Wednesday, December 17, 2003
The propaganda machine
It is to be called Al Hurra, a slickly produced Arab-language news and entertainment network that will be beamed by satellite from this Washington suburb to the Middle East. The name translates to English as "The Free One."
Al Hurra is meant to be America's "fair and balanced" pan-Arab answer to outlets like Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite network that White House officials accuse of fanning anti-Americanism in the Persian Gulf region.
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Acknowledging the challenges, they say it will exemplify the best values of American journalism and present the best chance so far to deepen understanding of America in the region.
"We're contending with a media environment that includes hate speak in radio and TV," said Norman J. Pattiz, who heads the Middle East committee of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the United States agency that is financing and overseeing the project, as it does Voice of America and several other ventures.
"It's in that environment that the Arab street gets its impression of our policies, our culture, our society," Mr. Pattiz said. "We simply cannot ignore the indigenous media."
Al Hurra will be available everywhere in the Middle East that Al Jazeera is, said Mr. Pattiz, chairman of Westwood One, the largest radio network in the nation.
The answer to our problems in the Arab world isn't to create better propaganda. It's to enact policies that aren't based on bullying and exploitation; that recognize that we are part of the world, not rulers of it.
posted by chris at 1:39 PM
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