Adding a European Theater [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
The Bush administration [3] will escalate "its information war against Islamic extremism" by beaming "Arab-language satellite-television broadcasts to Europe." Later this year, the Virginia-based, "U.S.-backed TV channel Alhurra [4] expects to transmit 24-hour programming to European Muslim communities." The $3.5 million in start-up funding will come from the $81 billion supplemental military budget request. The chair of the Broadcasting Board of Governors [5] said, "The 9/11 hijackers came largely from Europe. It's a significant gap that we were not broadcasting in Arabic to Europe." U.S.-funded media is seen as a "so-called soft-power tool for building good will" internationally.