Al Hurra
Al Hurra (الحرّة, Arabic for "The Free One") is a United States sponsored and funded satellite TV channel that began broadcasting on February 14, 2004 in 22 countries across the Middle East. Its express purpose is to counter what the United States views as an anti-American bias in the Arab world's news media, specifically Qatar-based Al Jazeera and United Arab Emirates-based Al Arabiya.
Its operations are based in northern Virginia, near Washington, DC, USA. It currently broadcasts 14 hours a day but plans eventually to extend that to 24 hours. Its first year's budget is USD $62 million. It is commercial-free and provides mainly news and information programming. It is operated by a non-profit organization called The Middle East Television Network, Inc.
Al Hurra has pledged to provide accurate and balanced news, but faces an Arab audience skeptical of the USA's motives. Other projects include the Arabic-language Radio Sawa, and the Arabic-English magazine, hi.
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