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The State Department recently announced it
suspended publishing Hi magazine, reports Agence France Presse. Published by a private Washingtonbased company and funded by the State Department, Hi targets 20 to 30 year-old Arab readers and seeks to strengthen US ties with the Arab world. The Arabic- language magazine had a monthly distribution of 55,000 copies in 18 nations since July 2003, of which only 2,500 copies were sold each month. The remainder were given away for free. The magazine's online edition will continue, with some editorial changes. The magazine has been criticized for focusing on entertainment and pop culture but shying away from US policy matters. Writing in the New York Sun, columnist and Middle East Forum Director Daniel Pipes argues that the suspension of the publication "comes as a relief." The magazine, writes Pipes, "has been an embarrassment and a waste of money," producing a mere 55,000 copies a month and a website ranking of about 900,000th despite a $4.5 million yearly budget. |
Fadil Al-Amin, Hi's Editor-in-Chief, told the
London-based daily Asharq al-Awsat that "the magazine did not fail editorially. The US State Department did not say that... the magazine's marketing and distribution... failed." According to government officials, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes called for an assessment of Hi after learning of the criticism it has received. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that no date has been set for Hi's re-publication Page up |
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"We must avoid at all costs the serious mistake that seems to drive American views of Al-Jazeera and other pan-Arab media," urges Rami Khouri in The Daily Star. This "mistake," writes the Beirut-based daily's editor-at-large, lies in confusing "the messenger that carries the bad news—that most Arabs are deeply critical of American and Israeli policies—with the reality and causes of that bad news for the US and Israel." The problem lies not in Arab media's news coverage, but rather in how it "accurately reflect[s] the rampant criticism of the US, UK and Israel that defines the Arab world today," contends Khouri. Such introspection should be praised, he argues, for it provides "an accurate and timely reflection of how ordinary Arab men and women feel about their world" |
Drawing upon his own experience watching
Arab satellite stations and meeting their senior staff
and correspondents, Khouri concludes that "any useful, accurate analysis of the Arab satellite media must separate their professional conduct from their political impact... We can assess these channels on the basis of facts, rather than cultural fantasies and other imagined realities." Khouri also highlights the increasing professionalism in a highly competitive media environment that counts no less than 240 satellite television channels. While recognizing that these "still young" Arab stations can be criticized for "their limited probing of their own national power structures, and lack of in-depth investigative journalism," they have also provided "democratic pluralism, at least in television news and opinion." Page up |
In her "uphill battle" to improve the reputation of the US abroad and support for its policies, the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs has made little progress in easing mounting anti- American sentiment, reports The New York Times. As a part of her campaign to decrease resentment of the US, Karen Hughes visited the Middle East last September and recently appeared on Al-Jazeera. "We have to be out there," said Hughes of her appearance on the pan-Arab satellite news channel. Recent State Department efforts include doubling the number of Arab media interviews to 100 this year and running a "rapid response" center that monitors print and broadcast news worldwide. According to The Christian Science Monitor, many of America's domestic issues, such as the government's botched Katrina response and the domestic spying controversy, have hampered the US image abroad. Nonetheless, "I think [Karen Hughes] is doing far better than her predecessors," said Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Chair for peace and development at the University of Maryland. "Because of her closeness to the president, she has real influence on policy. The problem is that she and her staff still lack real expertise in the Middle East." |
Telhami suggests that surveys show a mild rise
in US approval from the Middle East over the past
year. Some of the increase comes from the US response
to the devastating Asian Tsunami and Pakistani
earthquake. An earlier Pew poll found that the United
States remained "broadly disliked" in the Middle East, in Europe and in Asia.
In other news, US President George W. Bush appointed former ABC News Producer Dorrance Smith as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. The new chief spokesman of the Pentagon is better known for his hawkish views on Arab television networks. The move came as Bush made "a raft of controversial recess appointments," on January 5 totaling 17, noted the Washington Post. In an April 25, 2005 Wall Street Journal editorial that drew congressional protests, Smith denounced what he called "the ongoing relationship between terrorists, Al-Jazeera and [US] networks," suggesting that the US government cut its ties with Qatar, which subsidizes the pan-Arab satellite news network. A former media adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, Smith also singeld out US networks, saying "Al-Jazeera has very strong partners in the US—ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC." Page up |
In a January 5 letter to the editor of the Washington Post, Al-Hurra Executive Vice President and Director of Network News Mouafac Harb countered an earlier claim that the Arabic- language satellite television network was subject to "covert control" by the Egyptian government. "Anyone who has paid careful attention to the tone and opinions of the regular programming will notice that liberal, progressive, open-minded views are presented almost apologetically," wrote Hala Mustafa in a December 24 Washington Post commentary. "While al-Hurra is supposed to be a vibrant, fresh forum for freedom, it has failed to provide a real space for balanced views, and so it has been incapable of competing with the "Islamic" al-Jazeera and "pan- Arabist" al-Arabiya channels," claimed the editor of the Al-Dimuqratia (democracy) quarterly. |
"Al-Hurra's mission is to provide accurate and objective news and information, which does not involve advocacy of a point of view," claims Harb. He also points to the channel's extensive coverage of the Egyptian elections, which was lauded by the London-based daily Al-Quds al-Arabi. The coverage included an hour-long interview with Mustafa and provided "a voice for many other important Egyptian proponents of democracy, including Saad Ibrahim, Tarek Heggy and Ayman Nour." Page up |
"Journalists long ago became complicit with governments in making conflict and death more acceptable to viewers," writes Robert Fisk in a Los Angeles Times commentary condemning what he describes as the abuses of American journalism in the Middle East. Fisk, a Middle East correspondent for the London-based Independent daily, points to Israeli-Palestinian conflict coverage as an example of the "journalistic obfuscation" resulting from the "enormous pressures" American Middle East correspondents face. "'Occupied' Palestinian land was softened in many American media reports into 'disputed' Palestinian land—just after then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, in 2001, instructed US embassies in the Middle East to refer to the West Bank as 'disputed' rather than 'occupied' territory," he says. |
Referring to similar "unwritten rules" elsewhere in the Arab world, Fisk highlights that "American journalists frequently used the words of US officials in the early days of the Iraqi insurgency—referring to those who attacked American troops as 'rebels' or 'terrorists' or 'remnants' of the former regime."
While these semantic adjustments arise from the scrutiny and pressure of the government and the public, television journalism has namely become "a lethal adjunct to the war." "So let's call a colony [Israeli settlement] a colony, let's call occupation what it is, let's call [the Israeli] wall a wall." suggests Fisk. Page up |
The Washington Post reports that US military officials "suggest" topics for and review an Iraqi television station's programming before broadcast. "The coalition forces support us," said the station's producer, adding that the officials "don't change anything." This development comes after increased scrutiny of the Pentagon's "information operations" revealed that the US military was paying Iraqi media outlets to publish favorable stories. The station, along with others in three Iraqi cities, has received payments from the US military in exchange for positive coverage of the US occupation in Iraq, confirmed Army spokesman Maj. Dan Blanton. The identity of the cities and television stations were unspecified to ensure their safety. |
"I think both [Iraqi insurgents and the US] are beginning to understand that this struggle will be waged in both the kinetic and informational realms, but that the latter is the decisive area of operations," said Daniel Kuehl, a professor at the National Defense University specializing in information operations.
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According to a poll by the Norwian
NGO Fafo, 65 percent of Palestinians "support al-Qaeda actions in the USA and Europe," reports WorldNetDaily. Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) argued that the high number of al-Qaeda supporters in Palestinian territories owes in part to the frequent broadcasts that call for the murders of "infidels," or non-Muslims. |
PMW contends that the Palestinian Authority
(PA) airs sermons calling the US and the UK "nations of infidels" that must be annihilated. WorldNetDaily notes that while PA political leaders do not explicitly encourage violence in media statements, PMW contends that "PA religious leaders have been praying for years for the destruction of Western countries."
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Lebanon's Future Television and Dubai-based, Saudi-financed Al-Arabiya erroneously reported the death of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday. The reports came during increasing competition between Arab media outlets to report the latest developments on the Israeli leader's deteriorating health. |
Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, where Sharon is undergoing treatment, did not confirm the reports by the satellite television stations. The channels subsequently reported on the latest medical bulletins on Sharon's health.
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Reporters sans frontières/ Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based journalism advocacy organization, joined a Dubai-based pan-Arab satellite channel in condemning what it saw as "the latest in a long series of press freedom violations by the Israeli army against the Arab media." Al-Arabiya reporter Bassem El-Jamal was recently banned from entering Palestinian territory by Israeli officials. Known for his provocative coverage of such controversial issues as Israel's wall separating Israel from the Palestinian Authority, Jamal has previously been denied entry into Palestinian territories three times in 2005 by the Israeli authorities. "While Israel respects freedom in its own territory," notes RSF, "the same is not the case in the Palestinian Territories, where the Israeli security forces pursue a discriminatory polic[y] towards Arab journalists." RSF also highlights the importance for journalists to freely cover the run-up to the January 2005 Palestinian elections. Houda Ibrahim, a Radio RMC Moyen-Orient reporter, has been repeatedly denied access into the West Bank while aljazeera.net journalist Awad Rajoub has been held without trial since late November. Al-Jazeera cameraman Nabil Al-Mazzawi was physically assaulted and arrested by Israeli soldiers last November when he recorded a demonstration against Israel's wall separating Israeli lands from Palestinian territories. |
Over the past two months, Shabak (Shin Bet),
Israel's internal security agency, has questioned roughly
10 journalists, most Israeli Arabs, about their political
affiliations and professional lives. The agency reported
it suspected these journalists of having links to
Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shi'a militia that is considered
a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States,
and other countries.
In other news, US forces recenlty detained Al-Jazeera Kabul correspondent Waliyullah Shaheen along with his driver and cameraman, reports United Press International. After six hours, the crew was handed over to Afghan police and later freed without charges, although their equipment was confiscated. Page up |
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"Multilingual competence is an urgent priority for our nation," writes Dona Stanton in a Baltimore Sun editorial. For a country with many diplomatic and security concerns, the supply of multilingual speakers is a key issue only magnified by such developments as the 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq. The United States has made recent attempts to promote foreign language education. Congress designated 2005 as "The year of Foreign Language Study" and 2006 as "The Year of Study Abroad." Oregon and Washington have passed "English plus," which promotes proficiency in both English and another language. |
Stanton contends that the US should do more
to promote multilingualism, such as increase government
funding for foreign language study in schools
and universities. Foreign language proficiency, she
argues, would advance America economically, educationally
and legally on a global scale. "We may be justifiably proud of the status of English in the world, but we remain dangerously handicapped as long as we cannot hear what others say and do not know how they view the world," she adds.
US President Bush recently said that increasing foreign language proficiency could help shed the United States' image as a "bully" abroad, reports the Associated Press. Speaking at the US University Presidents Summit on International Education, Bush said, "It really is a fundamental way to reach out to somebody and say, 'I care about you. I want you to know that I'm interested in not only how you talk but how you live.'" Modern Language Association statistics revealed that a mere 15 US K-12 public schools teach Arabic. The US President announced he would request that $114 million be allocated for the next budget year to help teach American students Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Farsi and other more rarely-studied languages. Page up |
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[1] Jibril, Talha. January 1, 2006. "'Hi' says 'bye' to its paper based readers...and the gaze shifts to Al- Hurra and Sawa.'" [in Arabic] Washington: Asharq al-Awsat. Agence France Presse. December 27, 2005. "U.S. suspends publication of Arab youth magazine." Washington: The Daily Star. [2] Khouri, Rami G. December 24, 2005. "Facts and fantasies about Arab satellite TV." Beirut: The Daily Star. [3] Washington Post. January 6, 2006. "Recess games." Washington. Edsall, Thomas B. January 5, 2006. "Bush appointments avert Senate battles." Washington: Washington Post, A13. LaFranchi, Howard. December 30, 2005. "Image problems hamper US on goals abroad." Washington: The Christian Science Monitor. Pipes, Daniel. December 27, 2005. "Winning the Propaganda War." New York: New York Sun. Weisman, Steven R. December 26, 2005. "Bush Con- fidante Finds Latest Role to Be Uphill Battle." Washington: The New York Times. Smith, Dorrance. April 25, 2005. "The enemy on our airwaves." Washington: The Wall Street Journal. [4] Harb, Mouafac. January 5, 2006. "An Independent Voice for Egypt." Washington: Washington Post, A14. Mustafa, Hala. December 24, 2005. "Ending the silent war in Egypt." Washington: Washington Post, A17. [5] Fisk, Robert. December 27, 2005. "Telling it like it isn't." Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Times. |
[6] Finer, Jonathan. Doug Struck. December 26, 2005. "Bloggers, Money Now Weapons in Information War." Baghdad: The Washington Post.
[7]WorldNetDaily. December 27, 2005. "2/3 of Palestinians want al-Qaeda to hit West." Marcus, Itamar and Barbara Crook. December 26, 2005. "65% of Palestinians Support Al-Qaeda Attacks in the US and Europe: Religious War against 'Infidels' inherent to PA religious ideology." Jerusalem: Palestinian Media Watch. [8] Usher, Sebastian. January 6, 2006. "Arab media ponder Sharon legacy." London: BBC World. Associated Press. July 4, 2006. "Two Arab TV channels mistakenly report PM's death." Cairo. [9] Reporters sans frontières/ Reporters Without Borders. December 28, 2005. "Al-Arabiya journalist barred in latest case of discrimination against Arab media." Paris. United Press International. January 5, 2006. "Al-Jazeera reporters held in Kabul." Kabul. [10] Pickler, Nedra. January 5, 2006. "Bush seeks foreign- language study funding." Washington: Associated Press. Stanton, Domna C. December 28, 2005. "Why multilingualism should be a national priority." Baltimore: The Baltimore Sun. Page up |
