Arabisto: Al Hurra, the new "terror" network financed by America

It's interesting to watch the controversy over Al Hurra, the American funded "public diplomacy" station aimed at Arabic speaking audiences abroad, unfold in a parallel way to that of Al Jazeera, a nominally independent Qatari-funded station aimed at the same audience. Both were seen as beacons of freedom and hope when they began, but within a few years both became vilified as beacons of hatred and terror. Perhaps the fact that they aim to be credible news organizations that cover the events, people, and policies that matter to their audience has been most responsible for the about-face in public perception. The fact is that Al Hurra has adapted to the imperatives of competition it faces in the Arab world, and thus adapted to those audience expectations and styles of journalism. For example, Arabic news is not limited to the ten-second sound bite. Officials, politicians and such are allowed reasonable time to explain themselves and include context in their statements to the media. They don't have to boil down their speeches or take-aways to a few seconds of blather as they do on American news, which can't seem to spend more than 30 seconds on any one person. Yet as Al Hurra has sought to gain credibility with its target Arab audience, it has lost credibility at home among its American sponsors. Ironically, though, they are in the same catch-22 as they are in with Al Jazeera, they can't understand what is being said, and must rely on translators to tell them what the broadcasts say. According to a recent article, which I will quote in length below, there is a proposal to stream Al Hurra live online and provide transcripts, a proposal that challenges the logic of the law preventing the government from broadcasting such material (propaganda it says) to the American public, this includes Voice of America, Radio Marit (our Cuban counterpart to Radio Sawa), and other such "public diplomacy" efforts. Of course, maybe in the 21st century such national boundaries on information don't make sense. Anyway, the article, below highlights the controversy over programming and leadership, and it worth a read:

On March 12 in a Wall Street Journaleditorial, Joel Mowbray detailed how Al-Hurra, under the leadership of former CNN producer Larry Register, had turned "into a platform for Islamic terrorists." In a May 8 follow-up editorial in Power Line, Mowbray follows Register's reaction to his editorial arguing that Al-Hurra's news director, Register, and his boss Brian Conniff, president of the network's parent company, the Middle East Broadcasting Network "hoodwinked Secretary of State Condi Rice, Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, the Broadcasting Board of Governors [BBG], and Congress," by downplaying the extent to which the television network aired a controversial speech by Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah. Mowbray argues that Register originally assured press that only part of the speech, in which Nasrallah denied the Holocaust, aired before the network cut away. Mowbray also alludes to memos of Conniff to the BBG, Rice, and Congress in which Conniff consistently varies the actual air time of the speech, ranging from 25 to 60 minutes. Mowbray states that DVDs of the broadcast provided to Congress provide evidence that Al-Hurra carried the entire speech of 68 minutes and the network never cut away.

In a Wall Street Journal editorial on May 9, BBG Chairman of the Middle East Committee Joaquin Blaya offers a rebuttal of Mowbray's March 12 editorial. He argues that "Al-Hurra is filling a void in the Middle East by providing accurate information about America, and by addressing issues absent on other Arab news stations including free speech, human rights, woman empowerment, and government accountability – all building blocks for freedom and democracy."

Blaya admits that the Tehran Holocaust conference, in which Nasrallah spoke, "should not have aired" but argues that the coverage was "not indicative of an editorial position." Whereas Mowbray in an interview with The Journal Editorial Report of the Wall Street Journal states that Al-Hurra covered the conference like a "puff piece…there was no rebuttal. There's no independent debunking. These guys were put on almost like an infomercial," Blaya tried to demonstrate that the conference was surrounded by broadcasts of countering views. Blaya writes, "When one examines the totality of Al-Hurra's coverage over the past five months, one would find that in the days following the Holocaust conference Al-Hurra presented the condemnation of the conference by countries such as Israel, Britain, Italy, Germany and the United States." Additionally the author mentions a report that followed members of the Washington, DC Muslim community on a visit to the Holocaust Museum in which they express solidarity with the victims. The station also provided live coverage of President Bush's remarks on Holocaust Remembrance Day as well as Prime Minister Olmert's comments from Israel.

"We have learned from our errors and have instituted improved editorial controls. For example, an assignment desk was established in early March that monitors and flags material as is received from the field," writes Blaya, asserting Al-Hurra's commitment to covering human rights abuses and providing balanced reporting.

In response to this controversy, Rep. Steve Rothman (NJ-9) in the New Jersey Jewish Standardcalled for the creation of an external advisory board for Al-Hurra.

"While I am pleased with Ms. Hughes' promises, given the seriousness of mistakes at Al-Hurra, I believe an external accountability system is in order – one that enables everyone to access Al-Hurra's programming and provide oversight. To that end, I have requested funding in the Fiscal Year 2008 Foreign Operations spending bill to stream all Al-Hurra broadcasts live online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and provide archived broadcasts, as well as transcripts of all broadcasts translated into English. With the click of a mouse button, we can ensure that Al-Hurra lives up to its mission of representing America values."

Rothman also called for the immediate dismissal of Register. "By removing the present leadership at Al-Hurra and by making its programming accessible and understandable to those who pay for it – the American people – we can begin to fix Al-Hurra. And, we can make sure that terrorists are not given a free pass to use our own airwaves against us."