Posted on 04/23/2003 1:30:50 AM PDT by kattracks
Now starring on Iraqi TV: news the American way.Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather hit the Iraqi airwaves this week as part of a U.S.-led effort to use television to educate Iraqis about democracy.
Freed for the first time in decades from state-controlled television, Iraq can now receive a nightly dose of "Iraq and the World."
"It's not the kind of media they're used to seeing," said Norman Pattiz, chairman of the federal Broadcasting Board of Governors.
The initial two-hour broadcast included news clips from ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS translated into Arabic. Fans of Fox news can get their fix with clips from Brit Hume's "Special Report" - but sorry, no Geraldo.
"If our mission, in so many words, is to be an example of the American free press, how better to do that than with the actual free press," said Pattiz, also the chairman of the Westwood One radio empire.
"Iraq and the World" is financed by the U.S. government, which is using military cargo planes to beam the commercial-free broadcast into Saddam Hussein's former stomping grounds.
The show isn't likely to be a ratings hit - only 10% of Iraq's 24 million people own a TV. And critics are questioning how Iraqis will take to American programming that might be viewed as propaganda.
But those potential problems aren't stopping the board from considering other media ventures into Iraq. The board, which operates TV Marti in Cuba and the Voice of America worldwide, also plans to launch all-Arabic programs.
Jose Martinez
Originally published on April 23, 2003
| Oh great! They get Rather, Brokow, and Jennings!
I'm sure the usual jerks will claim that this news program for Iraq is "propaganda from the U.S. military." The interesting thing is that the news in the U.S. about this program is more slanted than the stuff going into Iraq. |
Iraqis will only tolerate so much lying from the press.....after a week of these three scumbags they'll be begging for Baghdad Bob to come back.
Actually, Brit Hume is my favorite news reporter. He has such gravitas----LOL! (I've been wanting to use that word for a long time.)
In a later lesson, will they learn about the 25th Amendment? Will they learn that, had it been invoked by Al Gore, Gore would have probably won the 2000 election as an incumbent and they would not now be free?
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My understanding is that they get those three, plus Jim Lehrer and Brit Hume. As a reader of the New York Daily News, however, you are not really supposed to know about Brit Hume. In the event you do know of him, the Official Thinking Position is that Brit Hume is a marginal character whose appearance on this channel is an afterthought, whereas actual news from real liberals is provided from "ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS translated into Arabic."