Iraqi TV in Al-Anbar

News broadcasts in Iraq can be biased, inaccurate and incomplete - to put it mildly. Spirit of America and the US Marines have created a television alternative owned and operated by Iraqis. This is leading to better information, countering efforts to provoke and helping reduce tensions.

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The Request
With your help and the help of the US Marines, we donated 6 Iraqi owned and operated TV stations to Iraq's Al-Anbar province. After Dan Henninger wrote an article about the project in the Wall Street Journal on April 16th, we received tremendous support; within two weeks, we received $1,532,931 from 7,438 donors, which greatly exceeded our original fundraising goals.

The following efforts are already underway:

1) Establishing connections with the 6 stations in Al Anbar province via a satellite Internet link so that we may better support the stations with equipment and programming that will help them. We think there is an opportunity through this to establish citizen to citizen connections that will help win the peace. For example, a station could tell us they'd like some programming of Iraqi Americans talking about life in America. We could have it to them in a matter of days. Again, support on demand, immediate response to defined needs.

2) TV stations in other parts of Iraq. We have received requests from others who want help for a TV and radio stations independently owned and operated by Iraqis.

3) Programming. The better the programming the Iraqi stations have, the bigger their audience and the more effective they'll be. For starters we're working on providing movies, cartoons and nature programming with Arabic dubs or subtitles. We'll expand that with a better knowledge of their needs.


For More Information
For more information about this project check our blog for updates. You can email us at staff@spiritofamerica.net with any questions or ideas.

Use of funds
We are a 501c3 nonprofit and your donation is tax deductible. 100% of all donations to this project will be used for direct project expenses (i.e., purchase and shipping of the needed goods and services). We do not deduct fees or expenses for organization overhead. Those expenses are funded separately. Donation Policy Typically, we need and use all donations for the project to which they are earmarked. Any donations in excess of those immediately needed to fund this project will be used for the expansion of the project. And, after expansion of the project, any surplus donations will be used according to the donorsՠinstructions. As a donor, you have a choice to (A) reassign any unused portion of your donation to other Spirit of America projects, or (B) have us contact you to see if you wish a refund of the unused portion of your donation. If we contact you and you do not reply we will reassign any unused portion of your donation to other Spirit of America projects and 100% of those funds will be used for direct project expenses.