Invasion of the Alhurra bashers.

"Results from the largest public opinion poll in the Arab world indicate that Alhurra, the U.S.-funded Arab satellite station that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than half a billion dollars, is the least-watched station in the region and is losing viewers. ... 'Alhurra is at the bottom of the list of stations,' Telhami said in an interview. 'It was low last year too, but obviously the numbers don't look good for them. It doesn't mean people never watch Alhurra – they surf and watch multiple stations. But it's not where they go for news, and those numbers were consistent from country to country,' he said." Dafna Linzer, ProPublica, 29 May 2009.
     "U.S. Taxpayers Shell Out Half Billion Dollars for Little Watched Arab TV Station." AllGov, 31 May 2009.
     "Alhurra, US-Funded Middle East Propaganda Station, Watched By Only 0.5% Of Middle East Population." [sic] Huffington Post, 1 June 2009.
     The question is "which network's news broadcasts do you watch most often?" That is a ridiculous measure by which to evaluate the success of an international broadcaster. Foreign stations are rarely watched, or listened to, "most often." They are used supplementally, especially by elites. See previous post. Results of the Zogby/Telhami poll are available here.
     "Any station that can consistently grab 1% of the region’s viewers on a regular basis is significant. Very few stations can make that claim. The fact that one affiliated with the USG can, is significant and suggests there is a niche that has the potential to be exploited." Arabic Media Shack, 1 June 2009.
     "Letitia King, spokeswoman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors – the U.S. agency that oversees Alhurra –preferred the BBG's own data, which measures 'audience reach' rather than audience preference. 'Alhurra now reaches 26.7 million people weekly across the Middle East, up almost one million in the last year,' King said." ProPublica, op cit.
     "Indeed, Alhurra is the number one foreign (i.e.,non-Arab) channel in the Middle East (including BBC Arabic). When Radio Sawa's numbers are added and duplicate listeners/viewers subtracted, the stations together reach nearly 34 million Arabs weekly-- this, despite intense media competition and still-high anti-Americanism across the region." King to John Brown, John Brown's Notes and Essays, 31 May 2009.
     If the BBG had already issued a press release about these new audience figures for Alhurra and Radio Sawa, the negative impact of the Zogby/Telhami poll could have been headed off. Alhurra can claim success if it has a respectable percentage of the audience size of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. Also important is how well Alhurra competes with the other Arabic-language foreign stations, especially BBC Arabic, but also France 24, Russia Today, DW-TV, EuroNews, CNBC Arabic, Alalam, etc. Good news or bad, the taxpayers deserve to see these results. Some citizens, after analyzing the data, will come forth with helpful suggestions. Alhurra is, after all, their station, too.
     "Obama appeared to snub Alhurra in the earliest days after his election when he gave his first interview with an Arab language network to the more popular, Saudi-based Al Arabiya." ProPublica, op cit. Actually, the choice of Al Arabiya was good public diplomacy on President Obama's part, and good for Alhurra's credibility. See previous post. Posted: 02 Jun 2009 Permalink Print