Score!

JINSA Report readers were horrified in March to find former CNN news director Larry Register running unedited interviews with terrorists on Alhurra, the U.S. taxpayer-financed Arabic language television station (See JINSA Report #654). It got worse when Register hired Yasser Thabet, former broadcast editor of al-Jazeera, whose personal blog carried paeans to terrorists. Thabet was fired fairly quickly; it took longer to get Register.

JINSA Report readers were horrified in March to find former CNN news director Larry Register running unedited interviews with terrorists on Alhurra, the U.S. taxpayer-financed Arabic language television station (See JINSA Report #654). It got worse when Register hired Yasser Thabet, former broadcast editor of al-Jazeera, whose personal blog carried paeans to terrorists. Thabet was fired fairly quickly; it took longer to get Register.

It took a combination of news reporting by Joel Mowbray and Congressional interest sparked in part by JINSA. In May, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) chaired a well-attended hearing and Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) authored a letter calling on Secretary of State Rice to urge the Broadcasting Board of Governors to fire Register. But in Washington, it is money that talks. On June 5, the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Foreign Operations (Rothman and Kirk) zeroed out Alhurra’s expected $14 million increase for 2008.

On June 8, Larry Register resigned.

Mr. Register claims he was hounded out just for producing “balanced” television. No, he had to leave because he didn’t understand the mandate. Reps. Rothman and Kirk wrote, “Alhurra was launched in 2004 to be a bridge between the U.S. and the Arab world, promoting American values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law. To achieve this mandate, Alhurra aims to provide ‘responsible coverage of breaking news in the Middle East’ … It goes against everything our country stands for to literally hand terrorists a microphone … to spread their vitriolic, hate-filled, anti-American, anti-Israel remarks. This is neither in America’s best interest nor is it in the best interests of the Arab viewers who are turning in to Alhurra.”

The United States doesn’t need to produce “balanced” Arab language television – half for the friends of democracy and half for the enemies; half for history and half for the Holocaust deniers; half for the builders and half for the wreckers. Enemies, Holocaust deniers and wreckers have the overwhelming majority of the Arab language media at their disposal. Alhurra is the balance.

We believe in a strong and secure United States. We believe that our American story is a great one and one that should be told abroad – and told by Americans. We are not afraid of controversy – Alhurra should certainly tell about the President’s policies and the opposition to those policies. It shows the Arabic-speaking world that politics are give-and-take. No one, not even the President, is immune from criticism. When we talk about making the world more open to consensual government and increasing civic space, people abroad have to know that for every five Americans, you can have six opinions – and that’s OK.

JINSA will continue to work to ensure that Alhurra television is interesting, lively, truthful and controversial – if it is truthful it will be controversial – but never a vehicle for hateful voices that undermine the principles for which our country stands.