Samar Haddad watches her reflection in a TV monitor as she remolds her black hair into a pert flip. Beside her, Talal al-Sada whispers into his mike to check the decibel level.

The two sit ready to deliver the evening news in a state-of-the-art studio just across the Potomac from Washington. But the banks of black-framed lights, cameras, and speakers don't belong to yet another American cable news channel. This is Al Hurra, a US-government-sponsored satellite channel that's now broadcasting to 22 countries in the Arab world.

Its purpose is to offer a more balanced, alternative view to what is currently presented in the region - news that has deepened distrust of US policies.

"We have a huge leap forward in people responding negatively about American foreign policy as a result of the things that are shown on TV and in the way they are reported and visually enhanced," says Andrew Hess, a Middle East expert at Tufts University's Fletcher School in Medford, Mass. "Now that Al Jazeera and other channels have come online, surveys indicate there is a massive dislike of American foreign policies, especially in these Middle East hot spots."

No one thinks most Arabs' visceral dislike of US foreign policy is purely a result of watching television. But it is, experts say, a combination of policies themselves, the somewhat sensationalist way they are presented, and the emphasis on the two thorniest problems in the Middle East - Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

That's where Al Hurra - which means "the free one" - comes in. It is building on the success of its sister program, Radio Sawa. Set up two years ago to target Arab youth - the most disaffected and largest proportion of the population - Radio Sawa now attracts as many listeners as mainstream Arab stations.

"Al Hurra will have the look of a CNN, a FOX, or an MSNBC," says Norman Pattiz, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees this start-up. "It will also have the look of Arabic satellite TV stations. But in terms of production value, it will raise the bar."

This week, Al Hurra ramps up to 19 hours per day, and will go to 24/7 around March 1. It's the latest brainchild of the BBG, which was set up by the US Congress to deliver - depending on your view - balanced news coverage or the US party line. Unlike the Pentagon-sponsored broadcasts and the State Department's effort to win hearts and minds through an advertising campaign, Al Hurra was set up outside government to stay as independent as possible. Though federally funded with $62 million from Congress, eight of its nine board members come from outside government - four Democrats and four Republicans who oversee US broadcast activities, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. The secretary of State serves ex officio, with a vote.

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