Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GWOT Year 3 - 2004 (mainly Iraq)
It's the Policy, Stupid by Hannah Abdullah 
Muslim American Society It's the Policy, Stupid Date Posted: Thursday, February 26, 2004 By Hannah Abdullah This month the U.S. government began beaming satellite signals to the Arab World in the form of a television channel delivering entertainment and news. The project, expected to cost a staggering $62 million in its first year, is just one of many ill-conceived attempts by the U.S. government to win the hearts and minds of the so-called 'Arab street'. This effort began in the wake of the September 11 attacks, shortly after the Gallup polling agency surveyed Muslims and Arabs in nine countries regarding their opinions toward the United States. Respondents relayed their anger and frustration toward U.S. policy overseas, particularly its perceived strong support for Israel. The degree of dissatisfaction took many American officials by surprise, including President George W. Bush, who concluded that the U.S. had an "image problem" with Arabs and Muslims abroad. Rather than addressing the problems with U.S. foreign policy, advisers instead convinced decision-makers in Washington that America's tarnished image was due to the 'hate-filled propaganda' filling the airwaves and pages of the Arab media. So, in an attempt to reverse negative opinions, the Bush Administration hired advertising executive Charlotte Beers and launched a $15 million dollar television and print campaign targeting Arabs and Muslims. Calling it the Shared Values campaign, a series of print and television commercials depicted the positive experiences of Muslims and Arabs in the United States. The underlying theme was religious freedom and tolerance. The commercials, which happened to coincide with U.S. military build-up in preparation for war in Iraq, went over like a lead balloon. The campaign received bad reviews and some countries, including Egypt, refused to allow the State Department purchase ad time on state-run television networks. The ads were pulled and Ms. Beers abandoned her short-lived career in public diplomacy due to 'health problems'. Following that multi-million dollar debacle, the U.S. government poured an additional $4.2 million into another venture in the form of a silly Arabic language magazine called, 'Hi'. Do not expect to find any serious topics in the magazine dealing with hard-hitting political issues. The pages are void of any attempt for the government to explain decades of unbalanced policies vis-à-vis the Palestinian-Israeli issue. Nor will one find any articles defending the U.S. decision to go to war in Iraq. Instead, the publication, which targets 18-35 year olds, addresses some of the most insignificant topics; tips on dealing with in-laws, internet dating and yoga. The editors at Middle East Report best summed it up in a September 2003 review of the publication: 'Hi magazine asks younger Arabs to dream of affluent American lifestyles -- and to shut off other brain functions.' Hi, unsurprisingly, was not a huge hit among young Arab readers. Stacks of copies are collecting dust at newsstands, even at the one located across the street from the American University in Cairo. Similarly, and at around the same time, the U.S. government launched Radio Sawa, a hip new FM radio station featuring Arabic and Western pop music. State Department officials and members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the government-funded entity which sponsors Sawa, have already declared it a success. While no real data is yet available, the U.S. government has pointed to survey results of 100 radio listeners in Amman, Jordan, which indicated that as much as 42% of Arab youngsters listen to Sawa. However, the $35 million dollar project, which delivers a good dose of Madonna and Britney Spears, delivers only 25% news content and pales in comparison to BBC Radio in terms of depth and comprehensiveness, according to media experts. And if the stated goal is to provide an alternative news source to Al Jazeera, then the State Department may be missing its mark altogether. The BBG has now focused its attention to a 24-hour satellite news and entertainment channel, presumptuously titled, al-Hurra, or the free one. Headquarters are not located in any Arab capital, but in an industrialized section of Springfield, Virginia. The network is full of self-promotion with imagery of horses running free and close-ups of eyes opening. The station launched its first day of broadcasting with an interview with President Bush. This presented a rare opportunity for Arab journalists to question him on foreign policy issues plaguing the Arab world. Instead, the 20-minute long interview only touched on issues dealing with Iraq and the Palestinian crisis, and it paled in comparison to the hard-hitting NBC Meet the Press interview which aired just a few days prior. And if the Arab press reviews are any indication of al-Hurra's future success, then this project can be chalked up as yet another public diplomacy disaster. The following is just one scathing review from one Arabic language newspaper, the Jordan Times, which sums it up quite simply: 'No amount of sweet words and pretty pictures will change the reality of an Israeli occupation, soon in its 37th year, or the chaos in Iraq, both of which can be directly attributed to American policy. No one here is going to be convinced of America's benign intentions as long as these issues remain unresolved. It all seems so obvious, at least to most of the people of this region, that, to borrow the phrase of an American cultural icon, "doh!" |