US embassy cable - 04SANAA1018

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 001018 
 
SIPDIS 
 
For R (Undersecretary Tutwiler); ECA (PHarrison); 
IBB; NEA/PD (Mquinn, Pagnew); NEA (Tkrajeski) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, OIIP, YM 
SUBJECT: Meeting with information Minister and 
National TV Chairman 
 
 
1.  (U) SUMMARY:  On March 24, PAO held meetings 
with the Director of Yemen TV and the Minister of 
Information to brief them on upcoming media 
training programs sponsored by the Embassy and to 
discuss further cooperation in the information 
sector. Both interlocutors expressed readiness to 
work with the Public Diplomacy Section and 
presented a number of requests. END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (U) In a meeting with Yemen TV Director Abdul 
Ghani Al-Shamiri, PAO John Balian proposed a 
number of programs to be acquired by State TV, 
such as "American Passages", "Democracy: A History 
of US" and others.  PAO also told Mr. Shamiri that 
USAID Yemen may be able to acquire rights to 
"Sesame Street" in Arabic from Cairo and that 
program might be available to Yemen TV, if 
desired.  Mr. Shamiri welcomed these offers, but 
insisted these were piecemeal propositions. 
Instead, he presented his own plan, which he said 
would cement the cooperative relationship between 
the US Mission and Yemen TV.  His plan for 
cooperation (i.e. U.S. assistance) consists of 
three parts: a) Training/Preparation of Cadres; b) 
Programs; c) Equipment. 
 
3.  (U) Training: Mr. Shamiri asked that the 
Embassy provide Yemen TV with US television 
experts who could train his staff in all aspects 
of television broadcasting, including journalistic 
techniques, cameramanship, production, 
newscasting, documentary techniques and 
programming in general. He would also like to have 
the newsreaders of his budding English-language 
news program to get some training in the United 
States to improve their English and their delivery 
techniques. He said he lacks the cadres to 
implement real reforms at Yemen TV.  If possible, 
he would also like to send a few promising young 
cadres to study broadcasting in the United States. 
Mr. Shamiri said he currently sends his workers to 
Syria to train at the broadcasting institute 
there, but that he is not satisfied with that 
training. 
 
 
4.  (U) Programs: Mr. Shamiri asked that we make 
available to Yemen TV some commercial American TV 
programs that illustrate law enforcement and the 
rule of law.  He specifically mentioned the 
Reality-TV show "Police" and "Law and Order" as 
well as other reality shows that present an 
unvarnished picture of one aspect of life in 
America.  He said these would be very popular in 
Yemen and would raise the people's esteem of the 
United States.  He also asked that we provide 
English language instruction videotape series so 
he could start a TV-based English teaching 
program.  Additionally, Mr. Shamiri would like to 
have scientific and nature related programs 
produced in the United States. 
 
5.  (U) Equipment: Mr. Shamiri would like the 
Embassy to donate two digicam or betacam cameras 
(or one of each) to Yemen TV to be devoted, he 
said, to covering U.S. sponsored activities in 
Yemen and the shooting of documentary programs on 
U.S. projects in the country.  He would also like 
us to provide Yemen TV with state of the art 
editing equipment (together with training on how 
to use them).  He would also like Worldnet to 
replace the satellite dish (provided by Worldnet) 
that is now out of commission and the accompanying 
decoder so he may resume pulling down programming 
for broadcast.  Mr. Shamiri said the French 
Embassy had provided Yemen TV with equipment to 
cover French projects in Yemen as well as to teach 
French on TV.  He said that as a consequence, he 
had opened a "French" office at Yemen TV that 
would deal exclusively with French programming. 
He said the Germans are now sponsoring several of 
his workers for training in Germany. And he said 
other foreign representations have also approached 
him with offers of assistance. 
 
6.  (U) Comment: Television is the most important 
medium in Yemen and Mr. Shamiri's proposed 
cooperation would give us unprecedented access to 
that medium.  Mr. Shamiri's request for equipment 
and access to programs would only cost an 
estimated 250 to 300 thousand dollars, a small sum 
by any standards for what the Mission would get in 
return.  Post does not have the funds to cover 
these costs.  Given Washington's interest in the 
electronic media, we are requesting that 
additional resources be tapped to take advantage 
of this window of opportunity. Mr. Shamiri's 
request for training could be handled through 
existing exchange programs (special IVPs and 
Speakers). 
 
7.  (U) Meeting with Information Minister: Prior 
to the meeting with the Director of National TV, 
PAO John Balian met with Minister of Information 
Hussein Al-Awadhi (an alumnus of U.S. educational 
exchange programs) to inform him of upcoming media 
training programs sponsored by the Embassy.  Mr. 
Awadhi appreciated the efforts of the Public 
Diplomacy Section to organize a media-training 
workshop in mid-May and a radio production 
workshop in mid-July.  In turn, he asked for U.S. 
assistance for some projects his Ministry is 
contemplating. 
 
8.  (U) Regional FM Radio Stations:  The Minister 
said the government wants to established small FM 
radio stations in some regions of the country.  He 
said the government has already allocated the 
necessary funds but need our assistance in finding 
suppliers for the needed equipment in the United 
States and a U.S. expert to advise them on the 
setup of the radio stations.  He asked if we could 
finance the trip of such an expert to Yemen. 
 
9.  (U) A Radio Museum: Mr. Awadhi also said he 
wants to convert a building next to the Ministry's 
main building into a "Radio Museum".  He said the 
first centerpiece of the proposed museum will be 
the equipment that was used at the very start of 
radio broadcasts in Yemen in 1940.  He said the 
equipment was donated by the United States and he 
feels the United States should participate in the 
setup of the museum in light of this fact. 
Therefore, he would like some financial assistance 
as well as technical advice on how to set up the 
museum properly. 
 
10.  (U) Training for TV Announcers/Hosts: 
Additionally, the Minister would like us help him 
send some promising TV announcers and program 
hosts to improve their presentation skills.  He 
would like them to get hands on training on how 
best to read the news, how to conduct talk shows, 
how to organize roundtable discussions, and so on. 
He would also like to see some working journalists 
sent to the United States for advanced studies in 
journalism. 
 
11.  (U) Comment: The Minister's request for 
assistance with the proposed FM stations could be 
easily met.  AID has experience with community 
radio stations and local broadcasting and knows 
experts who have set up such programs. AID could 
also help in identifying U.S. equipment suppliers. 
The Minister's request for training could also be 
handled through existing exchange programs with 
some more funding.  Post is not so enthusiastic 
about the proposed museum project. 
 
HULL