Government will launch news network to counter 'anti-American' image

Middle East airwaves are clogged with "hate speak…disinformation [and] incitement to violence" that is anti-Western and anti-American, said Norman Pattiz, one of America's most prominent news media executives. Now, armed with a congressional mandate and more than $30 million in government funds, Pattiz and a team of media gurus are going to compete with those networks for hearts and minds on the Arab street.

By the end of this year, Pattiz, the chairman of radio giant Westwood One and a member of the government's Broadcasting Board of Governors, which runs the Voice of America radio broadcast, hopes to launch the Middle East Television Network, a U.S.-based, 24-hour satellite news and entertainment channel that will try to snatch viewers away from Qatar-based newscaster al Jazeera and a number of state-run news media outlets in the region.

Pattiz has been planning the network for more than a year, after the successful launch of an Arabic-language radio channel known as Radio Sawa, he said in an interview with Government Executive. But the momentum for the network has been fueled lately by the administration's view that Arabic news broadcasts are damaging the image of the United States.

For instance, throughout the war in Iraq, al Jazeera and other Arabic networks took a critical view of U.S.-led military actions, and frequently showed images not seen in the U.S., including pictures of dead coalition troops and killed or maimed Iraqi civilians. Those images were beamed into homes and public places across the region.

Pattiz has been called upon before to counter what's perceived as the negative portrait of U.S. policy. Immediately after the end of combat in Iraq, the White House asked him to produce a U.S. news program to air in the country, he said. Pattiz used a Washington production studio to dub into Arabic nightly news broadcasts from major U.S. networks, and he also produced original news using Arabic-speaking reporters. The packages were broadcast every day for a month from special U.S. military aircraft flying over Iraq.

The new Middle East network will air more than just original news and will have a decidedly Western flare, Pattiz said. A morning show, children's programs, "family entertainment" and an as-yet-undetermined line-up of U.S. television shows and movies will round out the programming schedule, he said.

There are "people on the ground" in the Middle East now conducting research about what kinds of programs potential viewers want to see, Pattiz said. "We're using proven American and Western broadcasting techniques, which are heavily research-driven," he said, adding that he's met with Muslim associations in the U.S. to understand which American programs might offend other cultures.

The airing of the U.S. news broadcasts after the war has inspired some controversy, after it was reported that the facilities used to produce the shows are run by the owner of a Christian evangelical news organization, Grace News Network. Washington-based Grace is "dedicated to transmitting the evidence of God's presence in the world today…[and will air] aggressive proclamations that will 'change the news' to reflect the Kingdom of God and His purposes," the network's Web site says.

Thorne Auchter, the chief operating officer, said his group had not been involved in producing the news broadcasts shown in Iraq. But he acknowledged that the organization and Grace Digital Media, which produced the segments, are owned by the same woman, Cheryl Reagan, who also runs Federal News Service.

Grace Digital Media produces segments for a number of organizations, and it had no control over the editorial content of the Iraq packages, according to a Broadcasting Board of Governors spokeswoman. Pattiz said he wasn't aware of the company's connection to the religious group until after it began work.

When the Middle East network launches, it will have to compete with another U.S.-funded project. The Iraqi Media Network, created from the remnants of the Iraqi Information Ministry, is producing broadcasts and two newspapers. It's overseen by the Pentagon agency in charge of Iraqi reconstruction.

Iraqi journalists at the network have reportedly clashed with their American overseers over programming. The Washington Post reported that the two sides have feuded over whether to air readings of the Koran and whether to subject news content to outside approval.