Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member, Ambassador Ryan Crocker moderated a discussion at the headquarters of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN – Alhurra Television and Radio Sawa) on perceptions of the United States throughout the Middle East. The other panelists were Hisham Melhem, Washington Bureau Chief for Al Arabiya News and Abderrahim Foukara, Washington Bureau for Al-Jazeera International.
From BBG Press Release:
Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who led the U.S. embassies in Iraq and Afghanistan before joining the BBG, then moderated a discussion on perceptions of the United States throughout the Middle East with panelists Hisham Melhem, Washington Bureau Chief for Al Arabiya News and Abderrahim Foukara, Washington Bureau for Al-Jazeera International.
They discussed the role and perception of U.S. culture, policies and information in the Arabic-speaking world, and considered how U.S. international media can continue to remain engaged, relevant and connected to audiences in the Middle East and North Africa.
“Broadcasting has a very, very important role to play,” said Foukara. “Whether it is to explain to Americans what is going on in the Middle East, or to explain the United States to the Middle East.”
Melhem added there is a need to explain the complexity of the U.S. “Many people [in the region] don’t understand the United States’ society. We [Arab journalists] cover Washington, but we don’t really cover the U.S.”