The United States government’s Middle East Broadcasting Networks, made up of Radio Sawa and Alhurra, lacks a comprehensive, long-term strategic plan and needs stronger internal controls, the Government Accountability Office has said.
It said the MBN spends about $78 million trying to reach Arabic speakers in 19 countries and areas throughout the Middle East, but that it faces a number of competitive challenges in carrying out its mission.
While it has taken some steps such as developing financial and administrative controls to manage and safeguard financial resources, a long-term strategy is needed to address future challenges, according to GAO-06-762.
It said MBN’s internal control board needs to formally develop its controls and coordinate audits, and that MBN needs to complete an internal control plan and risk assessment to address operational risks, as well as develop a comprehensive training program for its staff.
MBN has procedures in place to meet its journalistic standards, but it lacks regular editorial training and has not fully implemented a comprehensive, regular program review process to determine whether its programming complies with those standards or with MBN’s mission, GAO said.
Further, it said the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the MBN networks, calls for broadcasters to undergo an annual program review, but Alhurra has not done so and Radio Sawa has undertaken just one.
The BBG has developed performance indicators and targets for the networks, including measures of audience size and the level of credibility of its programming, but it is not clear whether the networks are meeting those targets because of weak documentation and survey methodology.
The BBG could do more to explain and improve the reliability of its estimates, such as by fully documenting its research methods, measuring uncertainties in its estimates, disclosing limitations, and consistently implementing policies and procedures for verifying data, the report said.
