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Published: DEC 10, 2004 - 8:59AM PDT

Washington Journal
Editor-in-Chief Adam Clayton Powell, III writes on public diplomacy, politics and more from in and around Washington, D.C.

US GOVERNMENT BROADCASTING IN IRAQ: ONE HIT, ONE MISS
DEC 10, 2004 - 8:59AM PDT
by Adam Clayton Powell III

Radio Sawa popular, but ‘no one is watching’ Alhurra TV Part of broad failure of U.S. to reach out to Arab media Washington, Dec. 9 -- The new U.S. government broadcasters in the Middle East have a mixed record: Radio Sawa is a hit, but Alhurra television is a failure. That was the assessment today by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, who recently returned to Washington after serving for 18 months as Baghdad bureau chief of the Washington Post. Before reporting from Iraq, he was based in Cairo for the Post. “Radio Sawa is actually popular," he said. "It was more popular before the war when it was one of the few stations you could get with news on the ... medium wave dial as opposed to short-wave.” Chandrasekaran said the news is presented every fifteen minutes, and it reminded him of Washington, D.C., all-news radio station WTOP, a “light and snappy” style that appeals to younger listeners. And almost unique on the Baghdad dial, he said Sawa’s news was delivered “without the anti-American slant” favored by most other broadcasters in the region. But it is the music, not the news, that attracts listeners to Sawa, and that is by design. Popular songs in Arabic alternate with popular music in English. “It was a brilliant idea,” said Chandrasekaran. “People love it. For some reason local broadcasters hadn’t hit on the formula.” But on television, he said the U.S. had had several failures, notably Alhurra, in some ways the video partner of Radio Sawa. “The truth is that no one is watching it,” said Chandrasekaran, despite Alhurra’s claims (see press release) of a significant audience. He also pointed to some reports,including one by his newspaper, that the channel's programming may be improving. But he said Alhurra was just one of the mistakes the U.S. is making in Arab television. Perhaps an even bigger mistake was the failure last year to return Iraq’s national television broadcaster to the prominent role - and audience - that it once had. “A key mistake that was made is reopening Iraq’s state-run television station,” he explained. The Pentagon invited bids, and the contract eventually was awarded to SAIC, a San Diego-based government contractor. “As Iraqi employees tell it,” said Chandrasekaran, “the SAIC folks brought no television equipment with them.” Instead they tried to scrounge pieces of equipment that survived the U.S. bombing and then the looting by Iraqis. SAIC’s contract was terminated, he said, and a new contract was awarded by the Pentagon, this time to the Harris Corporation, a Florida-based manufacturer of television transmitters and other electronic equipment. But Harris had “no experience” running Arab television, the company subcontracted the operation of Iraq’s national broadcaster to a Lebanese television company. “The result is that Iraqi TV shows ‘Sesame Street’ in Arabic and Lebanese cooking shows,” said Chandrasekaran. When violence breaks out, he explained, Iraqis no longer turn to the national Iraqi broadcaster “because they’re running muppets. Instead, they turn to Al Jazeera and Al Aribiya,” the region’s dominant…... FULL TEXT