\"With pervasive anti-American sentiment in the Arab world threatening President Bush\'s Middle East policy, the Voice of America wants to completely remake its Arab-language broadcasts to appeal to a younger, more radical audience.\" So began a report in the LA Times last week, describing a new proposed plan under which much of VOA\'s programming would be targeted to \"the under-30 [Arabic-speaking] crowd that is most likely to blame the United States for the region\'s ills.\" Daily broadcast hours would be increased from 7 to 24, the mostly shortwave broadcasts would be upgraded to FM, AM, and digital satellite broadcasting, and different geographical areas would be more directly targeted. For the key morning and early evening broadcast hours, the planner proposed to split the network into five geographic segments focusing on local-interest news and regional accents; one of the separate broadcasts would be aimed at Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan.
If the plan works, the Times reports, VOA\'s expanded presence in the Arab world \"reinforce Bush\'s strategy of rebuilding the U.S. relationship with moderate Arab governments such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and others - a change from former President Clinton\'s intense focus on Israel and the Arab-Israeli peace process.\"
If the plan works, the Times reports, VOA\'s expanded presence in the Arab world \"reinforce Bush\'s strategy of rebuilding the U.S. relationship with moderate Arab governments such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and others - a change from former President Clinton\'s intense focus on Israel and the Arab-Israeli peace process.\"