Radio Sawa and Al-Hurra TV

Radio Sawa and Al-Hurra Television are major American government funded media outlets that target audiences in the Arab world. There are special stations for different regions and there is special attention paid to the Iraqi version of Al-Hurra and Radio Sawa.

There have been mixed reviews of Radio Sawa and Al-Hurra. Radio Sawa's playlist is a strange hybrid of Western pop artists such as Brittany Spears and Christina Aguilera and contemporary Arab pop songs. Interspliced amidst the music are short news clippings and short discussions on topics that brush on questions of values such as "would you marry someone outside your religion?" and "how do you feel about freedom of the press?" (To sample this for yourselves simply click here).

This has made Radio Sawa popular throughout the Arab world but left a debate as to the effectiveness of the station. The station is known as a provider of pop music and there is rarely a level of debate beyond the surface level.

Al-Hurra TV is a newer initiative that has so far been unable to penetrate the Arab media market. To understand some of the reasons for this simply go over to Abu Aardvark blog who has an exhaustive list of posts about the failure of Al-Hurra.

Just recently it was announced that Muwafic Harb, who was brought over from Al-Hayat to be in charge of this endeavor, announced his resignation. Is this a signal that the American administration recognizes the present difficulties and problems and may attempt a new approach to public media diplomacy? From Abu Aardvark:

Muwafic Harb has (finally) resigned, and there will be a total revamping of the station's management and programming. The trigger was the recent audit by the GAO, which presented a pretty damning picture of the station's management practices and creative use of audience research. Elaph also speculates that the US government finally recognized that after two years, the station had failed to penetrate the Arab TV market, present more daring or important programming than its rivals, or have its intended effects on Arab public opinion. The station had been forgotten, ignored by even the American government which rarely granted al-Hurra exclusive news or interviews.

The United States would do well to consider some of the ideas of Robert Satloff (who incidentally was a critic of Al-Hurra before being offered his own talk show on the station) in his book The Battle of Ideas in the War on Terror: Essays on U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Middle East.

In the book, Satloff recounts his 2 years in Morocco and his travels throughout the Middle East to deduce certain problems with the current American approach to democracy. Instead of advocating for US policies, all too often administration speakers and media initiatives patronize Arabs by attempting to seduce them with Western culture (a la radio sawa) or appeal for Arab support on the basis of shared values and the emphasis on the status of Muslims in the US showcasing successful Muslim immigrants. The failure of this approach was seen during Karen Hughs

Critics of the US government correctly argue that part of the reason for the unpopularity of the US in the Arab world is its policies and therefore if the US believes in its policies, it must present persuasive arguments and explain to Arabs why the US acts as it does as opposed to treating Arabs like children who will be seduced by a Western pop song or a story of a Muslim immigrant in America.