US-funded Alhurra TV is making inroads in the Middle East after six weeks on the air, according to a survey out today. On average 29 percent of those polled in an early April survey by the French company Ipsos-Stat watch Alhurra, with a low of 18 percent in Egypt and a high of 44 percent in Kuwait.
“Since the launch of Alhurra the big question was whether we would be able to deliver an audience,” said Norman Pattiz, the BBG official in charge of Middle East broadcasts. The figures however “are better than what we expected to see at this early stage of the game,” said Pattiz.
Pattiz and BBG chairman Kenneth Tomlinson acknowledge that the survey is limited: the information is based on a telephone survey of 3,588 households with satellite reception in major cities in Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan. A more in-depth survey is currently being conducted, Tomlinson said. Nevertheless the figures “indicate a trend,” he said.
BBG officials are encouraged by the perceived level of credibility of its newscasts: according to the survey, among viewers 53 percent considered the newscasts ‘very’ or ’somewhat’ reliable, with a high of 70 percent in Saudi Arabia and low of 37 percent in Syria. “Credibility is our product in news and information. If we don’t have that, we’re dead,” Pattiz said.
Alhurra’s mission “is to present US policies accurately,” said Pattiz. The commercial-free broadcasts offer news twice an hour, plus a two-hour main news programme and roundtable discussions on regional issues. But Alhurra also offers “a wide variety of programmes to appeal to people who are not necessarily news junkies,” Pattiz added, including outsourced material such as cooking, health and sports programmes.
(Source: AFP)
on Apr 29th, 2004 at 22:16
more money will be cut from VOA to dump into this stuff.
I will bet ORC-Macro processed this research, and quite frankly as a company they don’t understand what it is that they are looking for in the data. So that this with a grain of salt.
on May 1st, 2004 at 14:42
Well, the report mentions French company Ipsos-Stat. Is that part of the same group?
on Apr 6th, 2008 at 11:26
iwant the fruquancy of jazzera
on Feb 12th, 2010 at 08:51
I’m a former employee of the MBN, and I was lucky to leave that environment, and do better in my life. It’s a waste of American tax money. All the Middle Eastern corruptions are practiced there; bribery, sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. The GM locks his door to have a good sleep in his office. The Lebanese staff goes for vacations and others clock them in and out. All the employees have a headphone concentrating on Youtube, and Facebook. The work and assignments are just a joke, because one person can do the job of ten people there, that’s why there is nothing to do. One president used to come once a week, busy with his business in California. Another got involved in bribery bringing people from Lebanon to give them the green cards, and they can’t even speak English. Well he got fired. The others are staying each one kissing up to who’s higher. As an American taxpayer, I think that Alhurra should die soon on its deathbed.