Jihad? Sorry, I don't want to miss Desperate Housewives

Perhaps one of the most interesting State Department cables in the past few days was a news story from The Guardian newspaper related to American efforts to fight Islamic fundamentalism and the propaganda efforts of the US-funded al-Hurra TV news channel in Saudi Arabia.

According to The Guardian and the article: Jihad? Sorry, I don't want to miss Desperate Housewives.

Satellite broadcasts of the US TV shows Desperate Housewives and Late Show with David Letterman are doing more to persuade Saudi youth to reject violent jihad than hundreds of millions of dollars of US government propaganda, informants have told the American embassy in Jeddah.

Broadcast uncensored and with Arabic subtitles alongside sitcoms such as Friends on Saudi Arabia's MBC 4 channel, the shows are being allowed as part of the kingdom's "war of ideas" against extremist elements. According to a secret cable titled "David Letterman: Agent of Influence", they have been proving more effective than Washington's main propaganda tool, the US-funded al-Hurra TV news channel.

Al-Hurra has shown lengthy interviews with US politicians, including George Bush, but has run into problems with locally hired journalists. On one occasion it broadcast a call to arms against Israel by Hezbollah, which was not the plan when the channel was launched across the Middle East in 2004 after the Iraq invasion.

Diplomats said they believed the allure of actors such as Eva Longoria, Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer meant commercial TV had a far greater impact than al-Hurra, which, according to one report, has cost US taxpayers up to $500m (£316m).

While some readers may take offense to the rhetoric used by Opinione that the United States uses “propaganda”, the term is actually used by American embassy officials in describing the US funded al-Hurra TV news channel in Saudi Arabia.

The following is taken directly from a US State Department cable provided by Pfc Bradley Manning and published by Wikileaks and The Guardian.

XXXXXXXXXXXX said the American programming on channels 4 and 5 were proving the most popular among Saudis. A look at the December 17 programming menu for MBC channel 4 reveals a 24-hour solid block of such programs as CBS and ABC Evening News, David Letterman, Desperate Housewives, Friends and similar fare, all uncensored and with Arabic subtitles. Channel 5 features US films of all categories, also with Arabic subtitles. XXXXXXXXXXXX told us that this programming is also very popular in remote, conservative corners of the country, where he said "you no longer see Bedouins, but kids in western dress" who are now interested in the outside world.

Over coffee in a Jeddah Starbucks, XXXXXXXXXXXX, and XXXXXXXXXXXX elaborated on the changes in the Saudi media environment. "The government is pushing this new openness as a means of countering the extremists," XXXXXXXXXXXX told Riyadh press officer. "It's still all about the War of Ideas here, and the American programming on MBC and Rotana is winning over ordinary Saudis in a way that 'Al Hurra' and other US propaganda never could. Saudis are now very interested in the outside world, and everybody wants to study in the US if they can. They are fascinated by US culture in a way they never were before."

From Tea baggers and Republicans who are against big government, and all Americans who know that the private sector can always do anything the government attempts in a more efficient and less expensive way, the 11 May 2009 cable from the American embassy in Jeddah further makes this point very clear.