Iran21.0%

United Kingdom14.6%

Canada10.2%

Indonesia7.5%

Switzerland6.7%

South Africa2.0%

Trinidad and Tobago1.8%

Norway1.6%

Cyprus1.3%

India1.2%

Netherlands0.8%

Bulgaria0.8%

Poland0.7%

Australia0.7%

Turkey0.7%

United Arab Emirates0.6%

Other countries5.7%

Regardless of their largely UK-oriented programming, the Brit's aren't their largest audience.. the United States is, with Iran coming in at a close 2nd. It looks as if Press TV has both a domestic and international audience. In looking at past poles, such as the one a few weeks ago which stated that 78% of Press TV poll respondents (15,575 respondents) felt that Israel threatens stability and security in the volatile Middle East. Only 15% of the respondents to the poll said that Iran is the main source of concern for the stability of the region, while a mere 3% said Egypt should be feared, and another 3 percent believed none of the choices threatened the stability of the region. Knowing the large US following, it puts a different spin on those numbers.

London's PressTV?

In watching the PressTV programming, I notice more and more of the shows are not only based in London but focus on British issues. One program called "Comment" is hosted by British MP George Galloway and allows viewers to email and call into the show and pretty much talk about whatever they want. Viewers comment from Spain, the UK, Nigeria, Cyprus and other corners of the world. One caller brought up the torture of Guantanamo Bay prisoner, Binyam Mohamed. Galloway criticized Britain for its role in the situation. The show had its fair share of Israel criticism as is common on PressTV, but one viewer email from Nigeria stated that its author was glad to see Netanyahu elected but stated that Palestinians should have a state and that Israel needs to stop the indiscriminant killing of Palestinians "because it's better than that." Galloway replied that Israeli’s have overwhelmingly chosen war by electing Netanyahu. Which is not exactly true because Livni actually won the popular vote. Anyway, the program that followed dedicated its entire 50 minutes to Britain's laws regarding the custody of children in divorce. The show took to the streets of London interviewing Brits about how they felt about these laws. Clearly this means PressTV is catering to a largely British audience. I find myself wondering how this program topic furthers Iran's mission with PressTV. On that note, let's look at this clip from PressTV's "Comment" in which Galloway defends an email accusation that Iran is a dictatorship. Maybe this is Iran's mission with PressTV...