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“Television on the Tigris”: A Cold War genealogy of the first Television Station in Iraq
Abstract
Through researching the declassified paper-trail USIA collection available at the U.S. National Archives in College Park, MD, this presentation tells the story of the arrival of the first television station to Iraq during the mid-1950s through the sponsorship of the United States Operation Mission (USOM) and the United States Information Service (USIS) in the country as a case of binational bureaucratic television diplomacy. The presentation builds upon a group of memos that A. Vance Hallack, the American television advisor serving the government of Iraq, wrote for his American supervisors between the September of 1956 to 1957. These documents provide a detailed account of establishing the first television station with both entertaining and educational content in an Arab country in the Middle East. The idea of exporting television technology to Iraq came as a result of an inquiry by Ford Foundation for establishing a regional audio-visual center in the Middle East. Initially, the United States government sent the Syracuse documentary crew to Iran in 1950 for an exploratory mission of making educational films among Iranian villagers while using them as documentary participants. Not only Iran but also the entire Middle East was weaponized during this era as means of containing strategy against Soviet expansion. This presentation addresses key players responsible for establishing the television station in Iraq as well as the process of making available the American and locally produced content for Iraqi audiences.
Discipline
Communications
Geographic Area
Iraq
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries