Alhurra

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Alhurra
Al-Hurra logo
Type Satellite television network
Country United States (external consumption only)
Availability Middle East
Owner Middle East Broadcasting Networks (US Government)
Launch date 2004
Official Website www.alhurra.com

Alhurra (or al-Hurra) (Arabic: الحرّة‎; strict transliteration al-Ḥurra IPA: [ɛ̈l ħʊrrɛ̈], "The free") is a United States-based satellite TV channel, sponsored by the U.S. government.[citation needed] It began broadcasting on February 14, 2004 in 22 countries across the Middle East. U.S. Government sources generally refer to the channel as Al-Hurra. Like all forms of U.S. public diplomacy, the station is forbidden from broadcasting within the U.S. itself under the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act concerning the broadcast of propaganda.

Contents

[edit] Development

Alhura's "founding father" was Norman Joel Pattiz, at the time a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees the government’s nonmilitary international broadcasting services, including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia.[1]

[edit] Funding

The budget for its first year was US$62 million, and $40 million more for an Iraq-specific station. $652 million has been requested for international broadcasting in 2006, which would include specific coverage for European Arabs. Dafna Linzer reports that "So far, U.S. taxpayers have spent nearly $500 million to fund these broadcasts."[2]

[edit] Operations

This network is operated by a non-profit organization called The Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc., which in turn is funded by the BBG.

  • Alhurra has a staff of about 200 people, most of whom moved to the United States from Arab countries where many had worked for competing television channels.
  • Other related American-funded projects include the Arabic-language Radio Sawa.

Operations are based in the community of Springfield in Fairfax County, Virginia near Washington, D.C.

[edit] Content

Alhurra broadcasts 24 hours a day, and, similar to other BBG-owned properties, is commercial-free. In addition to shows the network produces itself, it has broadcast Arabic-subtitled versions of programs familiar to U.S. (and global) audiences, such as Frontline and Inside the Actors Studio. A dedicated version of the channel called Alhurra Iraq is broadcast on the Nilesat 101 satellite.[3]

Formerly the top executives at Alhurra did not speak Arabic. In May 2007, ABC News reported that "That left decisions over al Hurra's content in the hands of its reporters and producers, who are, according to [Joaquin] Blaya, hastily-hired Arabic-speaking journalists with insufficient understanding of Western journalistic practices or the network's pro-Western mission."[4]

Blaya, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, was testifying in May 2007 before a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The hearing was prompted by revelations that, on several occasions, Alhurra had broadcast terrorist messages, including "a 68-minute call to arms against Israelis by a senior figure of Hezbollah; deferential coverage of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial conference; and a factually flawed piece on a splinter group of Orthodox Jews who oppose the state of Israel...."[4] Blaya told the subcommittee that the problems were being addressed.[5]

Alhurra has sought to address some of the concerns, by tackling financial and accounting procedures. Also Alhurra has hired Tom Dine, a former head of Radio Free Europe and former director of AIPAC, the American-Israeli lobby group, as a consultant.[6]

Alhurra has over the years hosted a number of prominent politicians, journalists and intellectuals in one-on-one long format interviews. Guests have included Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Francis Fukuyama, Palestinian President Dr. Salaam Fayyad, Ahmed Qurea, Silvan Shalom, Meier Shetrit, Tom Friedman, David Brooks, Mary Matalin, Jalal Talabani, Paul Volker, John Bolton, and President Bush. Others who have appeared on Alhurra's political coverage include Terry McAculiffe, Joe Lieberman, Susan Turnbull, Robert Zimmerman, Steve Murphy, David Corn, Peter Fenn, Michael Steele, Tony Coehlo, and Eleanor Clift.

[edit] Viewership and reception

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Alhurra has been repeatedly criticized for not reaching Arab mass audiences[citation needed], its viewership dwarfed by al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya[citation needed], the two largest mainstream Arab news networks. The channel has consistently ranked in the low single-digits in polls of regular satellite viewership among Arabs. A Zogby International survey done in June 2004 found that none of the surveyed Arabic audiences turned to Alhurra as a first choice for news, and only 3.8% picked it as a second choice.[citation needed] A poll of satellite users in the greater Cairo area found that over 64% felt Alhurra was not a trustworthy news source, while 86% and 67% considered al-Jazeera and CNN, respectively, to be trustworthy.[7] However, a BBG-commissioned, seven-country survey showed that 29 percent of the adult satellite-viewing audience had tuned in to Alhurra at some point during one week in April 2005. The apparent discrepancy may lie in a difference in viewership between entertainment-oriented programs and news programs. A poll published in May 2009 by the University of Maryland and Zogby International, showed Alhurra with about a 0.5 percent audience preference across the Arab world's largest and most-influential countries.[6]

A more positive evaluation of Alhurra's viewership was made in an Ipsos-MENA poll from March-May 2008. It showed that Alhurra was drawing more viewers in Iraq than Al Jazeera.[8] Citing these figures, Alvin Snyder referred to Alhurra as a "go to" network in Iraq.[9]

Alhurra recently purchased a one-year package of 45 BBC Worldwide documentary and current affairs programs in an effort to boost ratings.[10]

The Heritage Foundation has argued that Alhurra should be allowed to broadcast within the United States since private, non-US government Arab television news networks are permitted to broadcast there.[11]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Craig Whitlock, "U.S. Network Falters in Mideast Mission", Washington Post, June 23, 2008
  2. ^ Dafna Linzer, "Lost in Translation: Alhurra—America’s Troubled Effort to Win Middle East Hearts and Minds," ProPublica: Journalism in the Public Interest (22 June 2008).
  3. ^ Nilesat 101 at 7.0°W - LyngSat
  4. ^ a b "U.S. Government Gave Airtime to Terrorists, Official Admits", ABC News
  5. ^ Testimony of Joaquin Blaya
  6. ^ a b Linzer, Dafna (2009-09-17). "Alhurra Targeted for Review by State Dept. Inspector General". ProPublica. http://www.propublica.org/feature/alhurra-targeted-for-review-by-state-dept.-inspector-general-917. Retrieved 2009-09-18. 
  7. ^ "Strategic Insights - Alhurra, the Free One: Assessing U.S. Satellite Television in the Middle East". http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/2005/Nov/baylounyNov05.asp. 
  8. ^ http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newswire/cpdblog_detail/alhurra_locates_the_arab_street/#read_comments
  9. ^ http://www.metimes.com/Opinion/2009/01/09/al-hurra_locates_the_arab_street/9311/
  10. ^ http://www.diplomatictraffic.com/debate.asp?ID=494[dead link]
  11. ^ Juliana G Pilon (December 3, 2007). "Obsolete Restrictions on Public Diplomacy Hurt U.S. Outreach and Strategy". The Heritage Foundation. http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/bg2089.cfm. Retrieved 2007-12-11. 

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhurra"