Following the Trump administration’s decision to halt financial transfers to government-backed media outlets, including Alhurra’s parent company, Middle East Broadcasting Networks ( MBN), Alhurra, a US-funded Arabic news network established in 2004 to provide an American perspective on the Middle East.
The network was established following the US’s invasion of Iraq, according to news organization AFP, to counteract anti-American sentiment in Arabic advertising, particularly those from Al-Jazeera. Alhurra struggled to compete with well-known sites like Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, and Sky News Arabia, which had more than 30 million people per week in 22 different nations.
The revenue cut was criticized by Jeffrey Gedmin, president and CEO of MBN, who claimed it leaves the field available for extremist narratives. It makes no sense to end MBN as a wise choice, according to Gedmin. He added that concerns about what he called “unlawfully” blocked funds were ignored by the Trump administration, especially Kari Lake, the national overseeing US international broadcasting.
He wrote,” I’m left to assume that she intentionally starves us of the funds we need to give you, our dedicated and hard-working staff.”
Gedmin added that Alhurra do stop broadcasting and instead make an effort to maintain minimal online operations with a significantly smaller team.
Elon Musk’s alleged influence on the stoppage, which includes the closure, is a part of a wider expenditure reduction work that has already affected another US-funded sources like Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. Some organizations, like Radio Free Europe, are now looking for help from international institutions to succeed.
