Alhurra Paid Former White House Aides, Washington Journalists
Tags: Alhurra
This post has been updated.
Alhurra, the U.S. government-funded Arabic news channel, paid former Bush and Clinton administration officials, lobbyists and high-profile Washington journalists tens of thousands of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money to appear on the network as commentators, according to interviews and a review of company records.
A number of payments went to people tied to the White House and the Republican Party. Chad Kolton, a former spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence and Federal Emergency Management Agency; Trent Duffy, President Bush’s former deputy press secretary; Jennifer Millerwise Dyck, a former aid to Vice President Cheney and former CIA spokeswoman, and Terry Holt, the spokesman for Bush-Cheney 2004, were among those paid to appear.
Morton Kondracke, the conservative commentator and executive editor of Roll Call; David Corn, the Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones, and Washington Times reporters Bill Gertz and Joseph Curl also made paid appearances on Alhurra in the last six months.
Alhurra, a 24-hour satellite station, was founded by the Bush administration four years ago to project a positive image of the United States to Middle East viewers. Despite lagging ratings, management shake-ups and incomplete financial records, Alhurra’s budget has nearly doubled to $112 million since it went on air in 2004.
Nice work ProPublica—we need this kind of news coverage on the web.
Excellent work!! I always knew mainstream media organizations were bought and paid for. I just didn’t know to what extent of corruption and deception. Thank you for this new kind of news coverage. Your work is cut out for you. Good luck and God speed.
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What matters in all of this is what the intended audience perceives. It strikes me that if we are attempting to spread the message about democratic governance and political freedom, then why not go all the way
Alhurra should always drop a lower-third super over paid guests during their on-camera appearance. The lower-third title bar would give their name, their affiliation and, a new twist; how much they were being paid to appear.
What better impression can we possibly give than to let the people of the Middle East know that one can and should be paid for one’s thoughts, even if it amounts to a pittance and a limo ride. Isn’t this what America is all about?
On a different note, one ought not be surprised by the low ratings performance of Alhurra. If I lived in the Middle East and I saw a newscast in Arabic coming to me from Alexandria, Virginia, I would likely avoid that source. Goodness, does the American government actually think the Arab population is stupid.