The New York Sun runs this editorial on Alhurra, America’s Middle East satellite news network run by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (where I used to work):

Among Alhurra’s blunders has been a broadcast of Hezbollah’s leading ideologist of anti-Jewish terror, Sheik Nasrallah. Alhurra kept him on the air — live, no less — for more than an hour, a stunt that some members of Congress recently charged, in a letter to Secretary Rice, violated a written policy. The congressmen quoted a report in the Wall Street Journal that quoted Sheik Nasrallah, five minutes into his rant on Alhurrah, as saying “the only place where bullets should be is the chest of the enemies of Lebanon: the Israeli enemy.” The congressmen also cited a bizarre broadcast that gave credence to Iran’s Holocaust denial conference. This has lead to calls in the Congress and in the press (particularly eloquently in dispatches by Joel Mowbray issued by the Wall Street Journal) for greater oversight.

The Holocaust denial conference mention is particularly noteworthy.  Some examples of what Alhurra broadcast:

• Anchor: “Iranian foreign minister Manushaher Muttaki said that his country’s intent is not to deny or prove this issue (the Holocaust).”
• Mohamed Abou Jihad, Hamas’ representative in Tehran: ““It is obvious that only part of the story is told regarding what happened during WWII.”
• Reporer: “Even if opinions have differed about how true the Holocaust is, particularly that some denied its occurrence.”
• David Duke: “Thanks to President Ahmedinejad, experts from all around the world were able to gather here in order to discuss this incident and exchange views about it.”

This may represent the worst lapse in editorial judgment ever for America’s international broadcasting efforts.