Rumsfeld on al-Arabiya

Donald Rumsfeld went on al-Arabiya a few days ago, with his appearance - as Asad AbuKhalil points out - heavily advertised as his first appearance on Arab TV in three years.  With that alongside Mark Kimmett's appearance on al-Jazeera the week before, I'm thinking we've got a solid trend:  the DoD coming over to the Aardvark/Karen Hughes line of engaging with the Arab media instead of demonizing it.  And about time, too - if only they had been willing to do this sort of thing two or three years ago back when the US really needed it....

To put Rumsfeld's al-Arabiya appearance into some context, what have other senior administration officials done with Arab TV?  I went to the State Department, Defense Department, and White House websites to find all appearances by the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, President and Vice President in the last year (May 2005-April 2006).    I found 16:  13 by Condoleeza Rice, 2 by President Bush, this one by Rumsfeld, and none by the notoriously anti-Arab TV Cheney.

What about the TV stations?  Which ones are most graced, if that's the word, with appearances by the big four?  Al-Arabiya has featured 6 appearances  in the last year (Rice 4, Bush 1, Rumsfeld 1), and   Bush also did al-Arabiya in January 2005 and April 2004.  The official Iraqi TV station al-Iraqiya has 3  appearances in the last year, all by Rice.  Then a bunch of others with one or two appearances, including Jordan TV, Egypt TV, LBC, and Nile TV.  Hariri's station al-Mustaqbal can claim the distinction of an interview with Bush (who otherwise has stuck with al-Arabiya). 

What does all this say?   Some quick thoughts:

First, Rice has been doing quite a bit of Arab TV lately.  She did a whole bunch of interviews back in May-June 2005, then nothing for a while.  But since November she's been appearing frequently.  I'd say that this reflects Hughes's influence, but Rice rather conspicuously continues to avoid al-Jazeera.

Second, al-Arabiya is far and away the administration's outlet of choice.  This is most likely because of that station's self-presentation as the pro-American, "moderate" alternative to al-Jazeera.  For officials who want to tap into a regional Arab TV audience but hate al-Jazeera, al-Arabiya has emerged as the station of choice.  Al-Hurra, as I note below, has not - an interesting development, one might think.  Rumsfeld's choice of al-Arabiya to break his Arab TV boycott is not therefore surprising.   

Third, and perhaps most surprising, I can find no evidence that any of the big four have appeared on the American funded al-Hurra in the last year (though Rumsfeld did do an interview with Radio Sawa last November).  I'd guess that this means that top officials don't want to waste their time on a station which nobody watches.   You'd think that they might go on the station to support the station nonetheless, since it is a rather expensive American taxpayer funded enterprise.  Heck, it might even be a place to send Cheney, who doesn't seem to like to talk to anyone other than Fox News.  But neither a friendly environment nor a sense of public obligation seems to be enough to get these top officials on to al-Hurra.  Personally, I think that's a wise choice, but it still seems noteworthy.  If you put the preference for al-Arabiya and the avoidance of al-Hurra together, and you get some confirmation of my longstanding sense that al-Arabiya has long since become what al-Hurra was supposed to be. 

Fourth, despite the growing appreciation for al-Jazeera among public diplomacy types as the best way to reach Arab audiences, the big four continue to shun it.  Al-Jazeera has become a popular destination for Karen Hughes (at least 2 appearances) and lower level American officials.   If I extended the search to include those lower-level officials, the picture would start to look a bit different - I'll try to do this if I have time, though I did notice that for some reason Hughes's State Department website does not include transcripts of several al-Jazeera appearances which I know she did. 

Bottom line:  I find it very intriguing, and potentially positive, that not only CENTCOM but even Rumsfeld now seem to be acknowledging the importance of engaging with Arab satellite TV. I don't think this reflects any great love for it, but rather a recognition of its practical importance.   How these officials do on Arab TV will also be a big question mark - as with certain Americans who have appeared on these stations in the past, they may well end up making things worse rather than better.  But even if they do, it's better to be in the debate than out of it.   So on with the show. 

Comments

[As`ad AbuKhalil]

American officials appear with great refularlity on LBC-TV, and even Bush appeared there (if I am not mistaken). But you think that those appearances (if they increase) would make a difference?

[Ghurab al-Bain]

Bush did not appear on LBC, he appeared on Al-Mustaqbal in March (Rice appeared on LBC in February). Other State Department officials also appeared on New TV and on numerous print media outlets (As-Safir, Al-Diyar, An-Nahhar, etc.).

[collounsbury]

They may. With all due respec to the Abu Khalil of the world, there are some audiences that are winnable or influencable at some level, others that are not.

More appearances help humanise (if done right of course, one rather suspects, e.g. Rumsfeld would to the opposite) a message that otherwise is left in the hands of, well the Asaad Abu Khalil types in the media (for all that I am aware the said Abu Khalil does in fact detest the same).