WASHINGTON: Alhurra, the Arabic-language network created by the US government after the Iraq invasion, said Saturday it would cease broadcasts and lay off most staff after President Donald Trump’s administration shut off funds. The network went on air in 2004, when US officials were complaining about coverage of the Iraq war from Qatar-backed Al-Jazeera — which two decades later maintains a dominant role in Arabic-language media.

“Media in the Middle East thrive on a diet of anti-Americanism,” said Jeffrey Gedmin, president and CEO of Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), the parent of Alhurra and other smaller US-funded Arabic-language outlets. “It makes no sense to kill MBN as a sensible alternative and to open the field to American adversaries and Islamic extremists,” he said in a statement.

The Trump administration, in part of a sweeping cost-cutting drive led by billionaire Elon Musk, in March said it was ceasing all financial transfers for US government-supported media. The move quickly froze Voice of America, although its employees have

mounted legal challenges to restore the funding, which was approved by Congress.

In a memo to staff, Gedmin said that Kari Lake, a firebrand Trump supporter put in charge of the agency supervising US-funded media, had refused to see him to discuss the “unlawfully” withdrawn funds. “I’m left to conclude that she is deliberately starving us of the money we need to pay you, our dedicated and hard-working staff,” he wrote.

“What’s happening is a disgrace. You deserve better and I bear responsibility for not resolving this crisis in time to keep you,” said Gedmin, a veteran scholar of democracy. Alhurra will cease broadcasts but seek to maintain digital updates through a staff reduced to “a couple dozen,” he wrote.

Alhurra says it reaches more than 30 million people each week across 22 countries. But it has faced stiff competition from Al-Jazeera as well as Al-Arabiya, which is funded by Saudi Arabia, and more recently UAE-backed Sky News Arabia. Trump has a testy relationship with media and has questioned the “firewall” under which US-funded outlets were promised editorial independence.

Unlike Voice of America, Alhurra was not considered part of the US government, instead receiving grants to operate. Other outlets in similar situations have also tried to press on. Radio Free Europe, which played a vital role in the Cold War and is now based in Prague, has won promises of support from the Czech government to step in to replace US funding. Radio Free Asia, aimed at providing news to China, North Korea and other Asian countries without free media, has been providing online news at a reduced pace. – AFP