US can't get its propaganda straight

They spent $63 million on an Arabic broadcasting (read: propaganda) network in the Middle East and didn't hire a single Arabic speaking executive - smart.

They ended up with a bunch of Arabic-speaking reporters who erroneously thought that "free speech" was supposed to be taken seriously.

Al Hurra television, the U.S. government's $63 million-a-year effort at public diplomacy broadcasting in the Middle East, is run by executives and officials who cannot speak Arabic, according to a senior official who oversees the program.

That might explain why critics say the service has recently been caught broadcasting terrorist messages, including an hour-long tirade on the importance of anti-Jewish violence, among other questionable pieces.

Facing tough questions before a congressional panel last week, Broadcasting Board of Governors member Joaquin Blaya admitted none of the senior news managers at the network spoke Arabic when the terrorist messages made it onto the air courtesy of U.S. taxpayer funds. Nor did Blaya himself or any of the other officials at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the network.

"How does it happen that the terrorists take over?" asked Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, D-N.Y., at a hearing last Wednesday of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee he chairs. "Is there no adult supervision?"

These are very good questions that demand urgent answers.

How did Zionists take over America???

Blaya conceded that the top officials in the network's chain of command could not understand what was being said on al Hurra broadcasts.

Also, the network's news division also had no assignment desk, he said. That left decisions over al Hurra's content in the hands of its reporters and producers, who are, according to Blaya, hastily-hired Arabic-speaking journalists with insufficient understanding of Western journalistic practices or the network's pro-Western mission.

Who needs free speech when you've got free money???

They have 63 MILLION DOLLARS that American taxpayers BORROW AT INTEREST from international bankers - and these f*ckheads squander it on propaganda.

What Arabic-speaking local is supposed to understand that American journalism is all about spending boatloads of OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY to make sure it keeps flowing into corporate coffers?

Blaya's comments were first reported by Congressional Quarterly.

It has never been al Hurra's policy to "provide an open, live microphone to terrorists," Blaya assured lawmakers. "It should not have happened."

The station's gaffes have included broadcasting in December 2006 a 68-minute call to arms against Israelis by a senior figure of the terrorist group Hezbollah; deferential coverage of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial conference; and a factually flawed piece on a splinter group of Orthodox Jews who oppose the state of Israel, according to the Wall Street Journal, which has reported the network's travails for months.

At the hearing, Blaya and other officials assured lawmakers that some of the staffers involved in the controversial broadcasts had been fired. They also said the network now has an assignment desk, staffed by Arabic-speaking editors. And the network's vice president of news has hired an Arabic speaker to help monitor its broadcasts and ensure the material is consistent with al Hurra's mission.

Get your story straight, bub. It wouldn't be propaganda if it wasn't controlled.

___________________
Thanks, Susan

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USA, Israel........Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon
Who is the real terrorist?
To find out who is the real terrorist watch the following video which made me burst into tears:
http://ahmedismailibrahim.wordpress.com/2007/06/01/who-is-the-real-terro...

Ahmed Ismail | Sat, 2007-06-02 00:11

This would be the first time that the US has demonstrated democratic freedom - it might even have won over some Arabs.

But when it looks too good to be true it normally is!

Maybe the journalists were in good faith believing that there is journalistic freedom in the US. There is as a matter of fact as long as you print and say what your owners tell you.

Made Brani | Sat, 2007-06-02 00:14

A must hear from the real American
heros. The firemen, police and caring citizens deserve
better than to be used for propaganda and photo ops
by a government of treasonists trying to promote an agenda.
If this makes you cry or boils your blood
it's because you still have a conscience.
http://ahmedismailibrahim.wordpress.com/2007/06/02/911-first-responders-...

Ahmed Ismail | Sat, 2007-06-02 15:58

ISRAEL+ZIONISM = WAR ON PALESTINE
USA/UK+ZIONISM = WAR ON IRAQ/AFGHANISTAN
RUSSIA+ZIONISM = WAR ON CHECHNYA
STOP BLOODY ZIONISM

You could add USA to the top one, viper/bankers to them all, and many more.

Grim Reaper | Sat, 2007-06-02 23:37

Your suggestion is more than welcome.
www.ahmedismailibrahim.wordpress.com

Ahmed Ismail | Sun, 2007-06-03 02:41

unclesam wakeup

How much “MONEY” exists on Earth?
Take a WILD guess!

US Gross National Debt

Just Foreign Policy Iraqi Death Estimator