U.S. Needs a Coordinated Global Outreach Strategy

Promoting America in the Muslim world is surely a good idea. Launching a TV station devoted to that purpose? That would seem to be a good idea, too. In practice, however, the station, founded in early 2004, has struggled from the outset to dispel the notion that it is a U.S. propaganda outlet -- a tough task, given that it is financed by the U.S. Congress. Calling it "Alhurra," which translates into Arabic as "the free one" -- not such a good idea. When taxpayers foot the bill, "free" is at best a metaphor. And for some among its audience the name conveys the better-than-thou attitude that has often given American public diplomacy a bad name. Recoiled one offended Middle Eastern journalist: "They are claiming that they are the only 'free' network, and the rest are not free -- and I take great offense to that, because I think I am doing a professional job and I think they are not as free as I am, maybe." Maybe, maybe not, but the hubris implicit in the station's name was an ominous omen from its start.

And sure enough, it got worse: In recent months, Alhurra has aired a lengthy live broadcast of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah, a live interview with Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, and another with an al-Qaida operative. All very, very bad ideas. As NPR reported on May 13, "some lawmakers who funded [the station] are calling for the resignation of the station's news director," Larry Register, whom they accuse of having "given voice to terrorists." But maybe he is not to blame -- perhaps the content of the interviews just didn't, shall we say, register. A very bad pun, but none intended: After all, he doesn't actually speak Arabic.

In that regard, Register is hardly alone, to put it mildly. According to a report just released by the Government Accountability Office, "30 percent of language-designated public diplomacy positions [in the Muslim world] are filled by officers without the level of language proficiency required for their positions, thus hampering their ability to engage with foreign publics." This refers only to language-designated positions; never mind positions that are not so designated but would greatly benefit from knowledge of the local language, not to mention culture.