Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GWOT Year 3 - 2004 (mainly Iraq)
Change the channel, Sam by Fahad Bishara 
Fahad Bishara of the Daily Trojan Change the channel, Sam When I was in high school, there were only two English radio stations to listen to in the entire country of Kuwait. The station sponsored by Kuwait's Ministry of Communications followed no real format - listeners were mainly subjected to top 40s bubblegum pop music with brief interjections of country and electronica. The other station, a U.S. Armed Forces radio station which I credit for molding my musical tastes, played classic rock all day, every day. Those who tuned in were treated to the sweet sounds of Hendrix, Dylan, Zeppelin, Sabbath, the Black Crowes, AC/DC - and after every few songs, they were treated to "One minute of our proud American heritage," a shameless broadcast of pure propaganda detailing American military victories, values and chest-pounding declarations of liberty. Much to the chagrin of the Kuwaiti classic rock aficionados, the station was pulled off the air to the general public some time after 2001. Though the music was sorely missed, the "one minute of shameless American propaganda," as my friends and I liked to call it, was given the "and don't let the door hit you on the way out" treatment. Well, it seems the door did hit it on the way out - and on the way back in as well. President Bush announced Wednesday that the U.S. government would next week begin broadcasting "Al Hurra" or "the Free One," an Arabic-language satellite TV channel designed as an alternative to Middle Eastern broadcasts that are perceived as overly critical of the United States. The broadcasts will include news, sports, movies and educational programming and will be aimed at the young audience that dominates most Arab countries. The channel will broadcast 24 hours a day to match Al Jazeera. The broadcasts will be transmitted from a facility in Springfield, Va., and will cost the government $62 million for the first year of operation. The channel will be overseen by Mouaffaq Harb, a Lebanese-born news director, who will be hiring a staff of more than 200, including many Arabs. And just like that, the one minute of American propaganda turned into 24 hours - and for what? To battle the baseless anti-American propaganda that permeates throughout Arabic media, according to Bush. The model for the station, of course, is "Radio Sawa" a station that began broadcasting after 9/11, offering its listeners a mix of Arabic and English music with what is considered fair and balanced news coverage from time to time. Though Radio Sawa has been successful in reaching an audience of over 15 million, there is little to suggest that listeners are more interested in the news than they are with the latest Britney Spears single. The problems with the inception of Al Hurra, however, are much larger. First and foremost, the very idea behind it suggests that there are no "free" television broadcasts in the region. This is simply not true. Although Al Jazeera has come under strong criticism for being, as some perceive, "all Osama all the time," its positive aspects far outweigh the negative, which are few and far between. The news network provides Arabs with in-depth coverage of news beyond the reach of the many poorly funded state-run stations in the region. More importantly, however, it provides Arabs with forums in which they can discuss their opposing viewpoints on a range of different issues. The most popular of such programs is "Al Ittijah Al Mo'akis" (the Opposite Direction), a talk show hosted by the popular Faisal Al-Kasim. The program has entertained debates on topics such as religion versus democracy, defining terrorism, and even on the journalistic practices of Al Jazeera. In a recent article, Al-Kasim explained that "Al Jazeera's editorial policy is so lax that I am hardly ever given orders regarding program content. My program is the most controversial show on the network, but no one interferes. I choose the subjects, and I choose the guests. No one has ever influenced my decisions. The network has an even wider scope of freedom than the BBC Arabic radio." The reason behind this is simple. Al Jazeera is a privately run news network, motivated by profit rather than policy. We know that this cannot be and is not the case with Al Hurra, which can only be seen as a tool of the American government, both by pundits on American soil and viewers in the broadcast region. Besides, the last thing the Middle East needs is another government-run television station. Moreover, the likelihood of the channel reaching out to "the hearts and minds" of the Arab people will be severely limited by U.S. policies in the region. It is naïve to think that anti-American sentiment in the Arab world stems from anti-American broadcasts. Rather, it makes more sense that they are a product of American policies and practices in the region, particularly with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the current Iraqi situation. To have this dichotomy between policy and diplomacy in the region is idiotic at best. To think that viewers will gleefully watch and agree with pro-American propaganda while constantly being challenged with the failures of U.S. policies in the region is to reach a level of idiocy that even I, a self-proclaimed idiot, cannot comprehend. What is more naïve, however, is to think that Arabs don't already have access to pro-American broadcasts. Reportedly, anyone with a satellite dish will be able to view the channel. But let us consider what else those in the region with a satellite dish are able to view: CNN, BBC, MTV, VH1, the Paramount Channel, the Orbit news and entertainment network, Sky News, European programming. The list goes on and on. When presented with more subtle purveyors of pro-Americanism, it makes no sense that the Arabs would venture to watch Al Hurra. Trying to change Arab perceptions of the United States is going to take a lot more than a television station, particularly one aimed at broadcasting pro-American programming. All in all, the station is nothing more than a symbol of the misunderstanding of Arab societies and mentalities and will only be a sore attempt at "fair and balanced" news coverage. They might as well begin broadcasting Fox news. Or maybe just continuous minutes of their "proud American heritage." |