Main Page | Month Archive | Email Updates | RSS Feed | Print Version

The Public Diplomacy Blog is intended to stimulate dialog among scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals from around the world in the public diplomacy sphere. The opinions represented here are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.

AL JAZEERA AND ALHURRA CONTEND WITH TV RATINGS PROBLEMS
MAR 27, 2007 - 10:48AM PDT
Posted by Alvin Snyder
All posts by this author

The latest Middle East TV ratings that list actual tune-in of news channels, obtained exclusively by Worldcasting, show business as usual but also some surprises. Al Jazeera, the Qatari government-owned channel, continues to hold forth in popularity in Egypt. Al Arabiya, funded in part by the Saudi government through a holding company, once again tops others in Saudi Arabia by a wide margin, but it also garnered impressive audience ratings in Iraq, where Alhurra, the U.S. government service, continues to trail its competition, there and elsewhere. The TV ratings by the independent polling organization, IPSOS-STAT, depict "day before" actual viewing. In Egypt, Al Jazeera with a 21.26 rating, placed well ahead of Al Arabiya, at a 5.1 rating. But in Saudi Arabia, Al Arabiya, at a rating of 22.23, topped Al Jazeera, which gathered a 17.33 rating. Data from both Egypt and Saudi Arabia were consistent with those from earlier months. Alhurra followed, a long way down. In Iraq, however, Al Arabiya gathered a whopping 41.29 rating, practically even with leader Al Iraqiya, the Iraqi government channel, and well ahead of Al Jazeera, which received an 18.39 rating. Al Hurra trailed well behind others with its two Iraq channels. To generate more buzz about its Middle East TV channels and perhaps lift ratings, Larry Register, the recently appointed head of Al Hurra and its counterpart, Radio Sawa, has changed station policy by lifting the previous ban on broadcasting statements from terrorists. With one exception, the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors to whom Register reports, voiced its support of the former veteran CNN producer. But the Chairman of the BBG, Kenneth Tomlinson, has thus far withheld his support of Register, pending further investigation of the facts. Despite Alhurra's growing pains (it debuted Feb. 2004) it still gets enough of an audience in the Middle East to be listed on commercial TV rating services. Conversely, Al Jazeera's English-language service has practically no audience at all in the U.S., and does not appear in commercial audience rating services even as an asterisk. It can be accessed via the Internet and on a few local cable systems, but major program distributors have shied away from carrying Al Jazeera because of threatened boycotts by sponsors and cable subscribers, over Al Jazeera's distribution of statements by Bin Laden and other terrorists. While the perception of Al Jazeera vis-à-vis terrorists would appear to be stalling its effort to introduce its service in America, Alhura appears to be banking on improving its ratings reach in the Middle East by putting terrorists on the air. In television, it's all about numbers.
 
Read Comments (5) | Add Your Own

Read Comments:

Deirdre Kline on March 28, 2007 @ 4:18 pm:
This column incorrectly states that Alhurra’s policy has changed by "lifting the previous ban on broadcasting statements from terrorists." To the contrary, Alhurra’s policy has not changed. Alhurra has always followed the same policy as the BBG, VOA and other entities of U.S. international broadcasting regarding airing comments by members of terrorist organizations. Alhurra’s policy states that its programs will not be used as a platform for terrorist organizations.

Alhurra has always provided responsible coverage of breaking news in the Middle East that our viewers expect to see on a network geared to the region, and we continue to do so in accordance with the journalistic standards established by law for the BBG broadcasters.

Jason Andrews on March 29, 2007 @ 2:25 pm:
So in other words, Alhurra is PROPAGANDA?

TR on March 29, 2007 @ 3:19 pm:
Mr. Snyder is only telling us part of the story.

In part, he is correct: there ARE reports that there will be less focus on corruption investigations and more airtime provided to so-called "terrorist organizations." Indeed, when pundit Joel Mowbray highlighted this very point in the Wall Street Journal (more than two weeks ago), the BBG failed to address the accusations. Instead, in a March 23 letter to the editor the BBG only touted the service it provides its audiences and talked about its unique presence in the Middle East (Board Chair Kenneth Y. Tomlinson pointed to this failure in a dissent…new ground for a letter to the editor for sure).

Yet I would argue that Snyder is taking it too far. Would Snyder actually have us believe that the broadcasting managers are so preoccupied with ratings that they are intentionally providing terrorists with unlimited access to the airwaves, and by doing so, placing the security of the United States and its allies at risk? That is a heck of an accusation to make, and one that I believe is off base.

Success has come to U.S. international broadcasting efforts when unbiased news is presented to target audiences. Does that mean Al-Hurra should release every OBL statement, IED attack or anti-Semitic rant? Of course not. But my bet that is that the new management is banking on the idea that target audiences will respect the U.S. commitment to unbiased journalism.

Could this be a bad bet? Maybe. Could Al-Hurra be providing a mouthpiece for terrorists? Perhaps. To suggest, however, that the new moves by Al-Hurra’s management are based only in attracting viewers is cynical and callous, and is ignoring the history of how U.S. broadcasting has succeeded in the past.

JB on March 29, 2007 @ 8:07 pm:
I can definitely say that this is a bad bet. Being unbiased has nothing to do with putting terrorists, anti-Semitic and holocaust deniers on air in a live and uncontrolled way. You can always tell their side of the story without giving them the airwaves live. I wonder how would anyone feel when he hears someone spewing venom against the US and expressing joy about 9/11 on a US taxpayer funded TV station? Why stop here? Let’s invite OBL for a debate on Al-Hurra. Would that give Al-Hurra the ultimate credibility the new management is striving for? Why not? It seems they’ve tried everything else.

AD on January 3, 2008 @ 12:42 am:
Where is the full TV ratings report by IPSOS-STAT available online, please?

Add a Comment:

Your Name:
Your Email:
Comment:
Please enter the word you see in the image below:

NOTE: Comments are moderated by CPD and will typically be posted if they are relevant and respectful.