Maven University

What? No South Park? Coalition starts TV broadcasts By Christopher Adams in London Financial Times (ft.com) April 10 2003 The US and Britain replaced Iraq's state television output with a new station which launched by broadcasting messages from George W. Bush and Tony Blair. The station will broadcast five hours a day of mainly Pentagon-produced programmes. The channel, called Towards Freedom or nahoo al-hurriya, will broadcast in Arabic news, press reviews, public service information and features on the Iraqi political situation, the economy, reconstruction, healthcare and family issues. Mr Bush, US president, and Mr Blair, UK prime minister, opened the programming on Thursday. Mr Bush used his broadcast to tell people that US forces would not stop until "Saddam's corrupt gang is gone". But he added that Iraq's government and its future would "soon belong to you." The UK prime minister said in his address that the allies' aim was to alleviate humanitarian suffering and move as soon as possible to an interim authority run by Iraqis. "This will pave the way for a truly representative Iraqi government," he said. The new channel would be the first opportunity for Iraqis to get news free from Saddam Hussein's control, Mr Blair's official spokesman said. The American content is being produced by the Pentagon, the White House said. Such public diplomacy programmes are usually handled by the State Department, but Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman, said the logistics must be run by military forces in the region, meaning the defence department was better positioned to handle content. However, a state department official told the Financial Times that the Pentagon has been keen to put Robert Riley, a former Voice of America director close to senior Pentagon officials, in charge of the programme. Mr Riley was recently tapped by the defence department to develop content, the official said. The British output, which will account for one hour daily, will be the responsibility of the UK Foreign Office and has been outsourced to World Television, a satellite television producer. The programming will be broadcast on one of the frequencies that was used by Iraqi state television, which, in the last days before it went off air, carried a daily diet of patriotic songs and images of Mr Hussein. The White House said signals will be sent out from a specially modified US C-130 Hercules aircraft called "Commando Solo" already in the skies over Iraq, as well as ground transmitters and, as the security conditions improve, by mobile transmitters driven by military personnel. Mr Blair's spokesman said the station would endeavour to give as much information as possible that is relevant to Iraqis' daily lives. It will be the main conduit for news on how to make contact with aid agencies and what to do when armed forces are operating nearby. Whitehall officials denied suggestions the channel would be a propaganda tool. "It's meant to be an interesting and entertaining package. Most people in Iraq will not have seen honest news and information about what is happening. Satellite television was illegal and most of them do not have it." London-based Iraqi journalists will present the British-made programmes. The station on Thursday carried a feature on humanitarian goods being unloaded at the al-Faw peninsula and an arts programme. It urged employees in the lower tiers of government and at utilities to continue working. As the political situation unfolds and efforts are made towards setting up an interim Iraqi authority, the station is also expected to carry political news. This is likely to include a meeting between Mr Blair and Iraqi opposition leaders.