Posted on 02/13/2004 5:50:36 PM PST by mylife
Arabs slam Washington's TV channel
US-funded news station seen as Bush bid to spread propaganda and to undermine Islamic values
CAIRO - Even before its first broadcast, a satellite television station financed by the US government and directed at Arab viewers is drawing fire in the Middle East as an American attempt to destroy Islamic values and brainwash the young.
Al-Hurra, or The Free One, is to start broadcasting today.
US President George W. Bush has promised that the news station, which will build up to 24-hour programming within a month, will 'cut through the hateful propaganda that fills the airwaves in the Muslim world'.
It has already landed a scoop few could match - a one-on-one interview with Mr Bush.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has said the interview allows Mr Bush to tell of 'his commitment to spreading freedom and democracy in the Middle East'.
Washington's hope is that a fashionably produced Arabic-language station will win over Arabs and stem anti-Americanism that has risen with each step in America's war on terrorism, the occupation of Iraq and the long-standing issue of US support for Israel.
It is publicly funded, costing about US$62 million (S$104 million) in its first year.
It promises a balanced approach - a possibility critics dismiss - and the station has a long way to go to capture some Arab hearts and minds.
'I think the main goals of launching such a channel are to create drastic changes in our principles and doctrines,' said Jamil Abu-Bakr, a spokesman of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood movement.
'But the nature of Arab and Muslim societies and their rejection and hatred of American policies and social and popular efforts to challenge (our beliefs) will ultimately limit the impact.'
Mr Abu-Bakr condemned Al-Hurra as 'part of the American media and cultural invasion of our region'. Arab journalists also have widely criticised Al-Hurra in editorials and columns as unwanted or even dangerous propaganda.
Mr Norman Pattiz, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors which runs Al-Hurra as well as the long-standing Voice of America radio network, dismissed the criticism, saying the station is about news, not propaganda.
'People can sit there and say whatever they want before it launches,' Mr Pattiz said, adding that people should watch and decide for themselves.
'I think they may be interested in the fact that we may bring a different perspective.'
He defended the Bush interview, saying it is not a speech or welcoming address, but rather probes into subjects that will be of interest to people in the region. The station also will interview regional leaders in the Middle East, he said.
'Once people start watching us, we'll have to walk the walk - and we're going to have to prove that we are reliable and credible,' Mr Pattiz said. 'Without credibility, we are lost.'
The US government has tried reaching out directly to Arabs in other ways, most recently through the Arabic-language Radio Sawa, also overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and a slick Arabic-English magazine, hi, which shies away from politics to inform the Arab world of American culture and life.
Radio Sawa - Sawa means Together in Arabic - began broadcasting to the region shortly before Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted in April.
The hi magazine debuted in July in 14 Arab countries. Both are also accessible on the Internet.
Neither appeared to be instant smash hits, though many young Arabs say they enjoy Radio Sawa's Arabic and Western pop music, even if they look elsewhere for news.
So? Man's got a job to do.
What Islamic "values" would that be?
Repression of women?
Violence?
Heavy-handed rule by Islamic clerics?
Keeping the people in the stone-age?
This can only be good. Spread the light and let the sun shine in.
Every adulterer must get stoned.
Robert, is that you?
We should have been doing this from day 1 as a top strategic priority. Its the old tendencies of conservative reticence and silence that has allowed Al Jazzera and the Arab conspiracy press to set the terms of the debate.
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