Direct link to this article: http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.php/newsroom/specialreports_detail/3792/
Published: JUL 10, 2008 - 3:27PM PST
Special Reports
Special reports are articles collecting the most relevant public diplomacy articles and information on topical issues, and are posted periodically by our research team at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.
ALHURRA AND THE PREDICAMENT OF U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING TO THE MIDDLE EAST
JUL 10, 2008 - 3:27PM PST
by Iskra Kirova
Alhurra – “The Free One” – is a U.S. government-funded broadcaster available throughout the Middle East. Established in 2004, Alhurra, along with its FM radio counterpart, Radio Sawa (launched in 2002), represent America’s largest commitment to public diplomacy in the region. Over the last six years, the U.S. government has invested just under $500 million dollars in the two broadcasters. Overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent agency reporting directly to Congress, Alhurra’s mission is to promote freedom and democracy in the region through the accurate and objective representation of U.S. policies. Broadcasting from Springfield, Virginia, the station’s programming includes a mix of traditional newscasting, cultural programming, political talk shows, documentaries, as well as some American entertainment programming dubbed into Arabic. Since its inception, Alhurra has attracted controversy. In 2006, the United States General Accountability Office issued a report documenting the many challenges facing Alhurra and Radio Sawa, notably poor management and weak performance. In March 2007, Alhurra gained significant media and public attention when Joel Mowbray, a conservative syndicated columnist for Knight-Ridder and a frequent contributor to the National Review, published a series of articles in the Wall Street Journal accusing the channel of providing “platforms to Holocaust deniers and Islamic terrorists.” In these articles, Mowbray revealed that Alhurra had aired the entirety of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s December 7, 2006 speech, an explicit violation of Alhurra’s Journalistic Code of Ethics and its Congressional mandate, and that they provided extensive and deferential coverage of a Holocaust denial conference held in Tehran in December 2006. In May 2007, Congress held hearings to further examine the accusations. In a statement before Congress, Alhurra executive, Joaquin F. Blaya, acknowledged the channel’s mistakes and assured his audience that corrective measures had been taken and that terrorists and Holocaust deniers would never again use the channel as a platform. In addition to this political scrutiny, Alhurra has also faced criticism from media scholars and practitioners. Professor Shibley Telhami argues that Alhurra’s actual influence on public opinion in the region is minute given its relatively small audience share. Moreover, in the face of a growing number of Middle Eastern satellite news channels (e.g., Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and Al Manar, as well as other broadcasters funded by Western governments such as the UK’s BBC Arabic TV), former deputy director of the Voice of America Alan L. Heil argues that the likelihood of Alhurra gaining any ground against its more respected competitors is highly improbable. Arab media expert, Marc Lynch, suggests that Alhurra’s problems boil down to the impossible balance required to appease its Congressional critics while also providing coverage that resonates with an opinionated Arab audience. Lynch argues that by acquiescing to Congressional pressure and ensuring that its content best represents and promotes the U.S. agenda in the region, Alhurra quickly lost credibility among an Arab audience already critical towards much of America’s current foreign policies. In June of this year, Alhurra was once again embroiled in controversy after two scathing media reports…... FULL TEXT
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