Propaganda or journalism?

Congress believes a U.S. government-run TV network can deliver independent news to an Arab audience -- and make them like us, too.

By Anthony York

Apr 21, 2003 | On the morning of April 10, Iraqis who turned on Channel 3 may have gotten a surprise. Viewers of the station, whose broadcasters once called Americans "the sons of monkeys and pigs and people of fornication and vice," were now being greeted by a smiling President Bush, speaking to them in English with Arabic subtitles.

Controlling Iraq's airwaves was one of the first goals of occupying American forces. By the time they had taken control of Baghdad, the new home of Iraqi television and radio programming was an American C-130 aircraft known as Commando Solo, the source of five hours of daily television programming and American radio broadcasts transmitted across the country on five different frequencies.

The rush to get Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Iraqi airwaves underscores the important role media will play as efforts to rebuild Iraq get underway. Efforts to reprogram Iraqi television are part of a larger project of changing attitudes about America, both in Iraq and around the Arab world -- a project in which media will play a central role.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says U.S. military control of Iraqi state television is temporary. But that doesn't mean the U.S. government is getting out of the media business in the Middle East. On the contrary. Soon, the rest of the Arab world may have access to the kinds of programming currently seen on what once was Iraqi state-run television. Congress has approved $32 million in seed money, and another $30 million set to be passed in this year's budget package -- for the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to launch a satellite station to compete with stations such as Al-Jazeera in the battle for the hearts and minds of the Arab street. Those involved with the station hope to have it on the air before the end of the year.

The television station, which has widespread bipartisan support in Congress, has emerged as the centerpiece in the Bush administration's public diplomacy efforts in the Middle East. In fact, money for the station is the only piece of the president's public diplomacy budget that is slated for increased funding.

Creators of the new network, including Norman Pattiz, chairman of radio powerhouse Westwood One, BBG member and major donor to the Democratic Party, point to the success of Radio Sawa, the new radio voice of America in the Middle East, as a promising sign for the new television venture. Radio Sawa has replaced Voice of America Arabic, and according to BBG surveys, is winning over large portions of radio listeners in countries like Jordan and Egypt. Pattiz was one of the major forces behind Radio Sawa, advocating a move away from news-only content, and he hopes to incorporate some of the successes the Sawa stations have had across the region into this new television venture.

Instead of the policy-heavy programming of VOA, Radio Sawa offers blocks of American music, including pop, hip-hop and techno mixed with local popular music. The broadcasts are in both English and Arabic, punctuated with two, 10-minute newscasts per hour.

According to surveys commissioned by the BBG, which oversees American government and government-sponsored international broadcasting services, Radio Sawa is the most popular station in Amman, Jordan, particularly among young listeners. According to the survey, the station pulls 43 percent of the young Jordanian audience.

The focus on attracting younger listeners through music is no substitute for the old VOA message, says David Ransom, former ambassador to Bahrain. "This marks a shift from our attempt to reach elites who make decisions, to a youth cohort that is lacking in power, but has large numbers," he says, and he questions whether that shift can bring about the change in hearts and minds the new media strategy is designed to accomplish.

Pattiz insists that unlike the Sawa stations, the new television network will not be specifically targeted toward younger audiences. The new government-sponsored television station will have different kinds of programming, he says, to attract the widest possible audience.

Though the final mix has not been determined, Pattiz envisions a "Today"-style morning news and fluff show, sports programming, children's shows and other types of soft programming to balance out the station's heavy dose of news and public affairs shows -- some of them, at least initially, American shows translated into Arabic, and gradually more original programming.

"Unlike Radio Sawa, this is going to be news and information driven," Pattiz says. "A lot of it will have the look of a CNN or MSNBC or a Fox."

But unlike those other networks, this station will be run solely on funding from the U.S. government. And while journalistic independence from funders is always an issue, even for private sector news outlets -- pressures from advertisers or financial supporters often influence content in both subtle and obvious ways -- those questions will be more acute for this network, because its sole funder, the U.S. government, is creating the network itself as part of a larger political and public relations strategy. There's a paradox in its founding: Just as viewers in Arab countries are turning away from state-run programming and embracing independent networks like Al-Jazeera, the U.S. is trying to compete with what is essentially state-run programming, only run by the U.S., not an Arab government.

Pattiz concedes there is an apparent conflict between government funding and journalistic independence. But he says over the BBG's 60-year history with Radio Free Europe, VOA and other ventures, it has learned how to maintain journalistic independence while being funded by the U.S. government. In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, for example, VOA aired an interview with Taliban leader Mullah Omar to the chagrin of U.S. government officials. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher criticized the interview, saying, "We didn't think it was right. We didn't think that the American taxpayer, the Voice of America, should be broadcasting the voice of the Taliban."

It is difficult to imagine that sort government pressure won't influence the network's programming, and even Pattiz concedes there are some inherent restraints on what they can and will do. But, he says, they are the same limits that constrain other American journalists.

"We're clearly limited by our principles and taste," he says. "We're not going to start calling for jihad just because we think it might get us viewers. We can't engage in the same kind of radical techniques that these other stations do. But just like CNN or anyone else, we will not be shy about criticizing the government when that criticism is warranted."

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