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By
Jihad N. Fakhreddine
 It
seemed a mere coincidence that only two days after the airing
of the CBS 60 Minutes on Abu Gharaib prison torture April 26,
2004, Margaret Tutweiler, the US undersecretary for Public Diplomacy,
resigned to take a position in the New York Stock Exchange.
Ms. Tutweiler's resignation was as low-key as that of her predecessor
in the job, Charlotte Beers, who resigned in March of 2003 for
"health reasons." Both had proven to be capable in
their professional lives, but had little to add to their resumes
about their achievements during their tenure as brand managers
of America.
In mid-March US president George W. Bush nominated one of his
closest advisers, Karen Hughes, for this post. Ms. Hughes will
assume her post at a time when the regional scene is significantly
different from that during the terms of her two predecessors.
The agitation over the threat of Al Qaeda and the conflict in
Iraq are virtually off the international news radars. Instead,
the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri has shifted the attention
to the western flank of the Fertile Crescent and has put the
calls for US-led democratic changes in the Arab world on overdrive.
The job description of Ms. Hughes as described by president
Bush is not to handle the communication aspects of such changes
per se, but "to have a message that counteracts some of
the messages coming out of some of the Arab media, some of it
coming out partly because of our strong and unwavering friendship
with Israel." The other task the US has is to counter the
image of the US as "wanting to fight Muslims, that the
United States stood squarely against a religion as opposed to
[being] a society which welcomes all religions," Bush told
the news conference.
US support for Israel has been a constant factor in how (or
rather why) the Arabs perceive the US, irrespective of any Arab
media agitation. In articulating her communication strategy
for reaching Arabs Ms. Hughes should look into the implications
of an equally important factor that agitates feelings against
the US, but which was not alluded to by President Bush. While
the US is calling upon the Arab general public to embrace democratic
values, it supports and protects most of the regimes it is asking
their subjects to turn against. Syria and Lebanon are the exception
since Syria has historically defied the US hegemony in the region
and of late has managed to pull the Lebanese government into
its fold.
Ms. Hughes assumes
a job at a time when the communications set-up of US public
diplomacy towards the Arab masses is well in place, spearheaded
by Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa. Press releases claim that "millions"
of Arabs are already tuning to Alhurra; one released early March
on a survey done in Syria reported that Alhurra has a weekly
audience of 39 percent of adults with access to satellite TV.
Irrespective of the
question marks over the reported size of Alhurra audiences,
such as those raised by respected authority on the Arab world
Shibley Telhami, the US could draw on lessons from its successes
in targeting East Europe during the Cold War. But this needs
to be done more in terms of what cannot succeed in the context
of reaching the Arabs than of what succeeded in targeting the
Eastern Europeans.
Radio Free Europe
and Radio Liberty targeted audiences that were eager to listen
to the US perspective and American democratic values. In response,
Eastern Block governments invested heavily in jamming technologies
in order to prevent their citizens from accessing the US radio
frequencies.
In contrast, most
Arab governments are overwhelmingly pro-US. They allow US-funded
media such as Radio Sawa, Alhurra TV, and Hi magazine
to be part of their national media scenes, no bars held. Interestingly,
even Syria allows market surveys to measure audiences and attitudes
towards Alhurra and Radio Sawa, again with no bars held.
Many of the staff
of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty were human rights activists,
prosecuted in their own countries and who had sought political
asylum in the US and Western Europe. Hence they were credible
proponents for democratic change in their homelands although
they were at the other side of the fence. Arab staff at the
US-funded media or many of the Arabs residing in the US who
call for democratic reforms in the Arab world do not have similar
credentials.
There are good grounds
for apprehension towards Arab political cheerleaders who have
opted for safer political territory in the West and in the US
in particular. This is not to play down the contributions of
Arabs in the US or Europe or Arab Americans who call for political
reform in the Arab world. But we must keep in mind the Arabic
adage that says 'Those who are whipped are not like those who
count the whippings.'
In order to limit
exposure to whippings, the Arab media and the Arab regimes have
come to a gentleman's agreement that the media can talk about
the need for democracy. But rather than targeting a specific
regime, the media talks about the Arab political system (al-nizam
al-arabi) as an abstract entity. Television talk shows and
newspaper Op-Ed pages are full of political discourse within
this format. The two other political punching bags are US policies
in the region and Israel. From the general perspective of the
Arab public, criticizing US polices in the region is also a
safe route for criticizing its own regimes.
For Ms. Hughes to
succeed in her public diplomacy assignment, it will not be enough
to counter the image of US as depicted in the Arab media, 'partly'
because of the 'unwavering' US support for Israel. US public
diplomacy needs to address the intricacies of US political polygamy,
where the US is married to both Israel and most of the Arab
regimes. In this polygamous marriage it is Israel that is perceived
to be the beloved, democratic, yet demanding, wife, whereas
the Arab regimes are perceived to be the hated, authoritarian
yet submissive wives, who breed only generations of Arabs that
hate America and its democratic ideals.
Until the above ironies
are resolved it may be best for US-funded media targeting the
Arabs to maintain a low-profile about their stated goal of promoting
democratic values and a more favorable attitude towards the
US. It may be more feasible for them to present themselves as
credible news organizations first rather than as promoters of
political change.
The blunt interference
of the US in the political reform process currently taking some
root in certain parts of the Arab world will hamper it rather
than promote it. In most cases it is the US-supported Arab regimes
that are the ones blocking such changes. The fact that the Bush
administration claims to be ready to pull the rug from beneath
the wobbly feet of its Arab friends if they do not introduce
political reforms is less likely to raise the level of confidence
with regard to US intentions in the region. This latter hypothesis,
however, deserves verification through public opinion polls.
Jihad N. Fakhreddine is the research manager for media
and public opinion polls at Pan Arab Research Center (PARC).
He is based in the UAE and writes on Arab media and US public
diplomacy.
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