Chuck Ross of the Washington Free Beacon documents a dubious funding source for American public broadcasting.
Qatar, the oil-rich gulf monarchy that harbors Hamas and other terrorist groups, has used a number of conduits to influence unwitting American audiences: tens of millions of dollars in funding for universities, think tanks, military museums, and alleged bribes to prominent members of Congress. Add PBS documentaries to the list.
A Qatari-backed front group, Yemen Crisis Watch, paid $250,000 to travel journalist Burt Wolf from September 2017 to January 2018 for a documentary about the war in Yemen that aired on PBS affiliates, according to previously unreported filings with the Department of Justice. The documentary was part of Qatar’s sprawling propaganda operation against two adversaries, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to federal prosecutors.
In the 30-minute documentary, Doug Watts, a longtime Republican operative who founded Yemen Crisis Watch, touts the organization as “all about raising awareness” about humanitarian issues in Yemen stemming from a war between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition. Wolf ends the show with a rebuke of Westerners for failing to heed the message of religious leaders Jesus, Moses, and Buddha in relation to Yemen. “When you think about what’s going on in places like Yemen, you’ve got to wonder why people are not getting their message,” said Wolf, who has produced thousands of travel shows for CNN, ABC, and public broadcasting.
It underscores the lengths to which Qatar goes to influence American policymakers and the public, while raising conflict of interest concerns for Wolf and PBS, which has aired numerous news stories decrying foreign disinformation and propaganda. Wolf did not respond to a request for comment.
Details of the propaganda scheme emerged as part of an investigation into Watts and his partner, Barry Bennett. The Qatari government paid more than $2 million to the operatives, who owned the firm Avenue Global Strategies, from September 2017 to January 2018 to operate Yemen Crisis Watch, which portrayed the Saudis as aggressors against Houthi rebels.
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Author: Mitch Kokai
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