Music is the language we all understand

Ratings are good for a U.S.-based Arabic TV station, reports FOXNews. That would be Alhurra, blogged here in March:

With the support of President Bush, non-military U.S. broadcasters have launched an Arabic-language all-news and current affairs satellite television service in the Middle East. "It is little wonder that Alhurra (Arabic for 'the free one') has faced a barrage of condemnation from the journalistic elites of the Arab world," says Kenneth Y. Tomlinson in a Wall Street Journal commentary.

"Our broadcasts are aimed at the people, which is why it is so important that we establish long-term credibility with the quality and accuracy of our news programs."

A Google search today brings forth skepticism from Disinfopedia (is that a great name, or what?):

Alhurra (the Free One) is an Arabic-language news station that the United States funds. The United States established the network to counter what it considered the grotesquely anti-American slant of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. As broadcasts of the station began in mid-February 2004, its audience regarded the station's claims of providing "accurate and balanced news to viewers 'enabling them to make informed decisions'" with a healthy amount of skepticism.

We can't say we blame them. As a Victory Coalition member supporting Spirit of America's project to help our Marines in Iraq equip alternative TV stations to compete with Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya for Iraqi "hearts and minds," we'd like to know a lot more about Alhurra. How about some feedback from the burgeoning Middle Eastern blogosphere?

Then there's this interesting take from IslamOnline (savor the irony) re a radio station launched earlier with similar intentions:

In 2001, the US government funded and launched Radio Sawa, an American-run predecessor to Alhurra, to try and better explain US policies in the Middle East. The radio channel was a hit, but not because of its news coverage or discussion forums – Arab audiences liked the mix of Arabic and foreign music; it was received as entertainment, little else.

Don't "misunderestimate" the importance of entertainment. Remember what they used to say on the "Mickey Mouse Club." Music is the language we all understand.

Comments

[Mark Wallace]

More links and my own commentary on Al-Hurra can be found on this post http://gulfreporter.blogs.com/gulfreporter/2004/02/condescending_t.html from back around February, Sissy. (Not that I started feeling competitive when you wrote "blogged here in March". Not at all.)

I also have a more complete list of US and independent radio and TV stations beaming themselves into Iran and the rest of the region, which perhaps I'll post on Gulfreporter if you're interested...?

[Mark Wallace]

Oops. Maybe you'd be so kind as to edit the link above to leave out the closing parens from the URL. Here it is again: http://gulfreporter.blogs.com/gulfreporter/2004/02/condescending_t.html

(Just shows you what happens when the own-horn-tooting starts...)

[Sissy Willis]

My pleasure. Done.

And thanks for the link: Good stuff. I loved this quotation, from the Times article you linked, where Alharra's news director seems to be laboring under the delusion that our media are fair and balanced:

"In all Arabic newspapers, the op-ed section is on Page 1," he said. "It's created a culture where you can't tell the difference between news and opinion."

He added: "We have to disseminate objective, balanced news. In the West this might sound like Journalism 101, but in that market it'll be a departure."

The front page of the New York Times itself under the recently departed Howell Raines comes to mind.

[Mark Wallace]

No such thing as 'unbiased' journalism, imo. Nor should there be.

[Sissy Willis]

But of course. It's that journalistic school of "fish who don't know they're wet" that rankles me, the ones described by Spin Sister author Myrna Blyth as an "ossified elite who came of age in the '60s and '70s and have never questioned their formative beliefs":

http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2004/04/blyth_has_an_ea_3.html

[TheGrace / النعمة]

موقع مجلة النعمة يقدم كلمة الله الكتاب المقدس الإنجيل رسالة السيد يسوع المسيح مجاناً وقراءات مختارة مواضيع مصيرية قصص واقعية شهادات شخصية ترانيم وأشعار ردود مؤكدة كتب بنّاءة رسوم مواقع مهمة تأملات يومية
Bible Read search in Arabic Studys Stories Testimonies Hymns and Poems Answers Books Links Daily devotions/Alnemat Journal Arabe Chrétien ( La Grâce ) La Revue Arabe sur Internet offre La Sainte Bible ( Al-Injil ) L'Evangile de Jésus Christ gratuit, Bienvenue a La Grâce.

[Sissy Willis]

'Wish we could read Arabic...We don't understand the comment but suspect it's pro-Bible from what we gleaned at the linked site.