The Foreign Service Journal, October 2010

F OCUS ON U.S. -F UNDED I NTERNATIONAL B ROADCASTING B ROUGHT TO Y OU BY THE U.S. G OVERNMENT ... 22 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 merican government sponsorship of a television program in a developing coun- try can be a time-consuming and potentially risky en- deavor. Media outlets may be skittish, as association with the United States might undermine the outlet’s legitimacy, and the resulting product may be labeled “propaganda.” Besides the normal risks of failure present in any public diplomacy initiative, the high profile of television programs heightens the potential that the embassy’s involvement might spill over to taint the image of the U.S. in that coun- try. Given all these dangers, embassy front offices may be understandably skeptical about the wisdom of directly sup- porting programming. Yet the ability to reach audiences in the millions, a siz- able proportion of a country’s population, makes television an extremely attractive medium for U.S. public diplomacy and development efforts. It is particularly popular with the young and the less educated, who tend not to read newspapers and other print media. These are precisely the demographics that the U.S. is often trying to reach. Moreover, not only is TV a growth industry, but it often exerts a highly progressive, modernizing influence in con- servative societies. (See for example, “The Networker: Afghanistan’s First Media Mogul” by Ken Auletta in the July 5 New Yorker , which mentions USAID and State media support in Afghanistan, and “TV Will Save the World” by Charles Kenny in the March 22 issue of Time .) With the United States and the international commu- nity in the spotlight in Afghanistan, the risks of American- sponsored television programming are as high there as anywhere in the world. Yet despite this, a U.S.-sponsored program called “On the Road” that is now concluding its first season has become one of the most-watched programs in all of Afghanistan. A number of important lessons coming out of this ex- perience are helpful for others considering American sponsorship of television programming in developing countries. This article will explore those lessons from a program manager’s perspective, citing data from a recent independent viewership survey. USAID Goes “On the Road” “On the Road” is a 26-episode television series in which a well-known, young Afghan host visits a different province each week. The style is that of a reality travel show. In each episode, the host speaks with residents of a province in unscripted, informal interviews, samples the local cui- “O N THE R OAD ,” A USAID- SPONSORED TV PROGRAM , WAS ONE OF THE MOST WATCHED IN A FGHANISTAN DURING ITS FIRST SEASON . B Y J EREMIAH C AREW A Jeremiah Carew, a Foreign Service officer since 2004, was deputy director of USAID’s Afghanistan infrastructure of- fice until July 2010. He served previously in Peru and has just begun a new assignment in Uganda.