tarianism; discussions of the use of Islam to justify the oppression of women, free speech, free association and freedom of religion and culture, generates emails and other feedback from Iran as well as from Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.

Radio Farda is another success story. In just four years since its launch in late 2002, Radio Farda has become the most popular international radio broadcaster in Iran with a 10.3 percent weekly listenership. Radio Farda's weekly reach compares very favorably with that of Radio Liberty to the USSR during the Cold War: under conditions of heavy jamming, Radio Liberty's weekly reach in the Soviet Union oscillated around 10 percent from 1985 until jamming was ended in November 1988. In 1989-1990 it rose to 16.8 percent, its highest recorded rate.

As Radio Farda has matured, and as funding has supported the addition of larger blocks of news and information, it has done so in its tradition as a "surrogate" broadcaster, presenting news about the country to which it broadcasts. Radio Farda finds direct sources of information from within Iran in spite of the challenging environment for journalism. Radio Farda carries more news and information daily than any other international broadcaster, about nine hours daily. This includes three 30minute daily newsmagazine programs and one daily 60-minute newsmagazine program. Programs are produced in Washington and in Prague.

Because it is a 24/7 station, Radio Farda can interrupt programming at any time to cover breaking news or carry live, extended coverage of events such as U.S. presidential press conferences where Iran is discussed. Such programming is followed soon after by analysis and discussion of the news.

The Internet will become increasingly important in the lives of Iranians seeking objective news and information about Iran and the world. Since the launch of the new Radio Farda web site, with its enhanced news and analysis and increased interactivity, there has been a 77 percent increase in page views (5,687,821 in January 2007, compared to 3,218,127 in November 2006).

Radio Farda provided thorough news coverage and analysis of the December 15 municipal elections held throughout Iran, widely considered a setback for conservative forces aligned with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In addition to pre-election analysis and hour-by-hour coverage of the voting from correspondents in all provinces on Election Day, Radio Farda broadcast comments from both Iranian party leaders and international experts on Iran. In its human rights_reporting, Radio Farda covered government attacks against women, including the Tehran police dispersing a gathering to mark International Women's Day by beating the assembled women. On December 11, within minutes of receiving word that students at Tehran's Amir Kabir University were heckling President Ahmadinejad during a speech he was giving, Radio Farda reported the news to its listeners around the country and featured photos, taken by the demonstrators, on the Radio Farda web site.

PAKISTAN

VOA introduced a new, youth-oriented, 12/7 radio station, Radio Aap ki Dunyaa (Your World) in 2004. The station has continued to attract a growing number of listeners to its news, information, roundtable discussions, call-in shows, interviews, features, and music. Research indicates that Radio Aap ki Dunyaa's listenership has doubled since its debut.

Stories of interest to VOA's Muslim audience are a central part of the Urdu Service's programming on radio, the Web, and television. The Service provided detailed coverage of the 2006 U.S. mid-term elections, with a particular focus on the perspectives of American Muslims, both Republican and Democratic. VOA followed the campaign and successful election of Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim member of Congress, as well as his oath-taking on Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an. A five-part interfaith discussion underscored the freedom of religion in the U.S.

VOA's Urdu Service entered the television market in November 2005 with a 30minute program, Beyond the Headlines, a news magazine featuring current affairs, discussions of issues behind the news, and feature stories illustrating shared values between Pakistanis and Americans. The show airs every weekday during prime time on GEO, Pakistan's most widely watched satellite TV channel. The program includes in-depth reports from VOA's Islamabad bureau on Pakistani politics and cultural issues; hard-hitting interviews with newsmakers, policy experts, diplomats and journalists; and stories examining the similarities between life in Pakistan and the United States, including Pakistani-American life and its contribution to both cultures. According to GEO-TV's market research, Beyond the Headlines is the most widely watched program in Pakistan during the 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. local time slot.

AFGHANISTAN

Pursuant to the Radio Free Afghanistan Act, the BBG has increased broadcasting to Afghanistan. Together, RFE/RL and VOA provide a 24-hour daily radio service in the Dari and Pashto languages that has a vast audience reach in Afghanistan. In addition, VOA provides a one-hour daily television program to state-owned Kabul TV.

An Intermedia survey in September, 2006, found RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan to have the highest weekly reach of any communications medium in Afghanistan, including domestic radio and TV, at 58.0%. Afghanistan is the only country in the RFE/RL broadcast region where a U.S. government-funded broadcaster is the dominant media. With its wide audience and high level of public trust, Radio Free Afghanistan is a key media outlet in Afghanistan for both U.S. and Afghan officials. VOA shares the 24-hour radio broadcast clock with RFE/RL, providing up-to-theminute news and information to large Afghan audiences and achieving a 40% weekly reach. In addition, VOA has also launched new television programming to engage broad Afghan audiences. In September, VOA launched TV Ashna, a Saturday through Thursday 60-minute TV news program (30 minutes each in Dari and Pashto), broadcast directly to viewers nationwide via satellite and its affiliate Radio and TV Afghanistan (RTA). This coverage now complements VOA's 12 hours of extensive radio programming to the country. TV and Radio Ashna feature regular segments on American Muslims and Civil Rights, Islam in America, and Islam and Democracy through the segment's interviews and daily live call-in programs.

PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN BORDER REGION

In August, VOA introduced Radio Deewa (Light), a new broadcast stream aimed at the 40 million Pashto-speaking people living in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

On March 25, VOA's Deewa Radio successfully expanded its broadcast schedule from three to six hours a day, including two new 60-minute talk shows and a 60minute entertainment program that includes features and music. This program offers local, regional, and international news as well as features on Islam in America, including interviews with prominent Muslim leaders. VOA Pashto Deewa Radio features a daily segment called "Islam in America," and recently had live reports from Eid Celebrations by Muslims in America. Additionally, Deewa Radio focuses on the Islamic world through its daily call-in shows.

CONCLUSION

Let me conclude with some remarks on the recent controversy regarding certain Alhurra broadcasts during the period of November 2006 to February 2007. We acknowledge Alhurra's error during this period in airing several reports that lacked journalistic or academic merit. These were a very small fraction of the networks' broadcasting output, but nevertheless are unacceptable. As a result of these errors, Alhurra is expediting the establishment of enhanced editorial structures to centralize editorial control and to ensure that programming adheres to the standards under which all BBG broadcasting entities operate.

Upon his arrival at Alhurra in November 2006, the new Vice President for News, Larry Register, was given the mandate to increase Alhurra's news output. Despite reports to the contrary, he has made no significant change in the editorial policy at Alhurra.

Within these first months of transition, there were significant and unprofessional breeches in Alhurra's editorial policy on thr part of both contractors and employees. It is intolerable to any of us, including Mr. Register, that existing internal controls were not sufficient to prevent them. With these program errors standing as painful indicators of the need for additional controls, we are moving forward to shore up our management structure to better ensure journalistic accountability and professionalism for all programming.

Alhurra management has initiated managerial and procedural changes to centralize editorial control. A central Assignment Desk has been established to provide quality control and communicate more effectively on existing reports and plans for future coverage. The Assignment Desk instills a workflow that makes editors accountable for monitoring news items before, and while, they are delivered. It creates a central point of communication in the newsroom and links the news producers and the teams working in the field.

The Desk monitors and flags material as it is ordered and received from correspondents in the field. Staffed by three Assignment Editors and a Chief Editor, this desk is the first line of editorial control in the newsroom for field coverage.

The VP for News is also creating News Teams to improve consistency of reporting and a sense of mission. Comprised of Senior Producer, Producer, Writers, Associate Producer, Production Assistants, and News Presenters, these teams will increase cohesiveness and shared common standards among the staff. They will also foster consistent evaluation and monitoring throughout the news staff and facilitate identification of individual standards or agendas that could allow substandard or agendadriven material to make it to air.

Recruitment of key managerial personnel and quality journalists is ongoing. Positions have been filled that directly affect internal editorial controls. Mr. Register has appointed a Chief Editor of News and a Senior Coordinating Producer to train and monitor staff. Both new hires are Western trained journalists. (One is American, fluent in Arabic, the other Egyptian.).

Staff training is an activity that should be ongoing and rigorous. A training plan for Alhurra that will enhance the skills of our employees and the quality of our programming is underway. It will stress a common understanding of production and editorial expectations. Training will be implemented by the end of the fiscal year through a series of mandatory workshops.

In addition to the steps above being taken at Alhurra, the BBG will contract for an objective, independent review of Alhurra programming to examine its journalistic integrity and adherence to the standards and principles of the U.S. International Broadcasting Act. Our expectation is that the study will be conducted by an impartial U.S. center of learning with specialties in Middle Eastern studies and the field of journalism, with particular focus on the media environments and the practice of journalism in the Middle East. We are in discussions with a number of U.S. universities to pursue this.

It is the intention of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, not only to conduct a thorough and independent evaluation of Alhurra broadcasts to the Middle East and to seek guidance and recommendations for improvement-but also, to put in place a more robust process for regularly evaluating the content and production values of broadcasts on both Alhurra television and Radio Sawa. Such a process already exists for other entities of the BBG, and it is our intention to ensure that broadcasts to the Middle East-no less than those to any other part of the world— are rigorously evaluated through our own internal quality control methods, so that it can be reaffirmed on a regular basis that MBN programming meets the requirements of our legislatively mandated mission. We believe such independent analysis will provide guidance on the need for further training and program monitoring at Alhurra, and help us take further actions to renew confidence in our ability to reach Middle East audiences with original broadcast programming that will reflect the highest standards of American journalism.

Let me stress that the program segments at issue, while egregious examples of what we do not want to broadcast to the world, are not representative of our overall programming. They are anomalies in the thousands of hours of Alhurra's accurate, comprehensive, objective, and professional coverage. The staff at Alhurra, from top to bottom, are devoted to their broadcast mission and are anxious to work to restore confidence in all of its programming.

Recently, Alhurra has significantly increased its news coverage, including of U.S. policy developments, congressional hearings, and regional news, as well as commentary and analysis. Our expanded programming goes beyond covering American policy to include insightful coverage of events and people not found elsewhere on Arabic language television, such as live coverage of a press conference of a delegation of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders following their meeting with Secretary Rice (Jan. 29); a report of a visit to the Holocaust Museum by members of the Washington, DC Muslim community (Dec. 20); live coverage of Secretary Rice presenting International Women of Courage awards to three Arab women on International Women's Day (March 7); and an original weekly series on Islam in America which reports on topics such as the International Museum of Muslim Culture in Mississippi.

Alhurra is the only channel in the region that has programs dedicated to the discussion of the rights of women and human rights. "Musawat" (Arabic for "Equality") has recently tackled topics such as the rights of women in politics, the impact of divorce on women in the Gulf, abusive relationships and the debate over whether women should have to wear veils. Another unique talk show is "All Directions" which is a weekly round-up of the most prominent events in the Middle East and discusses these issues with guests that can give the American perspective.

In my letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, I noted the feedback I received from Israeli and Arab leaders, inside and outside of government. I was told consistently that Alhurra is filling a void in the Middle East by providing accurate and objective information about America, and by addressing issues absent on other

Arab news stations including; free speech, human rights, women empowerment, and government accountability—all building blocks for freedom and democracy.

Alhurra is gaining respect in the region and is starting to make a difference. We are all committed to Alhurra achieving its important mission of allowing America to communicate directly to the people of the Middle East, and we want to work with you to ensure that the network is successful in accomplishing its mission.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Thank you. Mr. Hirschberg.

STATEMENT OF MR. D. JEFFREY HIRSCHBERG, BOARD
MEMBER, BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Mr. HIRSCHBERG. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I would like to put just a couple of things in context before we get to questions.

The first thing I would like to do is just to reiterate what the mission of the BBG is, and that can be stated in one statement: To promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding by broadcasting accurate, objective, and balanced news and information about the United States and the world to audiences abroad. Personally, I think, as some of you know, I am less than thrilled to be here to discuss, with someone of my background, to discuss with Congress as to whether or not some of the information that was put out on one of our broadcasts is either anti-Semitic, antiIsraeli, or both. It is not what I thought I would be doing when I joined the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

Let me put this in perspective for you. The conduct that is in question occurred between December 6 and roughly January 20. As far as I know, there has not been additional conduct that has been called into question. I am not here to defend what was put on the air because I believe it is indefensible; however, there are two questions that I think the committee has to answer, and the BBG, in its oversight responsibilities, have to answer as well.

The first question is whether or not the conduct is systemic, and there is a systemic problem at Alhurra, and the second question is whether or not, if it is not systemic, sufficient internal controls and management tools can be placed and established to ensure that the behavior does not reoccur.

If I thought the problem was systemic, or the BBG thought the problem was systemic, that would compel one set of responses. Since we do not believe that, the steps that Mr. Blaya has outlined to you have been put in place and are put in place. The BBG is performing its oversight responsibilities, perhaps not in the manner or with the alacrity with respect to what others may prefer, but we are, indeed, performing our oversight responsibilities, and, with that, would be delighted to answer your questions.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Thank you very much. Because of the series of things that have happened, you have garnered much attention, probably more than at any other given time. Many have concluded, maybe wrongfully, that there is a misunderstanding, or was a misunderstanding, of the mission of Alhurra; either that or nobody was watching the store.

How do you see the mission? And I know that you have some words that you have recited from your opening statement, but what is the real purpose of Alhurra?

Mr. BLAYA. The real purpose is described in the Broadcasting Board of Governors' mission statement. That is what applies to

each and every one of the U.S. international broadcasters. That is clearly our mission.

Mr. ACKERMAN. If MBN's guidelines state specifically that, and I will quote them:

"MBN will not broadcast live speeches or interviews with persons designated as terrorists unless the broadcast has been previously approved by the vice president for news or his or her designee.'

How did Hassan Nasrallah get his speech broadcast live last December? Did Mr. Register, as vice president for news, or his designee approve of that ahead of time?

Mr. BLAYA. No, he did not. Mr. Chairman, I have to go back to my statement. The structure that filters news coverage was not in place. What has taken place

Mr. ACKERMAN. But this was in place.

Mr. BLAYA. Excuse me?

Mr. ACKERMAN. It was in place that the vice president for news has to approve any live speeches by terrorists.

Mr. BLAYA. It was not the assignment desk, which is the filtering mechanism. It was not in place.

Mr. ACKERMAN. But this does not say the assignment desk. It said it had to be approved by the vice president for news or his designee.

Mr. BLAYA. Absolutely, but you have to have a process, a flow, that was not existent in the news room.

Mr. ACKERMAN. It was not existing.

Mr. BLAYA. No, it was not.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Is there a reason it did not exist?
Mr. BLAYA. Excuse me?

Mr. ACKERMAN. Is there a reason it did not exist?

Mr. BLAYA. Look, I have done a few of these start-up operations, and paying tribute to the people who were able to create Alhurra, which, if we did not have, in spite of this criticism, we should be creating today.

Alhurra was created as a news and information and general purpose television station. When the emphasis changed because that was what the market demanded, to turn it into a news and information operation, and, as such, going with more live coverage and with more news.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Why was it created as that? Let us go back to basics.

Mr. BLAYA. Well, first, it was a matter

Mr. ACKERMAN. Why did we need a news and information station?

Mr. HIRSCHBERG. Mr. Chairman, if you want to go back in time to 2003, roughly when Congress approved the funding for Alhurra, and we sought to put the network on the air, which went on the air on February 14, 2004, if you go back in time, Alhurra was created as an alternative to existing Arab-speaking media, which had in common a number of things, including hate-speak, disinformation, incitement to violence, government censorship and journalistic self-censorship.