This saying probably holds true for all media: be it state-run Al-Jazeera, state-run newspapers, and also it’s true for privately owned media like Fox or even PBS (funded by grassroots supporters).

Independent media is an oxymoron. But: independend/free press comes about by the synergy of opposing ideas that are tolerated to co-exist.
In this sense, having a pro-American voice being heard in the Arab media will be helpful.

Conflict is always the expression of lacking tolerance for existing opposing ideas, these oppositions exist if one allows them to surface or not, and if they exist they may be suppressed, but they never disappear out of people’s hearts or minds.

So bribing or not, I don’t really care who pays for it, but diversification of opinions by peaceful means is always a good thing.

I have several Chinese friends who have been on such “junkets” and that’s what they tend to treat them as. They often end up using the trip for their own purposes: to build their own professional networks in whatever sector they work in (and in at least one case I know, to do business) and also to have a bit of fun and do some sightseeing on the U.S. government’s dime. There is always a certain amount of propaganda they have to sit through, but they are so conditioned to ignore propaganda they just ignore it. I have heard from some of my friends that they also managed to educate the Americans they met along the way about China and Chinese perspectives. So it doesn’t have to be a completely one way street.

I agree with Wardam, though, the process of building bridges would be more effective – and less problematic for the invitees – when carried out by independent and neutral organizations rather than by governments.

When the State Department offers to sponsor familiarization trips to America? A Jordanian blogger examines the question in Global Voices…….