US Funded Network Broadcasts Terrorist Propaganda & Holocaust Denial

by Lee Green

Update (6/13/2007): Good news.  Larry Register has resigned from Al Hurra! 

Joel Mowbray's two investigative columns in the Wall Street Journal expose highly irresponsible reporting taking place on Al-Hurra, the Arab language TV network funded by the U.S. government.  Launched in February of 2004, the network's mission is to foster in the Arab world a respect for human rights and government accountability, to showcase the American political process, and to counter the pernicious anti-western propaganda so rampant in other Arab media.  According to Mowbray, the network was adhering to its mission until last November, when former CNN executive Larry Register was hired to lead Al-Hurra, and it has now degenerated into a platform for Muslim supremacists, anti-western terrorists, Israel-haters and Holocaust deniers.  

Mowbray notes: "Within weeks of becoming news director, Mr. Register put his own stamp on the network...Investigations into Arab government wrongdoing or oppression were no longer in vogue, and the ban on turning the airwaves over to terrorists was lifted... Perhaps it is because Mr. Register is so casual in his attitude to terrorists that interviewers now toss softball questions to fiery anti-Western guests, while also taking digs at one of America's closest Middle Eastern allies, Israel. The new Al-Hurra was on full display Feb. 9, ...In roughly two hours of breathless live 'breaking news' coverage--which outdistanced al-Jazeera by 30 minutes--Al-Hurra's Muslim guests vilified Israel, and one spun conspiracy theories about the Jewish state's 'plans' to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque...This powder keg of a panel included Ikrima Sabri, imam of the Al Aqsa Mosque...[who] accused Israel of firing guns and throwing bombs into the mosque, then refusing to allow medical care for the wounded."   

Other Al-Hurra programs included a 68-minute speech by Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well as reports showing deference to Holocaust deniers.  Since Larry Register does not speak Arabic and the shows are only translated upon infrequent requests, it's not clear whether Register is fully aware of the counterproductive messages his network is broadcasting, but it does point to either incompetence or a lack of understanding of the mission of Al-Hurra

What changes can be made to make the network more accountable? Mowbray relates the ideas of Rep. Steve Rothman (D, NJ), who is a member of the panel that funds Al-Hurra.  Rothman has "proposed live Internet streaming of the network, full online digital archives, and English transcripts for all programs." And "Reps. Dan Burton (R., Ind.) and Robert Wexler (D., Fla.) are circulating to fellow House Foreign Affairs Committee members a letter which asks [Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice for an investigation into Al-Hurra."

Mowbray also suggests a whistleblower system, so that Al-Hurra employees can safely communicate with the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the government panel which has oversight of Al-Hurra. Furthermore, he (and Rep. Steve Rothman) calls for Larry Register to be fired.