social media platforms. >> why a separate alhurra and alhurra iraq? >> when alhurra created, launched back in 2004 there was a tail end of the iraq war. there was belief we needed to focus iraq's centrist information. there was a need to broadcast local news about iraq while the rest of the middle east was served by the pan-arab channel. >> how big is mbn? budget, employees, bureau? >> mbn is about 600 employees, both here in the u.s. we have correspondents all over the middle east and some in europe too. we have a budget of about 110 million that is held relatively constant in recent years to support all the different activities. we have maintained the staffing level but we've done some internal reallocation to accommodate and adapt to some of the changes that have occurred in communications in the middle east, particularly in the area of digital media. >> what kind of technology do you use? >> well, we have a hd channel. we have some, some standard definition channels but we use satellite delivery which of benefit to us because we're on the most pop

the pan arab alhurra channel and the alhurra iraq channel. we also have eight radio sawa programming streams. three websites. and numerous social media platforms. >> host: why a separate alhurra and alhurra iraq? >> guest: when alhurra was created, launched back in 2004, we were on the tail end of the iraq war and there was a bereave factor. we needed iraq focused information and there was a need to broadcast local news about iraq while the rest of the middle east was sort of by the pan arab channel. >> host: how big is mbn? budget? employees? >> guest: mbn is about 600 employees over here in the u.s. we have correspondent said -- correspondents all over middle east and a budget of $10 million to support all of the different activities. we have maintained the staffing level but done some internal reallocation to accommodate and adapt to some of the changes that have occurred in communications in the middle east particularly in the area of digital media. >> host: what kind of technology do you use? >> guest: well, we have an hd channel. we hav

we talked to executives and producers who work at alhurra and radio sawa. , and the channels alhurra channel. also, we have eight radio sawa streams, websites, and numerous social media platforms. ?> why alhurra >> well, alhurra was launched back in 2004. this was on the tail end of the iraq war. there was a believe that the focused, iraq-centric information -- there was a need to broadcast local news on iraq. with the middle east, there was the arab channel. budget andis the employees? >> mbn is about 600 employees, both here in the u.s. -- we have correspondents in the middle east and in europe, too, with a budget of about $110 million that has held relatively constant in recent years to support the different activities. we have retained the staffing with, but we have done so allocation to accommodate and adapt to some of the changes that have occurred in the communications in the middle area particularly in the of digital media. >> what kind of technology do you use? >> we have an hd channel. the standard definition channels. delivery,tellite which is a benefit to us, because we a

we talked to executives and producers who work at alhurra and radio sawa.

. >> host: how many hours of live newscast a day on alhurra? guest: combined together we have four and a half. nis is major half hour shows and two signature shows. but our new summaries that puncuate the transmission on top of the other connecting would add up another hour and a half so six or seven hours. >> host: when you look at your network and compare it to others what is the difference? do people see a difference between the networks? >> guest: absolutely. what we hear from friends and families and former colleagues and participants i think that the basic difference is the narrative. i think the basic difference is we don't have a political agenda we are pursuing in a newscast. socontent form and method our selection is everything about the news making process is fought driven by preplanned agenda. but driven by news all over the region. >> host: were are you from originally? >> guest: i am originally from syria. >> host: how hard is it to cover what is knowing on in syria? >> guest: it is very hard because it is very complicated. there

. >> tonight, the communications business middle is broadcasting networks including alhurra and radio sawa. we speak with the president of the middle east broadcasting networks, fran mires. about how they should democrats values with an audience that would otherwise be exposed to a broader spectrum of opinions. >> we been on the air for 12 years, and over that period of time i think the audience has come to learn that it's not propaganda. we do strive to be balanced, but we also provide topics. we cover topics and we provide information that is not readily available. >> you are not enough people telling the stories of the difficult it is to be a woman and a girl child. so how many stories have we done on child marriages? i can even count. >> so you can do enough because really they are not telling the story enough. it's too sensitive, too close to home. >> radio voice is a campaign we launched in september 2015 to encourage people in the middle east to engage and be part of a discussion of important issues in the region, including extremism, root causes of extremism and unemployment,