America’s Arabic-Language Media in the Middle East: A Conversation with Alberto M. Fernandez

Alberto M. Fernandez is president of Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN) and was previously vice-president of the Middle East Media Research Institute. He served as the US State Department’s coordinator for the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications from 2012 to 2015, retiring from the State Department in May 2015. Fernandez has served as US ambassador to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea; charge d’affaires to the Republic of Sudan; director for Near East public diplomacy; director for Iraq public diplomacy; and in senior public diplomacy positions at the US embassies in Afghanistan, Jordan, Syria, and Guatemala. His awards include the 2008 Presidential Meritorious Service Award, 2006 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy, and a 2003 Superior Honor Award for his work in Afghanistan.

Mark Tooley has been president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy since 2009 and is one of Providence’s publishers. He is also the author of Taking Back The United Methodist Church (2008) and The Peace That Almost Was (2015).