WASHINGTON (AP) - The government's Arabic-language satellite television network is seeking an outside review after recent broadcasts that included broadsides and inflammatory language referring to Israel or Jews.
Overseers of the U.S.-funded Al-Hurra network have acknowledged mistakes, even as they defended the journalistic principle of airing views critical of the United States or its allies. The Broadcasting Board of Governors said the review will examine Al-Hurra programming for ``journalistic integrity and adherence to the standards and principles'' of the federal law chartering U.S.-sponsored programming, BBG spokesman Larry Hart said Tuesday.
A broadcast last December included a lengthy speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that the network later said was not screened for anti-Israel content before broadcast because no supervisor spoke Arabic.
In another Al-Hurra broadcast, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya appeared to support the assertion that the Holocaust was a myth, and the network's coverage of an Iranian Holocaust deniers' conference has been criticized as insufficiently skeptical.
