Alhurra Paid Former White House Aides, Washington Journalists

Alhurra Paid Former White House Aides, Washington Journalists
by Dafna Linzer and Paul Kiel - June 24, 2008 4:59 pm EDT


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.

Alhurra was the subject of a joint investigation by ProPublica and CBS News’ 60 Minutes. The network and its sister radio station, Sawa, have aired anti-American and anti-Israeli viewpoints, have showcased pro-Iranian policies and recently gave air time to a militant who called for the death of American soldiers in Iraq. The investigative report, broadcast Sunday on 60 Minutes and detailed on ProPublica, also described years of concerns raised by State Department officials and by current and former employees regarding the network’s content, the quality of its staff, and a lack of government oversight. The Washington Post examined Alhurra's image in the Middle East in a feature story Monday. The reports sparked a call from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) for a congressional investigation of Alhurra.

more...

http://www.propublica.org/feature/alhurra-paid-former-white-house-aides-washington-journalists-624/

Why is she the one calling for an investigation?

Something's not right here.