This Washington Post article about how a Turkish soap opera is causing turmoil within Saudi Arabian society makes an interesting point. That is, the best way to infiltrate subversive ideas into closed societies is via entertainment media to which the local people can relate.
Instead of spending money on USIA and other obviously government-sponsored news channels, how about spending the money creating tacky soap operas in the local language and selling them to local broadcasters cheap? I'll bet the soap Dallas created more desire to emulate the U.S. than any five talking head programs.
Spend the money to dub Desperate Housewives into Farsi or Sex and the City into Urdu, and watch old line patriarchies fall apart. Programs about people in the target society would work even better.
