SPRINGFIELD, Va. - The United States' next great hope for winning Arab hearts and minds hides in a squat two-story building in a generic industrial park here, just off I-95. The only hint of what may lie within is the black-tape lettering on the front door that reads "News."
Inside, construction crews are working seven days a week to complete studios for the most ambitious United States government-sponsored international media project since the Voice of America began broadcasting in 1942.
It is to be called Al Hurra, a slickly produced Arab-language news and entertainment network that will be beamed by satellite from this Washington suburb to the Middle East. The name translates to English as "The Free One." . . .
The network may start broadcasting as early as next month. . . .
Many Middle East scholars have questioned whether its target audience, suspicious of all things American, would ever accept it, especially when its main hub is in Virginia.
Even if it does gain acceptance, some scholars said they doubted that a single television network could have enough impact to justify $62 million in first-year costs. . . .
By midwinter, he said, the network will have a separate outlet and studios in Iraq, paid for by a $40 million appropriation included in the president's $87 billion financial aid package for Iraq and Afghanistan. It will have other bureaus throughout the Middle East. . . .
Bert Kleinman, the network president, said people in Egypt and Bahrain who had taken part in focus groups had reacted positively to a description of Al Hurra - "fair and balanced," "empowering," "tolerant." But he acknowledged, "When we asked if a fair and balanced channel like this could be American, some said absolutely not." . . .
Establishing credibility falls to Mr. Harb, 36, a Muslim whose parents live in Beirut. Mr. Harb said he had come up with the idea to name the network Al Hurra instead of the more Western sounding "Middle East Television Network."
"This is a very Arabic name, `The Free One,' " he said. "Not `The Freedom Network.' That would sound militant. This says, `I am free, and if you want to be free, come and watch me.' " . . .
Getting people to watch, Al Hurra officials acknowledge, will be a major challenge. They say the channel should stand out in the 150-channel environment in part because it will have the highest production values in the region.
But the most important distinguishing feature, Mr. Harb said, will be its journalistic approach. . . .
He added: "We have to disseminate objective, balanced news. In the West this might sound like Journalism 101, but in that market it'll be a departure." For instance, Mr. Harb said, in a report about an Israeli raid into one of the Palestinian territories, Al Jazeera tends to point out that the Israelis were flying "American-made" aircraft. Al Hurra will not do that. . . .
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/international/middleeast/17NETW.html> ***** -- Yoshie
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