Libyan rebels launch TV station

Libya’s rebels have launched their first homegrown satellite TV station, trying to counter the regime’s powerful media machine, which churns out Muammar Gaddafi’s message, depicts the opposition as terrorists and drums up patriotic fervour by beaming images of burning buildings hit by Nato strikes.

Libya Alhurra, or “Free Libya,” began broadcasting last night, a major step in the rebels’ attempts to get their message to the Libyan public, whose main source of information on the crisis in their country has been Gaddafi’s TV and radio.