Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting Opposes Broadcasting Board of Governors’ Budget Proposal for FY2013

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) has issued the following statement after a careful review of the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ 161-page Budget Proposal for FY2013:

“The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting is outraged by the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ Budget for FY2013 that proposes to cut and reduce Voice of America (VOA) English and foreign language programs and positions, as well as programs and positions at Radio Free Asia (RFA) and at other U.S. government-funded international broadcasting entities managed by the BBG.

We oppose the BBG’s efforts to eviscerate core news services provided by the Voice of America and other broadcasters while using U.S.-taxpayer resources to inflate the ranks of the BBG management.

The VOA Tibetan Service was created by an Act of Congress signed into law on February 16, 1990 ‘to provide Voice of America Tibetan language programming to the people of Tibet.’ Less than one year ago the Voice of America was celebrating the importance of Tibetan radio broadcasts, marking the 20th anniversary of the first VOA Tibetan radio program.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors now wants to eliminate completely these critical radio broadcasts from their budget and leave funding only for a television program which most people in Tibet are unable to receive. This BBG action would defeat the purpose of the Federal law sponsored by Rep. Dante B. Fascell (Public Law No: 101-246) which established the VOA Tibetan Service.

We also adamantly oppose the BBG’s plans to cut the entire VOA Cantonese Service, which includes the VOA Cantonese weekly program, ‘American Report’ viewed in Cantonese‐speaking areas of China.

We expect that there will be a public outcry for these services to remain. Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Burma, Georgia, Greece, Laos, Russian Federation, Turkey and Vietnam are some of the other countries to which the BBG wants to reduce information programs. The Caucasus region, including Chechnya, and Central Asia are also targeted by the BBG for program cuts and reductions.

CUSIB also questions the BBG’s ‘over-arching strategic objective … (T)o become the world’s leading international news agency by 2016…’ This proposal also seems to be in direct conflict with Congressional intent as it will divert scarce resources from serving those who are most desperate to receive uncensored news and information.

In a memo to BBG staff, the BBG wrote: ‘We realize that some of these proposed changes will create anxiety.’ On the contrary, these BBG proposed changes will re-ignite passion of every journalist and human rights activist and incite and re-inspire them to preserve those programs that support journalism for media freedom and human rights.”

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) is an independent, nongovernmental organization which supports free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries without free media.

For further information, please contact:

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB)
New York, New York

Ann Noonan, co-founder and Executive Director
Tel. 646-251-6069

Ted Lipien, co-founder and Director
Tel. 415-793-1642
Email: contact@cusib.org
www.cusib.org

Related posts:

1. Scholar of Tibetan history joins CUSIB's Advisory Board
2. John Lenczowski to Serve on CUSIB Advisory Board – CUSIB
3. CUSIB's Reggie Littlejohn joins Congressman Chris Smith in calling for release of Chen Guangcheng – CUSIB
4. LAT's pro-Cuban regime editorial gets a response from CUSIB
5. CUSIB members honor victims of human rights abuses in China, stress importance of VOA and RFA broadcasts

Ted Lipien, a former Voice of America (VOA) acting associate director, has been warning for some time that marketing and staffing policies pushed by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) executives have changed the focus of VOA and other BBG broadcasters from serious, accurate and well balanced journalism to ratings-chasing entertainment and sloppy reporting produced by inexperienced, poorly paid, otherwise exploited, unsupervised and unedited contractors, many without any background in American life and media.

In his latest op-ed in The Washington Examiner, Lipien makes this point again. Anticipating the expected line of defense of BBG bureaucrats, who refuse to acknowledge the problem and dismiss a recent “fake” interview on the VOA Russian website and charges of “pro-Putin bias” as atypical, Lipien cites a study by a prominent independent Russian journalist and new media scholar Dr. Nikolay Rudenskiy who found not just one but many examples of the Voice of America Russian Service website giving prominence to pro-Putin and pro-Kremlin views and failing again and again to provide an American perspective on human rights and media freedom violations in Russia.

Lipien was also interviewed by NPR’s Michele Kelemen who reported that a recent webcast on the VOA Russian Service site included a long statement from a Putin supporter in Russia without an effective attempt to counter or balance his pro-Kremlin views.

U.S. taxpayers funding pro-Putin VOA programs – Ted Lipien – Washington Examiner
If American taxpayers had any idea what kind of messages Voice of America (VOA) is sending in their name and at their expense to Russia, they would be hopping mad.

Opposition leaders and independent journalists in Russia have warned that the VOA Russian website has a pro-Putin bias and downplays human rights reporting, but the latest scandal brings the harm to a new level. The VOA site posted a fake interview and embarrassed a leading Russian pro-democracy figure.

The VOA is funded by Americans to broadcast information programs to countries without free media. A leading Russian anti-corruption lawyer and Putin critic, Alexei Navalny, wrote a scathing Twitter comment accusing VOA of “going nuts.”

He dismissed the purported interview with him on the Russian website as “100 percent fake.” He further suggested that someone in Washington should start listening and “let all these guys go.”

The VOA Russian Service removed the interview and apologized to Navalny, no doubt hoping the scandal would soon blow over.

But the story was picked up by RIA Novosti news agency and other Russian media, which reported on it in Russian and English. Significantly, the VOA English website ignored the whole incident.

What we have here is not just an isolated journalistic flop. Russian opposition leaders have known for quite some time there is something fundamentally wrong with the VOA Russian website.

In early 2011, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a federal agency that runs VOA, commissioned a study from a highly respected independent journalist living in Russia.

He warned that the website favored a pro-Putin line. It even downplayed a human rights speech delivered in Moscow by Vice President Joseph Biden.

The BBG bureaucrats did not highlight this damning assessment to members of the bipartisan board or to the new VOA director, David Ensor. They told them instead that the Russian Service was doing a terrific job.

On the day the Russian Service editors were getting ready to post their apology, Ensor praised them for being a model of innovation.

The fake interview was obtained by a newly hired contractor from Russia through an exchange of emails.

Someone should have known that pro-Kremlin activists have broken into email accounts of many anti-Putin leaders, but an editor, also recently hired as a contractor, gave his approval instead of doing further checking.

Even after the Russian Service apologized to Navalny, some of its staffers continued a whispering campaign accusing him of giving the interview and then lying about it.

A pro-Putin bias and scurrilous accusations against a courageous human rights activist may explain what kind of journalists the BBG has been hiring recently to manage the Russian website.

Some of them had worked for the pro-Putin media in Russia. To make room for these poorly vetted and poorly paid contractors, BBG executives retired experienced editors.

These officials also told the Russian Service not to be too harsh on the Kremlin because, according to BBG audience surveys, most Russians don’t like it. And that’s bad for ratings, they said.

They allowed VOA websites to be hacked a number of times. And, they failed to tell the Board promptly about the latest incident.

The same BBG officials are also responsible for drafting a plan to restructure U.S. international broadcasting that will be soon presented to Congress.

And, guess what, it would give them more control and turn the agency into an NPR-like structure with both international and domestic programs. It amounts to asking American taxpayers to continue paying for Putin’s propaganda.

Their latest proposal calls for ending VOA radio broadcasts to Tibet. Congressional committees with oversight functions need to step in and clean the place up before these failed bureaucrats do even more damage to America’s reputation abroad.

Ted Lipien is a former VOA acting associate director and co-founder of the nongovernmental Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB – www.CUSIB.org).

Link to the original article >> U.S. taxpayers funding pro-Putin VOA programs – Ted Lipien – Washington Examiner

Related posts:

1. Washington Times Op-Ed warns about pro-Putin bias in Voice of America Russian programs
2. Russian Accuses Voice Of America Of Fake Interview – NPR
3. U.S. Taxpayers Pay for Spreading Racist Views on Radio Liberty in Russia
4. How Self-Censorship Works – Putin, GQ, and US Taxpayer-Supported Radio Liberty
5. Voice of America English programs go the way of Voice of Russia, says former VOA journalist

NPR’s Michele Kelemen, a former employee of Voice of America, reported on the recent VOA Russian Service interview with a leading Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny which he later described as “100 percent fake” and complained that VOA “went nuts.” The fake interview may have been created by Kremlin supporters who have been known to hijack email accounts of anti-Putin opposition leaders.

Kelemen interviewed the new VOA director David Ensor and former VOA journalist and director of the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) Ted Lipien. Lipien also served as acting associate VOA director and placed VOA and Radio Liberty programs on stations in Russia before the Russian government of Vladimir Putin forced these stations to drop these programs. CUSIB opposes plans by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to cut VOA programs to Russia, China and other countries that restrict free media.

Ensor told Kelemen “So we may have been scammed, but we may never know for sure.” Ensor apologized for the incident and said the Russian service has tightened its procedures.

But NPR reported that others don’t see this as an isolated incident. Lipien said that the Russian service now relies on contractors, who aren’t familiar with American journalistic values.

“And I’m not saying that one should not hire people with fresh knowledge of countries like Russia,” Lipien says. “But if you are the Voice of America, you also need seasoned editors with other experience — American experience.”

An independent Russian journalist and new media scholar Dr. Nikolay Rudenskiy, who evaluated the VOA Russian website for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which manages the Voice of America, concluded that it has a “pro-Putin bias” and downplays human rights reporting and American viewpoints. See: “New media scholar Nikolay Rudenskiy is author of ‘pro-Putin Bias in VOA’study.” But a Senate staffer familiar with the evaluation said there is “no smoking gun” to indicate a deliberate pro-Putin bias.

NPR’s Michele Kelemen reported, however, that in one Voice of America Russian Service webcast, the VOA host hardly pushes back in a lengthy interview with a pro-Putin youth leader, who complains that the U.S. is trying to foment revolution in his country.

Read and listen to NPR report: Russian Accuses Voice Of America Of Fake Interview by MICHELE KELEMEN

Related posts:

1. Washington Times Op-Ed warns about pro-Putin bias in Voice of America Russian programs
2. Officials hail Voice of America TV interview in Persian with Hillary Clinton; then what about TV to China?
3. C-Span on interview with Voice of America Director: VOA gradually ending broadcasts to China
4. Voice of America continues one-sided coverage of U.S.-Russian relations
5. No More Voice of America Radio to China and No Apology from BBG Officials for Allowing Iranian Cyber Attack on Voice of America

On January 31, the Voice of America posted on its Russian website an alleged interview with a prominent Russian anti-corruption lawyer, anti-Putin opposition leader and blogger Alexei Navalny but had to remove it and apologize after Navalny said that the interview was “100 percent fake.” Navalny, who is viewed as an enemy by the Kremlin and has been a target of disinformation campaigns by Prime Minister Putin’s supporters, accused the Voice of America of “going nuts” and suggested that all those working for the VOA Russian Service should be let go. BBG Watch website reported that despite issuing an apology, some staffers who were responsible for posting the fake interview have been telling VOA and BBG management that Navalny did give them an interview through an exchange of emails and then lied about it. BBG Watch reported that these staffers are recent arrivals from Russia who were hired as poorly paid contractors to replace experienced journalists who had been retired or pushed out because they were critical of Putin and may have lacked new media skills.

Asked by BBG Watch for a comment, Lipien said that in his long career with the Voice of America he did not recall a single incident where VOA would air a fake interview with a major anti-communist figure like Andrei Sakharov, Lech Walesa, or Vaclav Havel. “Had we done so due to some kind of secret police provocation, of which there were many, we would certainly not accuse these brave men of lying,” Lipien said. The fact that this incident happened and that some VOA Russian Service staffers are still engaged in a whispering campaign of accusing Andrei Navalny of lying, as reported by BBG Watch, is extremely disturbing, Lipien said.

Voice of America director should have called Alexei Navalny and issued a personal apology, which should have been posted on VOA websites in Russian and English, Lipien suggested. The fact that the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported on the fake interview incident in both Russian and English, but the VOA English news website completely ignored the story, points to serious problems with Voice of America journalism under the guidance of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. In many ways, it is now much worse than it was when VOA was still part of the United States Information Agency but VOA journalists knew how to use the VOA Charter to demand that controversial stories be covered, Lipien said.

BBG Watch has been reporting that BBG employees are intimidated by the upper management and are afraid to voice their concerns in public. One unnamed BBG member called employees who contribute anonymously to BBG Watch “cowards.”

What is even more disturbing, Lipien told BBG Watch, is that Broadcasting Board of Governors executives knew for almost a year that the VOA Russian website had a pro-Kremlin bias and downplayed human rights reporting and yet they did not bring the study done by an independent Russian journalist to the immediate attention of BBG members or taken immediate action to investigate such conclusions.

Lipien told BBG Watch that if a highly respected independent journalist in Poland concluded that VOA broadcasts in the 1980s had a pro-Jaruzelski bias, the VOA management at that time as well as the United States Information Agency would not ignore such an evaluation and he would have no doubt lost his job. The fact that the Broadcasting Board of Governors has done nothing suggest that the agency and its management team are in deep crisis, Lipien told BBG Watch. He blamed BBG program marketing and staffing policies for “pushing out great journalists and making the job of those highly talented and dedicated staffers who remain almost impossible as evidenced by the lowest employee and contractor morale in the entire federal government.”

Lipien’s Op-Ed in The Washington Times analyzes how the latest “fake” interview incident happened and attributes it to a general crisis in management at the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

LIPIEN: VOA harms Putin opposition in Russia

Faked interviews, lax Web security are signs a shakeup is needed

By Ted Lipien -The Washington Times Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Illustration by John Camejo for The Washington Times

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the agency in charge of critical U.S. information programs to countries such as Iran, China and Russia, can only be described as a failed enterprise in need of emergency surgery.

Just as the new Voice of America (VOA) director, David Ensor, was praising the VOA Russian Service as a model of innovation during a speech to mark the broadcast’s 70th anniversary, the Russian Service was posting an apology to Alexei Navalny, a famous Russian anti-corruption lawyer, opposition leader and blogger, for publishing an online interview with him, which he described as “100 percent fake.” Mr. Navalny said he never granted this interview (he hasn’t been giving any interviews recently), accused Voice of America of “going nuts,” and suggested that all VOA Russian staff should be let go. The alleged interview, apparently obtained through an exchange of emails, included uncharacteristic attacks on other Russian opposition leaders who are Mr. Navalny’s allies against the Kremlin. No one bothered to confirm whether the answers received by email came from Mr. Navalny. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) also had a similar incident in which someone impersonated another opposition figure in Russia.

READ more of LIPIEN: VOA harms Putin opposition in Russia

Related posts:

1. Don’t silence Voice of America radio to China — Ted Lipien in The Washington Times
2. Voice of America continues one-sided coverage of U.S.-Russian relations
3. America's Silenced Voice Abroad – A Journalist Remembers the Broadcasting Board of Governors Early Moves to Outsource Voice of America International Programs to Private Contractors
4. Voice of America English programs go the way of Voice of Russia, says former VOA journalist
5. Voice of America English programs go the way of Voice of Russia, says former VOA journalist

In an article published in American Diplomacy, a quarterly electronic journal of commentary, analysis, and research on American foreign policy and its practice, the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) director Ted Lipien warns against diminished public stake in U.S. international broadcasting.

Lipien, a former acting associate director of the Voice of America, argues that de-federalizing VOA and limiting the independence and specialization of the surrogate broadcasters like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty would make them less effective in projecting American opinions and values overseas. Lipien wrote that the current culture at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which manages U.S. government-funded international broadcasts, at the top executive level favors salesmanship more than hard-hitting journalism in defense of human rights which many broadcasters try to practice.

In his article, Lipien describes the State Department’s interference with VOA radio programs to Poland in the early decades of the Cold War. While opposing any kind of government censorship of journalists, Lipien believes that U.S. international broadcasting can be more effective as part of a broader public diplomacy effort by the U.S. government that reflects long-term American interests, supports media freedom and human rights, and is subject to public scrutiny.

Read the original article here:

Interweaving of Public Diplomacy and U.S. International Broadcasting: A Historical Analysis by Ted Lipien

American Diplomacy also published an article by a former VOA executive Alan L. Heil Jr:

All Quiet on the Western Front? 2012 Challenges and Opportunities in the Five-Year Strategic Plan for U.S. International Broadcasting by Alan L. Heil Jr.

Related posts:

1. Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting Announces Advisory Board — CUSIB Press Release
2. Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting members to testify in Congress – CUSIB
3. Newly-formed Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting vows to defend media freedom journalism
4. John Lenczowski to Serve on CUSIB Advisory Board – CUSIB
5. Karl Altau, Managing Director of JBANC, joins Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting

Related posts:

1. Was BBG Watch site blocked by BBG or not? — BBG spokesperson says it was not
2. BBG spin doctors get a comment from BBG Watch
3. BBG Watch most popular posts focus on mismanagement at Broadcasting Board of Governors
4. BBG Watch comments on VOA in China in IC therefore IM AU blog
5. ‘Old white guys’ – National Review links to BBG Watch discrimination and mismanagement story

Another article, published in Zagreb, Croatia by Croatian Times, also describes examples of discrimination at Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty: Snjezana Pelivan asks Croatian government to support her legal claim in Strasbourg

Snjezana Pelivan

These days, Soviet-style samizdat  is doing the rounds at the Prague headquarters of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. It is a press release on the letter to Croatian government by Snjezana Pelivan, a Croatian journalist living in Prague. Her case against the Czech Republic as a country that tolerates the national discrimination practised on its territory by the American RFE/RL, is in the European Court of Human Rights. In her letter, she officially requests the government of Croatia to support her lawsuit in Strasbourg.

Snjezana Pelivan quotes Czech Senator Jaromir Stetina, vice-chairman of the Senate caucus of the governing party, member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Policy, Defense and Security, who described RFE/RL labour policies in the Czech Republic as “patently indecent, unfair, cynical and hypocritical”.

Snjezana Pelivan gives the following example, among others: “A foreign woman working for RFE/RL will receive maternity leave in accordance with the RFE/RL Corporate Policy Manual. It is almost three months shorter than the leave provided by Czech law to anyone else in the Czech Republic, including Czech employees of RFE/RL. But a foreign employee of the Radio has no place to complain – neither to the American courts, nor the Czech ones. In the sovereign Czech Republic, the American RFE/RL is the most sovereign judge in its own court without the right of appeal.”

The article mentions two of the high-level Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty executives, Julian Knapp and John O’Sullivan, who have left the RFE/RL, are about to leave, or whose job titles have been changed. According to earlier reports, some of the recent personnel changes at Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty are due to the reported pressure on “old white guys,” allegedly to make room for promotions for employees who are the favorites of RFE/RL President Steven W. Korn. He is a former CNN associate of the BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson.

Related posts:

1. Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty Faces Ethnic Discrimination Charges at the European Court of Human Rights – Free Media Online Blog (FreeMediaOnline.org)
2. Armenian journalist appeals to Obama to protect rights of foreign journalists at U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
3. News Flashes from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Understanding Government
4. Two Women Fighting to Uphold America's Principles at America's Freedom Radio
5. ‘Old white guys’ – National Review links to BBG Watch discrimination and mismanagement story

In his letter to CUSIB, Dr. Lam writes that “Given the extreme unlikelihood that the Chinese Communist Party administration will lift its draconian censorship any time soon, stoppage or truncation of VOA’s Chinese-language services would be a blow to those interested in Chinese affairs both in and out of China.”

Dr. Lam stressed that the previously proposed ending of these broadcasts by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a federal U.S. agency which manages the Voice of America, would “also hurt American soft power at a time when President Obama is underscoring the imperative of the United States being ‘back in Asia’.”

The BBG has subsequently withdrawn its plan to end the broadcasts after members of the U.S. Congress from both parties voted to restore funding for VOA radio and TV programs to China. BBG executives claimed that they planned to invest in expanding VOA Chinese Internet programming. The Internet is heavily censored in China.

Dr. Lam, a former correspondent and editor for Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, is one of the world’s most authoritative China-Watchers. He left the newspaper in 2000 as the Chinese government intensified its censorship of the press. He has published several books on China, including Chinese Politics in the Hu Jintao Era.

Dr. Lam is currently a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Akita International University, Japan. He is also a Senior Fellow at Jamestown Foundation (www.jamestown.org), a leading foreign-policy think tank in Washington D.C.

January 1, 2012

Ann Noonan
Executive Director
Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting

Testimony in support of VOA’s Chinese-language Services

I write to support the unlimited continuation of the Chinese-language services of VOA.

As a college teacher of Chinese affairs and a regular commentator on Chinese politics for the international media, I find the reporting on VOA’s Chinese services essential for an adequate understanding of the fast-changing country. My friends in China in particular say they depend on VOA for information and analysis about their own country.

Given the extreme unlikelihood that the Chinese Communist Party administration will lift its draconian censorship any time soon, stoppage or truncation of VOA’s Chinese-language services would be a blow to those interested in Chinese affairs both in and out of China. It will also hurt American soft power at a time when President Obama is underscoring the imperative of the United States being “back in Asia.”

While a number of other media also provide Chinese-language broadcasts, it is my deeply held conviction that VOA’s long history and unrivalled networks in China, plus the unique talents of its dedicated staff, have rendered its Chinese-language services indispensable.

Even though the mood in Washington and elsewhere may be to cut government spending, it would be a mistake to disable a vehicle that has helped millions of people understand what many have called the world’s “next superpower.” VOA’s Chinese services have also served as a valuable cultural bridge between the U.S. and China even as they help to spread American and international norms among hundreds of thousands of Chinese intellectuals who are avid VOA fans.

Willy Lam

Dr. Willy Wo-Lap Lam
Adjunct Professor of History & Political Economy,
Chinese University of Hong Kong;
Select Professor of China Studies,
Akita International University, Japan.
wllam@netvigator.com; willy@aiu.ac.jp.

Related posts:

1. Voice of America supporters in China say VOA radio broadcasts are needed
2. Former Chinese political prisoner says Voice of America must not retreat from China
3. Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs says Chinese people need Voice of America broadcasts
4. Capitol Hill Reception brings together supporters of Voice of America broadcasts to China
5. C-Span on interview with Voice of America Director: VOA gradually ending broadcasts to China

Here are the ten most popular posts in 2011.

1. Leader of federal agency with lowest leadership ratings justifies cash awards for executives

2. BBG executives close down Voice of America broadcasting services, pay themselves hefty bonuses

3. More from VOA director about BBG’s plans for program cuts

4. Top BBG official predicts ‘old white men’ will lose jobs under merger plan

5. BBG’s Victor Ashe raises employee morale issues

6. Steve Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson under fire for personnel practices at the Voice of America

7. CNNization of USG broadcasting leads to waste and abuse, Voice of America employees report

8. Senate Committee on Appropriations tells BBG: VOA radio and TV to China must continue

9. U.S. official Victor Ashe calls for keeping a radio facility capable of reaching China

10. New VOA director threatened to resign in an apparent dispute with the BBG

Related posts:

1. Broadcasting Board of Governors woos Voice of America Chinese broadcasters after trying to get them fired
2. ‘Old white guys’ – National Review links to BBG Watch discrimination and mismanagement story
3. Overhaul Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Management – Helle Dale, Heritage Foundation
4. Broadcasting Board Governor Victor Ashe praised for listening to employee concerns
5. State's Lynne Weil to head Broadcasting Board of Governors large PR department

IBB Director Richard Lobo

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) employees are both annoyed and amused by the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) Director Richard Lobo’s memo in which he justifies bonuses paid to BBG executives as being in line with awards received by executives employed by other federal agencies. As some employees point out, there is a problem with the logic of Lobo’s line of reasoning.

Since he is a leader of the agency rated by employees as one of the worst managed within the federal bureaucracy, BBG executives should not receive bonuses slightly below the average for the entire federal government. Their bonuses should be zero or near zero.

Average bonuses should go to officials in charge of agencies with average leadership ratings and the highest to the heads of the best managed government offices.

In the most recent Office of Personnel Management (OPM) employee satisfaction survey, officially known as the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, the Broadcasting Board of Governors received the following scores:
 
• 33rd of 37 in job satisfaction;
 
• 35th of 37 on results-oriented performance culture;
 
• 36th of 37 on talent management; and,
 
• 37th of 37 on leadership and knowledgeable management.  Dead last!

Richard Lobo’s agency has the worst leadership rating. Not to mention the fact that the executives who got these high bonuses wanted to end Voice of America radio and TV broadcasts to China and fire 45 VOA China Branch journalists just as the Chinese regime was intensifying Internet censorship and cracking down on dissent in response to the Jasmine Revolution. Only an intervention by the U.S. Congress put a stop to their plan. For that fiasco alone, Lobo and the rest of the BBG and VOA executives should have submitted their resignations to the Board. Instead, they gave themselves bonuses, some as high as $10,000 on top of their $150,000-plus annual salaries and generous federal government employment benefits. The same executives also developed the strategic plan which calls for the merger of the surrogate broadcasters into a large corporate bureaucracy and for de-federalizing VOA and Radio and TV Marti.

For the reaction to this story see: “FedSmith.com links to Lobo-bonuses story, offers salary search.”

Here are some of the comments to Lobo’s memo, including a very funny parody from Jane (not a real name), sent to BBGWatch.com.

Yeah, yeah, yeah  . . . we all understand that every government agency hands these out, and we know about limitations on SES — but for them to dish those out in an atmosphere where the “rank and file” are facing potential job loss and the psychological traumatic effects that we have been seeing is just inexcusable.

Defending the indefensible.  Lobo is justifying handing out bonuses to the senior management of the agency based on what is done in the rest of the government.  That’s the only way he can justify handing out the bonuses.  He barely touches on the employee survey.  To an outside observer, taking into consideration the agency’s record in the surveys, these bonuses can be seen as rewarding senior agency officials for creating “one of the worst organizations in the Federal Government.”

This one is from Jane.

Comment: The following is IBB Director Richard Lobo’s response to comments submitted by Carolyn Weaver and Faith Lapidus on the topic of cash awards for BBG Senior Executive Service (SES) members.  

We have received several questions from readers about cash awards given to BBG Senior Executive Service (SES) members in 2010 and 2011.   Currently, there are three SES members on the BBG staff; seven in IBB, five in VOA and one in OCB.

Ladies:

It is important for you, Carolyn and Faith, to understand that we, at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, are very fortunate to benefit from the firm of Lake Woebegone Management Recruiters, a firm that specializes in placing only above-average, if not extraordinary, talent with government agencies.  Operating out of a picturesque, Lutheran-European based community in northern Minnesota; Lake Woebegone Management Recruiters is virtually incapable of recommending an SES employment candidate that could, in theory, perform in a sub-par manner. These SES members are not only assigned the highest level of responsibility for carrying out our mission, they can also, due to their northern climate backgrounds, drive to work during Washington’s increasing frequent winter blizzards. Of course, I know, as I’m sure you know, that none of them were called upon to demonstrate this skill in the snowmageddon of 2009, but those days, you must understand, did not, given their extraordinary Minnesota snow-driving skills, appear to them to be an actual climate emergency.

Now, under the current system, SES members are ineligible for automatic annual pay adjustments; within-grade increases (WGIS); and quality step increases (QSIs).   Also, SES members are not eligible for promotions, i.e., salary increases automatically tied to increases in responsibilities. Do you understand? They don’t get automatic raises!! They are, instead, for all practical measurements, subjected to the unfair whims of the free market, their paychecks are tied to performance and to their contribution to the agency’s mission. Oh, sweet girls, apply some logic, if they are, by definition, above average, if not extraordinary, then, of course, they must all receive performance awards. Imagine the chaos that would ensue if one of them were, in theory, to be singled out as “simply average” (i.e. deserving of salary, but no more) or, unthinkably, “below-average?” I think you well understand this scenario would, not only, endanger our contract with the Lake Woebegone

Management Recruiters (imagine the offense they would take?) but would create an environment of uncertainty, a rudderless ship, if you will, our agency, adrift, our employees fearful, handicapped, as all would assume, by a merely “average” leadership.

No, this cannot be. So, to allay your motherly fears, (I mean, ladies, we cannot all be mommies, cutting equal slices of the cake, life is not always fair!) I present to you the major agency accomplishments during the past two years: the completion of a comprehensive year-long strategic review and a resulting strategic plan for international broadcasting. Emails flew! Division Directors typed with a here-to-for unknown fervor! Conference rooms were booked. Teleconferencing, I mean, actual teleconferencing occurred! We wrote a plan. We even hired an outside consulting firm to tell us our plan was good!

Let me be clear, the average SES  award for 2010 was $7,929; the average for 2011 was $9,217. To put that into perspective, Government-wide, the average performance award paid to SES members in 2010 was $13,081. Add this amount to a salary of $150,000 and you are talking Wall Street Secretary, not an important representative of the Broadcasting Board of Governors! We should be grateful they deign to serve for such a pittance. (I must admit, I do sense a certain unattractive note of envy on your part, perhaps you should have spent more time cultivating contacts for advancement, rather than journalistic contacts with all that pesky “questioning of authority?” Just asking.)

Currently, the IBB Director (a Presidential appointee and not a member of the SES) determines whether agency SES members should receive a salary increase and/or performance award and the amounts.   Prior to the recent organizational restructuring, the Acting IBB Director made compensation determinations for IBB, VOA and OCB SES members and  the BBG Executive Director made these decisions for SES members on the BBG staff.  In 2010, a subcommittee of the Board made decisions for awards for the BBG Executive Director and Acting IBB/VOA Director.   How fortunate we are that every single one qualified for bonuses! (I suppose you would be happier if we had your average Joe, rather than the supremely qualified candidates of the Lake Woebegone Management Recruiters?) Some people are never happy.

Richard M. Lobo
Director, International Broadcasting Bureau
Broadcasting Board of Governors

Here is the original response from IBB Director Richard Lobo:

We have received several questions from readers about cash awards given to BBG Senior Executive Service (SES) members in 2010 and 2011.

Currently, there are three SES members on the BBG staff; seven in IBB, five in VOA and one in OCB. These SES members, who are assigned the highest level of responsibility for carrying out our mission, operate under a government-wide performance-based pay system that has been in effect since January 2004.

Under this system, SES members are ineligible for automatic annual pay adjustments; within-grade increases (WGIS); and quality step increases (QSIs). Also, SES members are not eligible for promotions, i.e., salary increases automatically tied to increases in responsibilities. Instead, SES salary is based strictly on a member’s performance and contribution to the agency’s mission. Among the major agency accomplishments during the past two years were completion of a comprehensive year-long strategic review and a resulting strategic plan for international broadcasting, reaching record global audiences, and several other impressive achievements reported in the Agency’s annual Performance and Accountability Reports:

(http://media.voanews.com/documents/BBG+FY+2011+PAR.pdf)

While concerted efforts resulted in improvements in a number of areas, the overall results of the federal employee satisfaction survey remain a serious concern.

In 2010, SES members received individual salary increases averaging 1.7%. GS and GG employees in the Washington, DC metropolitan area received a 2.42% salary increase that year and continued to receive within-grade increases up to the top step of their grade if they met length of service and basic performance requirements.

Like GS, GG, and WB employees, there was no increase in the pay scale for SES members in 2011, although GS and GG employees continued to receive WGIs and be eligible for QSIs and promotions.

Awards are an integral part of the overall SES compensation plan. To emphasize the importance of the contributions expected each year, the agency allots a significant percentage of SES members’ compensation in the form of one-time awards rather than continuing basic salary increases.

The average SES award for 2010 was $7,929; the average for 2011 was $9,217. To put that into perspective, Government-wide, the average performance award paid to SES members in 2010 was $13,081. Government-wide figures for 2011 are not yet available.

Currently, the IBB Director (a Presidential appointee and not a member of the SES) determines whether agency SES members should receive a salary increase and/or performance award and the amounts. Prior to the recent organizational restructuring, the Acting IBB Director made compensation determinations for IBB, VOA and OCB SES members and the BBG Executive Director made these decisions for SES members on the BBG staff. In 2010, a subcommittee of the Board made decisions for awards for the BBG Executive Director and Acting IBB/VOA Director.

The Agency is committed to ensuring that non SES as well as SES employees are rewarded for extraordinary contributions to the agency. More than $700,000 was distributed in cash awards to more than 800 non SES employees in FY 2011, including more than 50 QSIs. Also more than 420 non SES employees received time off awards.

Richard M. Lobo
Director, International Broadcasting Bureau
Broadcasting Board of Governors

12/21/11 4:30 PM

Related posts:

1. When A Federal Agency Goes Bad
2. The Broadcasting Board of Governors – Cold Hard Cash
3. Charges against a US federal agency of discriminating against journalists
4. BBG executives close down Voice of America broadcasting services, pay themselves hefty bonuses
5. BBG executives unnerved by Ashe's interest in employee morale

BBG Governor Victor Ashe and VOA Director David Ensor meeting with VOA China Branch employees - BBG photo

A Knoxville magazine website Metro Pulse quoted from BBGWatch.com in its report about Broadcasting Board Governor Victor Ashe’s unprecedented one-man campaign to reform the federal agency in charge of U.S. international broadcasting.

Metro Pulse reported that “A blog [BBGWatch.com report: U.S. official Victor Ashe calls for keeping a radio facility capable of reaching China] that covers the BBG called Ashe’s public dissent ‘unprecedented’ by a member since the members, appointed by the president, do not publicly criticize the running of the agency.” Metro Pulse pointed out that Ashe, who is a former mayor of Knoxville and former U.S. Ambassador to Poland, has been visiting various BBG broadcasting entities and meeting with employees. The report suggest that Ashe “can be expected to continue to be a thorn in the side of his colleagues.”

The article mentions Ashe’s statement in support of keeping open a radio transmitting facility on U.S. territory capable of broadcasting to China.

Metro Pulse also noted Ashe’s successful intervention to make flu shots available to contract employees working at the Voice of America (VOA). “Ashe said the flu does not discriminate between civil service and contract workers. So the flu shots were extended,” Metro Pulse reported.

Read full Metro Pulse story.

Related posts:

1. BBG’s Victor Ashe’s wish list for 2012 urges reforms
2. Broadcasting Board Governor Victor Ashe praised for listening to employee concerns
3. BBG's Victor Ashe raises employee morale issues
4. U.S. official Victor Ashe calls for keeping a radio facility capable of reaching China
5. BBG Governor Victor Ashe calls shortwave broadcasting to countries without free media ‘valuable’

It is highly unusual for BBG members to regularly meet with groups of employees and for the union representing the BBG workforce to praise a BBG member. Ashe is the only one among the current BBG members who seeks out meetings with the rank-and-file agency staff, including contract employees at the Voice of America.

In a statement issued as a wish list for 2012, Victor Ashe called for improving employee morale at the BBG and urged BBG executives to take concrete steps toward better management-employee relations. He also called for keeping a radio transmitting facility on U.S. soil capable of reaching China.

BBG Watch is republishing the full text of the AFGE Local 1812 report on Ashe’s visit to Greenville. Link

###

Broadcasting Board Governor Victor Ashe visits Greenville

Broadcasting Board of Governors member, Victor Ashe, toured the Voice of America Transmitting Station Site B in Greenville, North Carolina on December 7th.
 
His visit was a morale boosting event for Greenville. Governor Ashe stated that he appreciated the hard work and dedication of the technicians and staff in keeping the aging transmitters operational and on the air. Governor Ashe said that he believes that we must keep a station open in the continental United States and that Greenville does vital work.
 
He also strongly suggested that Greenville stop using the station identification of Greenville VOA Site B and use the officially dedicated name. Greenville’s official name is the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station. Mr. Murrow, a well known broadcast journalist, was a North Carolina native born near the city of Greensboro. The Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station was officially dedicated by President John F. Kennedy in February 1962.

The technicians and staff of the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station enjoyed the openness and honesty of Mr. Ashe’s questions and answers. He is the first member of the currently seated Broadcasting Board of Governors to visit and tour the station. To the employees of the transmitting station his visit was almost like Santa Claus arriving early with his words of appreciation and honesty.

Posted: Wednesday, Dec 21, 2011

Related posts:

1. BBG Governor Victor Ashe calls shortwave broadcasting to countries without free media ‘valuable’
2. U.S. official Victor Ashe calls for keeping a radio facility capable of reaching China
3. BBG’s Victor Ashe’s wish list for 2012 urges reforms
4. BBG's Victor Ashe raises employee morale issues
5. Broadcasting Board of Governors woos Voice of America Chinese broadcasters after trying to get them fired

Statement by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chairwoman on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs

Hi, my name is Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and I have the high honor of chairing the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And in that capacity I would like to officially congratulate the Voice of America for 70 years of outstanding broadcasting to China.

You are bringing that light of information and that freedom of the press to an oppressed people. So thank you VOA for 70 years of excellence in broadcasting and may you be continuing to shine that light of freedom of the press for the people of China.

But we hope that soon we won’t need such broadcasts because the people of China will be free, because the press will not be interfered with, and the people will have free access to the flow of information. But, meanwhile, we need the Voice of America’s broadcasts to China.

Link to the video of the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, congratulating the Voice of America (VOA) on the 70th anniversary of VOA broadcasting to China.

Related posts:

1. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen at 70th Anniversary of Voice of America broadcasting to China
2. Members of Congress help to mark 70 years of Voice of America broadcasting to China
3. Capitol Hill Reception brings together supporters of Voice of America broadcasts to China
4. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher at 70th Anniversary of Voice of America broadcasting to China
5. BBG PR team ignores Rep. Ros-Lehtinen message in support of Voice of America, refuses to issue press release

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers is launching a Christmas Card campaign in support of Chen Guangcheng. WRWF President, Reggie Littlejohn, stated, “Send a Christmas card to encourage Chen Guangcheng and his family. Let them know that you are thinking about them and support them. Also, let the Chinese Communist Party and the local officials know that Chen has supporters from all over the world.” Reggie Littlejohn is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB). She has supported the campaign to save Voice of America (VOA) radio ands television broadcasts to China from being silenced by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) so that news about the illegal detention of Chen Guangcheng and other Chinese human rights activists could continue to reach millions of VOA listeners.

To participate in the campaign, simply send a Christmas card to Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, P.O. Box 54401, San Jose, California, 95154. WRWF will remove the envelope to protect your privacy and mail the card with your message to Chen. WRWF also plans post the cards on its websites.

This Christmas Card campaign is part of WRWF’s larger, international effort to free Chen. WRWF’s petition to free Chen already has more than 7400 signatures.

WRWF’s Sunglasses Campaign has photos of people wearing sunglasses from five continents, including such nations as Uganda, Argentina, Italy the United States and China.

After a hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Congressman Chris Smith supported this campaign by donning shades and posing with Littlejohn next to a large poster of Chen Guangcheng, created from smaller photos of his supporters wearing sunglasses by a noted Chinese political cartoonist. Link

Just last week, Batman star Christian Bale joined the scores of brave Chinese citizens who have made the long journey to Dongshigu village in an attempt to visit Chen. Like them, Bale was roughed up and physically forced to retreat from the village.

“Christian Bale is a hero, a real star. WRWF calls upon more people of influence to use their star power to shed light on the darkness and evil surrounding the brutal treatment of Chen,” stated Littlejohn. She believes that such efforts, both inside and outside China, will increase the chance that Chen will be freed. “We commend Rep. Chris Smith for trying to visit Chen and urge the Chinese government to grant him a visa for this purpose.”

Related posts:

1. CUSIB’s Reggie Littlejohn welcomes attempt by Christian Bale to visit Chen Guangcheng
2. CUSIB's Reggie Littlejohn joins Congressman Chris Smith in calling for release of Chen Guangcheng – CUSIB
3. CUSIB members honor victims of human rights abuses in China, stress importance of VOA and RFA broadcasts
4. Human rights and Chinese American organizations petition Congress to save VOA in China
5. Congressional Hearing on Detention of Legal Advocate Chen Guangcheng — CUSIB

The “old white guys” comment attributed to a former CNN associate of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Chairman Walter Isaacson will just not go away. Nor should it until officials who make such comments are forever banned from U.S. international broadcasting.

Jay Nordlinger, a senior editor of National Review, has linked his recent “Impromptus” column to the BBG Watch story. Nordlinger does not focus on the BBG, but his commentary deals with people who make broad charges based on race, age, and gender.

Interestingly, Nordlinger mentions John O’Sullivan, “who is just leaving Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.” Could O’Sullivan be one of those “old white guys” being pushed out from U.S. international broadcasting prior to the proposed merger and de-federalization so that former CNN executives can give high paying BBG jobs to other former CNN employees and to promote their favorites?

BBG Watch thinks this is exactly what’s going on and we have facts and documents to prove it: BBG executives who have developed the merger/privatization plan are already treating U.S. international broadcasting as their personal fiefdom.

Brazen sexist and racist comments go unpunished, broadcasts to strategically important countries and regions are being cut (China, Russia) while BBG executives give themselves $10,000 bonuses on top of their $170,000 salaries, plans are developed to bureaucratize the surrogate broadcasters and to undermine their independence and effectiveness, and the Voice of America’s unique claim to represent the views and values of the American people and the American government is being threatened by a corporate privatization at U.S. taxpayers’ expense.

BBG executives will no doubt claim on Capitol Hill that their plans and actions are designed to save money and to make U.S. international broadcasting more effective. As to saving money, we hope no one in Congress is foolish enough to believe such claims. They will hire more of their friends and associates and give money to private contractors whom they know because there would be less scrutiny, less transparency and less accountability. U.S. international broadcasting will no longer belong to the American people. The BBG might as well remove the U.S. from their agency’s name.

As to the effectiveness, perhaps if you think that CNN International should be the standard of U.S. public diplomacy, then you might get your wish. Those of us who have lived abroad and watched CNN International think that it is one of the reasons the world needs the Voice of America. To correct the anti-American bias.

As for the “old white guys” of U.S. international broadcasting — don’t count on the Broadcasting Board of Governors to protect you. Some BBG members reportedly wanted to fire the executive who made the offensive comment but in the end they did not get the majority to support them. No doubt employment anti-discrimination lawsuits will follow and the BBG would have no choice but to settle them because of the “old white guys” comment and other examples of discriminatory behavior, with the American taxpayers picking up the tab.

While we are still checking out some details, sources have told BBG Watch that the official who made the “old white guys” comment is a lawyer by training. This certainly adds insult to injury. He must have not been practicing law in the United States for quite some time. We are also told that the BBG paid thousands of dollars to a recruiting firm and by some strange coincidence the firm found a former CNN associate of the BBG Chairman.

If this is the best CNN talent they can get as managers to be in charge of the merged and privatized future corporate BBG entity, then U.S. international broadcasting is indeed in big trouble — that is true whether there is a merger/privatization or not. David Ensor, the new Voice of America director, who is a former CNN correspondent, seems to be an exception and is being praised by some for his independent leadership, but it remains to be seen how far he can go against the BBG bureaucrats who still seem to have Isaacson’s ear when he can get away from promoting his recently published biography of Steve Jobs. BBG’s senior Republican member Victor Ashe is waging a lonely fight against mismanagement and corruption. At least for now, however, the open season for “old white guys” at the Broadcasting Board of Governors seems to be still on.

Related posts:

1. CNNization of USG broadcasting leads to waste and abuse, Voice of America employees report
2. Steve Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson under fire for personnel practices at the Voice of America
3. Walter Isaacson refused Voice of America request for interview about Steve Jobs biography, could have expected uncomfortable questions
4. U.S. official Victor Ashe calls for keeping a radio facility capable of reaching China
5. Broadcasting Board of Governors woos Voice of America Chinese broadcasters after trying to get them fired

Also see a BBG Watch report on Ashe’s statement.

Statement from BBG Governor Victor H. Ashe

I hope that 2012 sees a new era of employee-management relations for BBG. I feel the Governors are becoming increasingly aware that having 45 percent of all VOA employees as contract employees presents major issues of fairness, concern and accountability. It creates two classes of employees for a single work force.

I hope BBG director Dick Lobo will appoint a broad based committee representing all groups to review the issue and make recommendations to the Board. The BBG governance committee must take a hard look at this. The recent flu shot issue which was favorably resolved highlights how foolish the two classes of employees had become as it made no sense to deny contract employees flu shots while offering them to federal employees all working in the same building and office space. How this ever occurred in the first place surprised me.

Surveys have consistently shown bad morale. We must turn this around. Contract employees are not surveyed by OPM. Recently, IBB sent out a limited survey on the contracts themselves but not on general work place issues. While well intended, that attempt falls short of what is needed to gauge employee thoughts. We must make a New Year’s resolution to do better in this area. We must walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

We must also ring the bell that boorish behavior in the work place will not be tolerated. We must be open and transparent in how we deal with it. I am confident that the new engaged leadership of David Ensor will prevail and create a new climate in this field. He is implementing new procedures.

I felt my visit to the Edward Murrow Transmission facility in Greenville, NC on December 7 was a good one and I learned a lot. I am convinced it is a serious mistake to close this facility which is the only one on American soil where the American government has jurisdiction. The station in the Philippines is barred from transmissions to China due the Philippine government’s reluctance to upset the Chinese government. That could not happen on American territory. 

The Murrow facility has been hidden from public view and I urge it to be more visible. Its name had become Site B which is effectively nameless. However, President Kennedy had participated in 1962 naming it for Edward R Murrow, one of our nation’s most respected newscasters. The signs should be re-erected in North Carolina and the public of Pitt County invited to visit. We should be proud of the Murrow facility.

On December 14, I spent most of the day visiting and meeting employees of MBN in Springfield, VA and was deeply impressed by Brian Conniff and his dedicated staff. They are outstanding. In March the full Board plans to meet there.

Related posts:

1. U.S. official Victor Ashe calls for keeping a radio facility capable of reaching China
2. BBG Governor Victor Ashe calls shortwave broadcasting to countries without free media ‘valuable’
3. BBG's Victor Ashe raises employee morale issues
4. BBG executives unnerved by Ashe's interest in employee morale
5. Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs says Chinese people need Voice of America broadcasts

BBGWatch.com – December 20, 2011 – Victor Ashe, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), has called for keeping open the radio broadcasting facility on U.S. territory that is capable of transmitting shortwave radio programs to China. Some Obama Administration officials want to shut down the last remaining U.S.–based international broadcast station located in North Carolina. Ashe also called for urgent reforms in the way the federal agency in charge of U.S. international broadcasting operates. Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have criticized the BBG for lacking transparency and exercising bad judgement with regard to broadcasting to China.

Victor Ashe’s statement released as a personal wish list for 2012 is unprecedented for a member of the BBG since these presidentially-appointed officials usually do not publicly express their misgivings about how their agency is being managed.

Ashe has become an outspoken critic of the permanent BBG bureaucracy in charge of planning and day-to-day operations of U.S. international broadcasting. He has made his displeasure known by visiting broadcasting services and technical facilities that some of the other BBG members wanted to eliminate based on the recommendations they had received from their executive staff.

It is not clear how the BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson and the other members of the bipartisan board will react to Ashe’s statement. Isaacson, the former Chairman and CEO of CNN, former editor of Time Magazine and the author of the best-selling biography of Steve Jobs, is a Democrat. Ashe, a Republican, was the longest serving mayor of Knoxville and the President to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He had also served as the U.S. Ambassador to Poland from 2004 to 2009.

In his statement, Ashe calls for keeping open the Edward R. Murrow Greenville Transmitting Station in Greenville, North Carolina, which he had recently visited despite objections from some of the BBG executives who want to close it down.

Ashe said in his statement that this facility is the only one on American soil where the U.S. government has jurisdiction. He pointed out that a similar station in the Philippines, operated by the BBG, is barred from transmitting radio programs to China due to the Philippine government’s reluctance to upset the Chinese government. “That could not happen on American territory,” Ashe noted in his statement.

BBG Governor Victor Ashe and VOA Director David Ensor meeting with VOA China Branch employees - BBG photo

Ashe, joined by the Voice of America Director David Ensor, also met last week with broadcasters of the VOA China Branch in Washington, D.C., 45 of whom were at risk of being fired and their radio and television programs terminated. BBG officials wanted to rely only on the Internet to deliver VOA news in Mandarin to China despite the fact that the Chinese government censors the Internet and blocks VOA Chinese websites. BBG officials claimed that the money saved from ending broadcasts and firing journalists would be used to expand online and new media presence in China.

BBG members had initially accepted their staff’s recommendation to end VOA radio and television programs to China on October 1, 2011, but later reversed their decision after a storm of protests by Chinese Americans, human rights organizations, and the action by members of Congress from both parties to block the silencing of broadcasts.

Ashe was reportedly instrumental in getting other BBG members to sign a Certificate of Recognition, which he and Ensor presented last week to the VOA China Branch to mark the 70th anniversary of VOA broadcasting to China. Ashe expressed his confidence in Ensor’s leadership.

Earlier, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) public affairs office had refused numerous employee requests to issue a press release about the Capitol Hill reception, hosted by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Voice of America (VOA) broadcasting to China. BBG public affairs experts also ignored an unprecendented video statement in support of VOA broadcasting to China recorded by the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Ashe is said to be also concerned by the way of some of the BBG top managers treat their subordinates and by the second-class status of the agency’s full-time contract employees. In his statement, Ashe refers to the government-wide employee surveys conducted by the Office of Personnel Management, in which the BBG has been consistently rated as being among the worst-managed federal agencies.

Ashe’s comment about “boorish behavior in the work place” may be a partial reference to a description used by a yet to be identified top official appointed by the BBG who was said to be discussing his desire to promote his favorite employees and contrasting them with “old white guys.” Sources have told BBG Watch that some BBG members wanted to have the official fired for making that remark but could not get a majority vote. The official is believed to be a former CNN associate of the BBG Chairman. Several former CNN employees have been hired in recent months by the BBG. BBG Watch sources describe Isaacson was well-meaning but too removed and distracted by the promotion of his recently published biography of Steve Jobs.

Ashe’s statement points to one success in his efforts to improve employee morale. Due to his recent intervention, contract employees at the BBG headquarters in Washington, D.C. were able to receive flu immunization shots to limit the risk of infection to the entire workforce. Until Ashe raised this issue in an open meeting, BBG executives were preventing these employees from receiving free flu shots, as well as denying them most other usual employment benefits, which these full time contractors still do not get.

In his statement, Ashe called for action and not just words to improve employee morale. Contract employees represent nearly half of the Voice of America workforce.

Ashe also paid a recent visit to Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa headquarters in Northern Virginia and praised Brian Conniff, President of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc. (MBN), and his staff for their dedication in preparing broadcasts to the Middle East.

Ashe is believed to be the only current BBG member who regularly meets with groups of employees and listens to their complaints.

The BBG is likely to face further scrutiny from Congress in 2012. The same BBG executives who wanted to end VOA radio and television broadcasts to China have proposed a merger of Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and MBN into a large corporate bureaucracy and want to de-federalize VOA and Radio and TV Marti.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors encompasses all U.S. civilian international broadcasting, including the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio and TV Martí, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN)—Radio Sawa and Alhurra Television. The Broadcasting Board of Governors is a bipartisan board comprised of nine members. Eight, no more than four from one party, are appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate; the ninth is the Secretary of State, who serves ex officio.

BBG Watch (BBGWatch.com), an independent website managed by former and current BBG employees, has obtained a copy of BBG Governor Ashe’s statement, which we post below.

Statement of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member Victor H. Ashe

I hope that 2012 sees a new era of employee-management relations for BBG. I feel the Governors are becoming increasingly aware that having 45 percent of all VOA employees as contract employees presents major issues of fairness, concern and accountability. It creates two classes of employees for a single work force.

I hope BBG director Dick Lobo will appoint a broad based committee representing all groups to review the issue and make recommendations to the Board. The BBG governance committee must take a hard look at this. The recent flu shot issue which was favorably resolved highlights how foolish the two classes of employees had become as it made no sense to deny contract employees flu shots while offering them to federal employees all working in the same building and office space. How this ever occurred in the first place surprised me.

Surveys have consistently shown bad morale. We must turn this around. Contract employees are not surveyed by OPM. Recently, IBB sent out a limited survey on the contracts themselves but not on general work place issues. While well intended, that attempt falls short of what is needed to gauge employee thoughts. We must make a New Year’s resolution to do better in this area. We must walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

We must also ring the bell that boorish behavior in the work place will not be tolerated. We must be open and transparent in how we deal with it. I am confident that the new engaged leadership of David Ensor will prevail and create a new climate in this field. He is implementing new procedures.

I felt my visit to the Edward Murrow Transmission facility in Greenville, NC on December 7 was a good one and I learned a lot. I am convinced it is a serious mistake to close this facility which is the only one on American soil where the American government has jurisdiction. The station in the Philippines is barred from transmissions to China due the Philippine government’s reluctance to upset the Chinese government. That could not happen on American territory.

The Murrow facility has been hidden from public view and I urge it to be more visible. Its name had become Site B which is effectively nameless. However, President Kennedy had participated in 1962 naming it for Edward R Murrow, one of our nation’s most respected newscasters. The signs should be re-erected in North Carolina and the public of Pitt County invited to visit. We should be proud of the Murrow facility.

On December 14, I spent most of the day visiting and meeting employees of MBN in Springfield, VA and was deeply impressed by Brian Conniff and his dedicated staff. They are outstanding. In March the full Board plans to meet there.

Related posts:

1. BBG Governor Victor Ashe calls shortwave broadcasting to countries without free media ‘valuable’
2. BBG's Victor Ashe raises employee morale issues
3. Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs says Chinese people need Voice of America broadcasts
4. BBG executives unnerved by Ashe's interest in employee morale
5. Voice of America supporters in China say VOA radio broadcasts are needed

The Voice of America is celebrating this month the 70th anniversary of broadcasting to China. Its supporters in China seen in this video wish VOA happy birthday, which almost could not have been celebrated as the U.S. agency responsible for these broadcasts wanted to stop them shortly before the 70th anniversary date.

Thanks to numerous protests in China and in the United States, members of Congress from both parties prevented the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) from implementing its plan to end VOA radio and TV programs to China on October 1, 2011, which happened to be the anniversary of the founding of communist China.

On December 6, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher hosted a large reception on Capitol Hill to mark the 70th anniversary of VOA broadcasts to China. Members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, who initially wanted to fire 45 VOA China Branch broadcasters, may have realized that they had made a mistake by listening to the advice of their executive staff. Last week they had signed a Certificate of Recognition, which was presented to the VOA China Branch employees by BBG Governor Victor Ashe.

Women’s Rights in China Video was recorded in China by WRIC volunteers. Those appearing in this video have shown a lot of courage by admitting on camera that they are listeners to VOA radio broadcasts, but please note that their names are not used. They know that listening to VOA radio is safer than using the Internet.

Link to the Women’s Rights in China video on the 70th anniversary of Voice of America broadcasting to China.

Related posts:

1. Capitol Hill Reception brings together supporters of Voice of America broadcasts to China
2. Voice of America Journalists Protest Ending of VOA Radio to China, Part One
3. Voice of America Journalists Protest Ending of VOA Radio to China, Part Two
4. Voice of America Journalists Protest Ending of VOA Radio to China, Part Four
5. Voice of America Journalists Protest Ending of VOA Radio to China, Part Five

Media freedom and human rights organizations were outraged, as were both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Congressional committees in the House and the Senate blocked the BBG plan and chastised BBG members for lacking transparency and exercising bad judgement.

After VOA programs were saved, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher hosted a party on Capitol Hill to celebrate 70 years of VOA broadcasting to China. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, recorded a special video message in support of VOA Chinese radio and TV programs. Amazingly, BBG executives, who had advised BBG members to end VOA broadcasts to China, still refused to issue a press release about the Capitol Hill reception and Rep. Ros-Lehtinen statement.

The tide, however, may be now turning against BBG bureaucrats thanks to BBG Watch reporting and the efforts of a least one BBG member, Ambassador Victor Ashe, who has started to meet with rank-and-file employees and is asking uncomfortable questions in open meetings about the mismanagement of the agency by the executive staff.

On Thursday, Ashe visited the VOA Chinese Branch accompanied by VOA Director David Ensor. A VOA broadcaster sent us this report:

The meeting lasted about 15 minutes and the atmosphere was friendly. We presented the 70th VOA Chinese Anniversary Calendar and an anniversary button to both Ensor and Ashe. We also played for them out 70th Anniversary video. David Ensor repeated what he had said before that VOA “will keep the multi-platform for Chinese broadcasting.” Governor Ashe expressed his appreciation to all staff members in the Chinese Branch and presented a “Certificate of Recognition”, with the signatures of all BBG Governors. We also played a video which filmed by our TV viewers and radio listeners in China. The video is in Chinese with English subtitles.

David Ensor mentioned that he and Governor Ashe went to visit seven VOA language services, including the Chinese Branch, on the same day. It sounded, however, that this is Governor Ashe’s idea and that he’s the only one among BBG Governors who wants to meet with Voice of America broadcasters. A BBG photographer was there and took lots of photos. I guess this is some kind of a PR ploy as well.

BBG and VOA public affairs officials have not yet issued a press release or posted any photos from Governor Ashe’s visit to the VOA China Branch. The BBG website did have a short item and a photo from Ashe’s meeting with the staff of Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa. The BBG website also reported on Ashe’s earlier meeting with employees of the Edward R. Murrow Greenville Transmitting Station in North Carolina. The BBG executive staff wants to close down this facility. Sources have told BBG Watch that Ashe supports shortwave radio broadcasting to countries without free media and to reach those who are too poor to have Internet. He is reportedly also concerned about giving up strategic communications assets on U.S. soil and the loss of American jobs.

BBG Watch wants to believe that the meeting at the VOA China Branch was not just a PR ploy designed to fool Voice of America broadcasters and Congress. We are convinced that Governor Ashe’s concerns about employee morale, waste, abuse and mismanagement of the agency by the BBG executive staff are genuine. Ashe is a Republican, a former mayor of Knoxville and former U.S. Ambassador to Poland.

Another BBG member, Michael Meehan, a Democrat, has emerged as Ashe’s unexpected ally at board meetings. Meehan may have realized that he had made a mistake of listening to the advice of BBG and VOA executives. Sources told BBG Watch that after a shaky start at the BBG, Meehan has become a supporter of pro-media freedom radio and television broadcasting. Both Meehan and Ashe have been also raising questions about the proposed de-Federalization of VOA and the merger of the surrogate broadcasters into a new large bureaucracy.

BBG executives who have proposed to end VOA broadcasting to China and developed the de-Federalization and merger plans may still have the ear of the BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson, although he also may now have second thoughts about their recommendations. Critics have warned that under the proposed plans U.S. taxpayers and Congress would lose control of U.S. international broadcasting and the management of important national security assets would be transferred to unaccountable corporate bureaucrats who developed these plans largely for their own benefit. One BBG Source was quoted as saying: “keep in mind that these same bureaucrats, who make $170,000 a year and give themselves $10,000 bonuses, wanted to fire 45 Voice of America Chines broadcasters at the time when China was greatly increasing the censorship of the Internet and imprisoning pro-democracy activists.”

Related posts:

1. Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs says Chinese people need Voice of America broadcasts
2. Broadcasting Board of Governors Says Voice of America Radio to Georgia Will Continue for Now, But Underlying Message to VOA Georgian Broadcasters: Keep Looking for Another Job
3. Censorship at the Voice of America: Broadcasting Board of Governors Sided with Ethiopian Regime Against VOA Journalist
4. Voice of America will celebrate 70th anniversary of broadcasting to China with a reception on Capitol Hill
5. State's Lynne Weil to head Broadcasting Board of Governors large PR department

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers is a broad-based, international coalition that opposes forced abortion and sexual slavery in China. CUSIB supports radio and television broadcasting to China by the Voice of America (VOA) and radio broadcasting by Radio Free Asia (RFA) so that news such as this one are not blocked by the Chinese Internet censors and those in China who want to receive uncensored news do not risk being monitored by the cyber police.

“Batman” star Christian Bale traveled nine hours from Beijing to visit blind forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng. Bale said, “What I really wanted to do was shake the man’s hand and say ‘thank you,’ and tell him what an inspiration he is.”

Bale never got the chance. He was roughed up and forced away from Chen’s village, according to a CNN report.

Bale was in Beijing China for the premier of “The Flowers of War,” a drama about the 1937 Rape of Nanjing. About his attempt to visit Chen, Bale stated, “I’m not brave doing this . . . This was just a situation – I can’t look the other way.”

Congressman Chris Smith with CUSIB Advisory Board Member Reggie Littlejohn in front of a large image of Chen Guangcheng created to support the Chen Guangcheng Sunglasses Campaign to win his freedom

Littlejohn contrasted Bale’s actions with those of Relativity Media. “Christian Bale has used his star power to shine a light on the unjust treatment of Chen Guangcheng. In contrast, Relativity Media filmed “21 and Over” in Linyi, where Chen is languishing under house arrest. They did nothing to help Chen. I hope that moviegoers will demonstrate their concern for Chen Guangcheng at the box office. We encourage people to boycott “21 and Over,” said Reggie Littlejohn.

Christian Bale is not the only one who has focused attention on Chen Guangcheng. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke have both recently spoken on his behalf. “We urge Ambassador Locke to visit Chen Guangcheng,” stated Littlejohn.

The flow of Chinese citizens to visit Chen despite the risk of beatings and detention, and the Chinese and international “Sunglasses” campaigns, have raised the visibility of Chen’s case as well. These campaigns can be found here and here.

Chen Guangcheng exposed the systematic use of forced abortion and sterilization in Linyi City in 2005. For four years, three months, he was jailed, tortured and denied medical treatment. Since his release he has languished under strict house arrest.

Watch the 3-minute Free Chen video here.

Sign a petition to free Chen here.

Stop Forced Abortion – China’s War on Women! Video (4 mins)

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) is an independent, nongovernmental organization which supports free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries without free media. CUSIB supports Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) radio broadcasts to China as the only effective and safe way of news delivery that can defeat censorship of the Internet and the monitoring of pro-democracy activists by the Chinese secret police.

Related posts:

1. CUSIB's Reggie Littlejohn joins Congressman Chris Smith in calling for release of Chen Guangcheng – CUSIB
2. Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting members to testify in Congress – CUSIB
3. Congressional Hearing on Detention of Legal Advocate Chen Guangcheng — CUSIB
4. CUSIB members honor victims of human rights abuses in China, stress importance of VOA and RFA broadcasts
5. Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting Announces Advisory Board — CUSIB Press Release

The BBG has already hired a number of former CNN employees to fill federal jobs and more such hires can be expected if the proposed privatization and the merger of the surrogate broadcasters: Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Sawa, and Alhurra TV — also proposed by the BBG — will be allowed to go forward.

So far, these questionable hires include the wife of a Democratic Party operative whose only assignment, according to sources, is to help produce a short TV program once a week. Another highly-paid former CNN employee at VOA has no defined duties other than providing occasional help also with producing a television program. Yet another former CNN employee was assigned to help with arranging special events coverage. A former CNN employee now occupying one of the top jobs at VOA hired a contractor who lives in Florida — “yes, she lives in Florida!!!…,” writes a BBG Watch source — “…as a Booker.” She is also a former CNN employee.

“I have a better story…, writes the same source. “The (BBG) is paying $219,000 to a firm that provided a contractor to help with developing the use of new media)…that does not include her extensive travel and per diem. Since joining earlier this year, she has gone to London twice, Bonn, Prague a couple of times, Ireland, Oman, New York City, and California. (There is already a BBG official in charge of innovation.) Why the heck are we paying two people for this job. She is a contractor who should not be representing the U.S. government,” a BBG Watch source wrote.

The BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson is a former CNN executive and now a successful writer. Sources describe the author of the best selling biography of Steve Jobs as quite a decent person who is too removed and too busy promoting his book to comprehend and to control much of what BBG executives are doing on his behalf. But he cannot disclaim all responsibility for the waste and abuse, which is only likely to get worse, BBG Watch sources warn. They point to several of his former CNN colleagues who have been hired since Isaacson became the BBG Chairman, including former CNN correspondent David Ensor who was hired as the new Voice of America Director.

To dispel any accusations of favoritism earlier in the “CNNization/privatization” process, the BBG used a corporate talent recruiting firm to find the best candidate for another top level job, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a surrogate broadcaster which is managed by the BBG. To no one’s surprise, the firm found a former CNN associate of the BBG chairman. Of course, U.S. taxpayers had to pay the recruiting firm for suggesting the best candidate for the job. The job comes with a hefty salary and a free luxurious apartment in Prague, the Czech Republic.

Then there is the still unresolved case of Chairman Isaacson’s former CNN associate who reportedly described in an email to a BBG member his decision to promote his favorites while referring to some of the longtime managers as “old white guys.” Sources say that Isaacson was appalled by that comment but refused to demand his former colleague’s resignation. BBG Watch has learned some new details about this incident which we can now make public.

We had reported earlier that one BBG member thought that the comment was so explosive that he called for a meeting during which he and other BBG members reversed some of the personnel decisions made by the author of the email and adopted a resolution condemning any discrimination based on gender, race and other illegal factors. A reliable source identified the BBG member who was concerned about the discriminatory comment as Michael Meehan. But, according to reliable sources, two BBG members who were part of the original search committee for this job — Susan McCue and Dennis Mulhaupt — defended the executive. One BBG member reportedly stormed out of the meeting and had to be urged to return.

One source told BBG Watch that there were not enough votes to dismiss the official. A reliable source identified the BBG member who stormed out of the meeting as Dennis Mulhaupt. BBG Watch is not identifying the official who made the “old white guys” comment while we continue to investigate the story and wait for the next BBG meeting in a few more days to see if BBG members take any further action.

All of this does not bode well for U.S. international broadcasting. BBG Watch sources warn that BBG executives may try to close down more broadcasting services and fire journalists, broadcasters and engineers to pay for the new CNN hires, contractors and their numerous travels. Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress stopped the BBG plan to end VOA radio and TV broadcasts to China and issued a warning to BBG officials. These officials now hope that Congress will be distracted and will allow their privatization and merger plans to move forward, thus giving them more freedom of action and limiting Congressional oversight.

Related posts:

1. Walter Isaacson refused Voice of America request for interview about Steve Jobs biography, could have expected uncomfortable questions
2. Voice of America contract employees claim a small victory
3. Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs says Chinese people need Voice of America broadcasts
4. Steve Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson under fire for personnel practices at the Voice of America
5. BBG executives close down Voice of America broadcasting services, pay themselves hefty bonuses

Shortly after the imposition of martial law, VOA Polish broadcasts were expanded from two and a half to seven hours daily. Ä few weeks later, Voice of America aired the audio for the special television program “Let Poland Be Poland,” which was produced by the United States International Communications Agency (USICA). The agency, ran by President Reagan’s close friend Charles Z. Wick, was earlier known as the United Information Agency (USIA). Later, its name was changed back to USIA. At that time, the Voice of America was one of the elements of USICA.

The 90-minute program included statements of support from Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston, Glenda Jackson, Kirk Douglas, Paul McCarthney, Bob Hope, President Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra, who performed the Polish folk song, “Ever Homeward” in both English and Polish, Czeslaw Milosz, Helmut Schmidt, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and others famous political leaders and artists. In total, 16 heads of state and government leaders made statements in support of Poland and of Solidarity.

Frank Sinatra singing “Ever Homeward” in “Let Poland Be Poland.” Link

A better recording of the song can be found in this video.

A scholar of U.S. public diplomacy, Paul Rockower, wrote that the program, “Let Poland be Poland,” was unique in its scope for multiple reasons (Link):

The Voice of America was not directly involved in the production of “Let Poland Be Poland,” but the then deputy chief of the VOA Polish Service and later its chief, Ted Lipien, was responsible for getting Polish poet and Nobel Prize winner for literature Czeslaw Milosz to participate in the television program.

The Voice of America broadcast radio programs in Polish from 1942 until 2000.

This is an excerpt (in Polish) from the book by Jarosław Jędrzejczak about the history of the Polish Service of the Voice of America, which covers the period of the martial law in Poland. The book is expected to be published in 2012.

Radio stanu wojennego

Fragment książki Jarosława Jędrzejczaka o Sekcji Polskiej Głosu Ameryki. Wydanie książki jest spodziewane w 2012.

W grudniu 1981 roku po ogłoszeniu w Polsce stanu wojennego rozszerzono program z 2,5 godzin do 7 godzin na dobę. Na specjalnych etatach Białego Domu zatrudniono dodatkowo w Polskiej Sekcji 10 osób. Większość z nich wywodziła się z najnowszej, solidarnościowej emigracji. Audycja poranna nadawana była codziennie początkowo od 6.30 do 7.45 a następnie od 6.00 do 8.00. Blok wieczornych audycji zaczynał się o 20.00 i kończył o pierwszej po północy.

W owym okresie wielonakładowy amerykański tygodnik U.S. News and World Report okładkę wydania z 11 stycznia 1982 roku zatytułował „Wielka wojna propagandowa”. W artykule pod tym samym tytułem pisał:

Kryzys w Polsce intensyfikuje to, co przeradza się w zmasowaną globalną walkę propagandową między Stanami Zjednoczonymi i Związkiem Radzieckim o serca i umysły milionów ludzi na świecie.

Bezpośrednio po narzuceniu Polsce stanu wojennego w grudniu 1981 roku Marek Święcicki wystartował z codzienną godzinną audycją „Echa wydarzeń dnia Głosu Ameryki”. Razem z powtórką pojawiały się dwa programy o 20 i 22 czasu środkowoeuropejskiego. Sam autor audycji w swoich wspomnieniach napisał:

Sądząc z wielu listów i opinii ustnych odegrała ona niewątpliwą rolę w podtrzymywaniu na duchu społeczeństwa polskiego w mrocznym okresie zwielokrotnionej przemocy komunistycznej.

W 1981 roku w przemówieniu telewizyjnym i radiowym do narodu z okazji świąt Bożego Narodzenia ówczesny prezydent Stanów Zjednoczonych Ronald Reagan olbrzymią większość czasu poświęcił Polsce. Zachęcił wtedy Amerykanów by tak jak on w oknie Białego Domu, postawili w wigilię Bożego Narodzenia w oknach swych domów i mieszkań palącą się świeczkę na znak solidarności z cierpiącym narodem polskim.

Tego dnia paląca się świeczka stała również w oknie apartamentu papieskiego w Watykanie. Później z inicjatywy prezydenta Reagana w telewizji zorganizowano wielki koncert pod tytułem zapożyczonym z piosenki Jana Pietrzaka „Żeby Polska była Polską”. Obszerne fragmenty koncertu ukazały się na antenie Głosu Ameryki.

Poszerzenie czasu emisji polskiego programu na falach VOA spowodowało, iż stare, mniej atrakcyjne w formie audycje zostały zastąpione nowymi pojawiającymi się sukcesywnie. Jednocześnie wraz z nowymi produkcjami przed mikrofonami zaistnieli ich autorzy rozpoczynający prace w VOA. Wówczas między innymi rozbrzmiały w eterze: „Przegląd wydarzeń tygodnia”, „Nashville – muzyka country” Róży Nowotarskiej, „Video, komputer”, „Z mikrofonem przez historię” Marka Święcickiego, „Notatnik rolniczy” Zdzisława Mikulskiego, „Teatr w Ameryce” w opracowaniu Sylwii Daneel, „Wydarzenia i ludzie”, „Świat książek” Jarosława Andersa, „Ameryka w przekroju” w opracowaniu Ireny Broni Radwańskiej, „Motorama” Wojtka Minicza, „Polonia”, „Przegląd pism emigracyjnych” Tadeusza Walendowskiego, „Czwartkowe spotkania z poezją i prozą” Nowotarskiej, „Americana”, „Amerykańskie opinie”, „Przegląd filmowy” Zwanieckiego, „Top 10 lista przebojów” Wojtka Żórniaka, „Z Ameryką na co dzień” oraz „Świat muzyczny Willisa Conovera” prowadzony przez Renatę Lipińską.

Do niedzielnego programu o 21.00 włączono transmisję Mszy Świętej w języku polskim. Było to zasługą ówczesnego szefa Sekcji Polskiej Feliksa Bronieckiego.

Według informacji Marka Walickiego Msze Święte w okresie stanu wojennego były rejestrowane w kościele polskiej Misji w Silver Spring pod Waszyngtonem. Do kościoła VOA wysyłał technika, który nagrywał nabożeństwo z polskim kazaniem. W niedzielnej audycji Mszę Świętą jedynie odtwarzano z taśmy magnetofonowej.

W waszyngtońskim studio znaleźli swoje miejsce, przybyli prosto z Polski, ludzie różnych profesji. Byli wśród nich między innymi: iberysta Piotr Niklewicz, muzyk i muzykolog Mirosław Kondracki, profesor filologii angielskiej Zdzisław Mikulski, krytyk literacki Jarosław Anders, lektor języka angielskiego Waldemar Chlebowski, lektorka radiowa Małgorzata Gerlicz, dziennikarz Radia Polonia Piotr Mroczyk, filmowiec Tadeusz Walendowski, bibliotekarz Witold Sułkowski, finansistka Helena Skotowska i jej kolega po fachu Andrzej Zwaniecki, dziennikarka Radia Wrocław Iwona Skoczylas, radiowe małżeństwo anglistka Anna i informatyk Marek Zalewscy, filolog języka angielskiego Marek Rudzki, dziennikarz TVP Bogdan Wojciechowski .

W 1982 roku rozpoczyna współpracę z Głosem Ameryki Jan Grużewski. Grużewski pełni nieetatową funkcję paryskiego korespondenta VOA. Był autorem przeglądów prasy francuskiej i zagranicznej. Jak wspomina Marek Walicki „Był on – poza Zofią Korbońską – jednym z niewielu bliskich mi powstańczych warszawiaków”.

W drugiej połowie lat osiemdziesiątych pojawia się audycja nosząca tytuł „Bez montażu”, pierwsza współtworzona przez słuchaczy, z którymi telefonicznie na antenie rozmawiali prowadzący program dziennikarze z Sekcji Polskiej Głosu Ameryki między innymi Bogdan Marison, Wojtek Żórniak, Waldemar Chlebowski i Janusz Hewell. Obok słuchaczy przed radiowym mikrofonem VOA występują najwybitniejsi przedstawiciele polskiej opozycji politycznej.

Według danych The East European Audience and Opinion Research, w 1984 roku w Polsce tygodniowy wskaźnik audytoriów zachodnich stacji przedstawiał się następująco: RWE – 66%, Głos Ameryki – 48%, BBC –33% i DLF – 9%. Wskazywano jednocześnie, iż najlepsze godziny emisji audycji to 22-23. W związku z powyższym główne programy informacyjne polskojęzycznych stacji ukazywały się właśnie w tym czasie. RWE – 22.10 – Fakty, wydarzenia, opinie; Głos Ameryki – 22.10 – Echa wydarzeń dnia, BBC – 21.40 -Reflektorem po świecie.

W latach 1985 –1987 w centralnej redakcji VOA pracował wywodzący się z Polskiego Radia, były dziennikarz Rozgłośni Polskiej Radia Wolna Europa Marek Łatyński. Łatyński w 1987 roku powrócił do RWE, gdzie do 1989 roku sprawował funkcję dyrektora sekcji polskiej RWE. We wspomnieniowej książce „Ogród Angielski 1” Łatyński o pracy w Głosie Ameryki napisał:

Robiłem programy o wydarzeniach we wschodniej Europie i w ZSRR dla działu centralnego Głosu Ameryki, a więc po angielsku. Sam język nie był dla mnie główną trudnością: mówiłem i pisałem po angielsku od dziecka. Trudności polegały na innych dziennikarskich konwencjach, które sprowadzały się do czystej i dość suchej relacji o wydarzeniach i ukrywaniu własnego poglądu, a nie interpretowaniu ich na podstawie własnej znajomości rzeczy, jak w Wolnej Europie, a także na przystosowaniu się do nowego otoczenia w pracy.

W dziejach Sekcji Polskiej VOA nie brakowało też, specjalnych programów nadawanych w dodatkowym czasie antenowym. Dobrym przykładem są audycje emitowane podczas wizyt papieża Jana Pawła II w Polsce i w Ameryce. 11 października 1979 roku Marek Walicki otrzymał podziękowanie za wkład pracy i profesjonalną obsługę papieskiej wizyty w USA. Od 1980 roku jednym z współtwórców radiowych transmisji pielgrzymek Ojca Świętego był jezuita Stefan Filipowicz. Z perspektywy minionych lat ojciec Filipowicz w liście do mnie tak wspomina okres swojej radiowej działalności w VOA:

Pracowałem w VOA prawie 8 lat, informując Polskę o różnych przejawach życia Kościoła w USA i na świecie. Nadto komentowałem uroczystości papieskie, jak pasterki czy na przykład całą drugą wizytę Jana Pawła II w kraju, kiedy to władze komunistyczne nie dały nam łączy telefonicznych i korzystaliśmy z bieżącego komentarza Radia Watykańskiego, wyciszając głos mojego kolegi z Watykanu, ojca Floriana Pełki, i w to miejsce wkładając mój komentarz. Było to jedno z trudniejszych przedsięwzięć. Wsłuchiwałem się w głośnik, a kiedy wyczułem, że ojciec Pełka wciąga powietrze, by się włączyć z komentarzem, bezbłędnie wchodziłem ja z moim własnym. (… ) W moich archiwach zostawiłem jedynie tematy kilkuset audycji nadawanych w tym pionierskim okresie.

Praca ojca Filipowicza i radiowców z Polskiej Sekcji relacjonujących drugą pielgrzymkę Jana Pawała II do Polski w czerwcu 1983 roku została dostrzeżona przez dyrekcję USIA. 20 czerwca 1983 roku Sekcja Polska otrzymuje specjalną pochwałę Amerykańskiej Agencji Informacyjnej za radiową obsługę papieskiej wizyty w ojczystym kraju.

W lutym 1982 roku Sekcja Polska z rąk naczelnego dyrektora Jamesa Conklinga, otrzymała Wielką Nagrodę Głosu Ameryki – A Superior Honor Award za wyjątkową służbę, wysoki poziom zawodowy i pełne oddanie w przygotowywaniu i opracowywaniu programów dla objętej stanem wojennym Polski. Było to największe wyróżnienie, jakie mogło spotkać polskich radiowców z VOA. W wydanym z tej okazji pamiątkowym dyplomie wymieniono nazwiska szesnastu stałych pracowników Polskiej Sekcji. W kolejności alfabetycznej, w oryginalnej angielskiej pisowni na dyplomie znalazły się następujące osoby: Feliks Broniecki, Wacław Bniński, Irene Broni, Sylvia Daneel, Henryk Grynberg, Jan Herburt-Hewell, Ewa Jaxa-Debicka, Rose Kobylinski, Tadeusz Lipien, Boyden Marison, Richard Mossin, Elizabeth Speidel, Roma Starczewska-Murray, Marek Swiecicki, Marek Walicki i Zbigniew Wierzbicki.

Dalsze zmiany w polskim programie możliwe były już dzięki niezwykłym zdolnością najmłodszego wśród kierowników sekcji językowych VOA Tadeusza Lipienia, który zastąpił przechodzącego na emeryturę Feliksa Bronieckiego. W 1982 roku, gdy obejmował stanowisko szefa Sekcji Polskiej Lipień miał 27 lat. Nowy szef ukończył wcześniej studia na wydziale spraw międzynarodowych Uniwersytetu George Washington w Waszyngtonie.

W owym okresie dzielnie pomagał mu pełniący obowiązki zastępcy kierownika sekcji Marek Walicki, który słuchaczom zachodnich stacji bliżej znany był pod swoimi radiowymi pseudonimami jako Jan Korsak z VOA lub wcześniej jako Jan Łada z fal Rozgłośni Polskiej Radia Wolna Europa. Walicki obok pracy administracyjnej przygotowywał audycje popularyzujące ogólnie rozumianą naukę oraz najnowsze wynalazki amerykańskie głównie techniczne i medyczne.

Prosto z Londynu ściągnięty zostaje do Waszyngtonu Piotr Mroczyk, który wcześniej związany był z Telewizją Polską. Po rozstaniu z Ameryką Mroczyk kieruje pracami Rozgłośni Polskiej Radia Wolna Europa. Był jej ostatnim dyrektorem, a następnie szefem istniejącego trzy lata w Warszawie Radia Wolna Europa Inc., które swoją działalnością nawiązywało do istniejącego przez czterdzieści dwa lata w Monachium Radia Free Europe.

Korespondentem nowojorskim, a później także pracownikiem centrali w Waszyngtonie był wówczas Sławomir Suss. Po odejściu z VOA kontynuował radiową pracę w RWE w Monachium.

W 1987 roku dyrekcja VOA wyróżnia Marka P. Krzyżańskiego i Bogusława Jerke za audycję poświęconą Nagrodzie Praw Człowieka im. Roberta F. Kennedy. Program został wyemitowany w czwartym kwartale 1986 roku.

W latach osiemdziesiątych Głosu Ameryki słuchali niemal wszyscy, a niektórzy świadectwo tego zamieścili w swoich publikacjach. Ojciec Jacek Salij w książce „Nadzieja poddawana próbom” w treść swoich rozważań wplata wątek związany z odbiorem audycji radiowych z Waszyngtonu.

Tak się złożyło, że w latach 1988-1989, kiedy chciałem wysłuchać wieczornego dziennika, najczęściej włączałem „Głos Ameryki”. Uderzyło mnie, że tak wiele mówiła ta radiostacja o prezydencie Reaganie i że skończyło się to dosłownie z dnia na dzień, z chwilą, kiedy przestał być prezydentem. Odtąd tamte dzienniki niezwykle wiele miejsca zaczęły poświęcać nowemu prezydentowi. Zatem osoba prezydenta była przedmiotem tak ogromnego zainteresowania nie ze względu na nią samą, ale ze względu na swój urząd, dzięki któremu każdy kolejny prezydent symbolizuje jedność państwa i jakoś całkiem realnie ją kształtuje. ( … )

W listopadzie 1985 roku Zespół Analiz Ministerstwa Spraw Wewnętrznych PRL opracował dokument „Kierunki propagandy dywersyjnych rozgłośni polskojęzycznych”. Wspomniany dokument znajduje się w zbiorach Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej. Urzędnicy MSW analizie poddali audycje pięciu polskojęzycznych redakcji: Radia Wolna Europa, Głosu Ameryki, BBC, Deuchlandfunku i Radia France Internationale, które łącznie w ciągu doby emitowały 37 godzin i 45 minut programu. W owym okresie RWE nadawało 22-godzinny program, VOA 7-godzinny, BBC 4-godzinny, DLF 3,45 godzinny i RFI 1-godzinny. Autorzy dokumentu jako główny cel programów omawianych rozgłośni podają „oczernianie i zdyskredytowanie ideologii socjalistycznej i wszystkich sił społecznych i politycznych realizujących przemiany socjalistyczne w Polsce”. Charakteryzując Głos Ameryki lat osiemdziesiątych autorzy opracowania pisali:

Głos Ameryki pełni niejako funkcje rozgłośni autorytatywnie interpretującej wydarzenia polityczne w świecie. Wydaje się więc, że audycje tej rozgłośni przeznaczone są dla słuchaczy interesujących się polityką, bez specjalnego ukierunkowania na grupy zawodowe, czy słuchaczy o określonym poziomie wykształcenia.

W 1992 roku przy okazji realizacji filmu dokumentalnego „Głos z Ameryki” Jan Nowak Jeziorański były dyrektor Rozgłośni Polskiej Radia Wolna Europa udzielając wywiadu Beacie Postnikoff powiedział:

Nie było między nami właściwie współzawodnictwa aczkolwiek nasi koledzy z Głosu Ameryki zazdrościli nam znacznie większych środków, całodziennych programów, a przede wszystkim swobody redakcyjnej. Bo jednak Głos Ameryki jest część amerykańskiego aparatu państwowego. Podczas kiedy myśmy byli nie tylko jako organizacja bardzo autonomiczni, ale polska załoga redakcyjna miała właściwie zupełną swobodę i inicjatywę. Myśmy mieli prawo mówić jak Polacy do Polaków z naszego punktu widzenia. Podczas kiedy Głos Ameryki jest niejako projekcją Stanów Zjednoczonych. Może to nie jest koniecznie ograniczone tylko do punktu widzenia rządowego, ale Polska w tych audycjach ma się ukazywać tylko w kontekście ogólnym, amerykańskim. No więc na przykład rola i działalność Polonii Amerykańskiej, bo to jest częścią obrazu amerykańskiego. W moim przekonaniu obie te radiostacje miały swoje charakterystyczne właściwości. Każda inne, które niejako wzajemnie się uzupełniały.

Kiedy byłem pytany przez Amerykanów czy wobec dużego sukcesu, jaki Wolna Europa odniosła w Polsce, Głos Ameryki jest w ogóle potrzebny? Odpowiadałem zawsze – absolutnie tak, bo to jest dla nas tarcza, która nas osłania przed używaniem nas jako instrumentu na co dzień rządu amerykańskiego. Dopóki istnieje Głos Ameryki mamy spokój. Gdyby Głos Ameryki przestał istnieć wówczas znaleźlibyśmy się pod wielkim naciskiem organizacji rządowych żeby przedstawiać ich punkt widzenia.

Rząd Amerykański no powiedzmy może nie wtrącał się na co dzień, ale jednak są, muszę powiedzieć stałe tendencje i Głos Ameryki jest bardzo przygnieciony przez państwową służbę i państwową biurokrację… Ale mimo to jak twierdzę robi dobrą robotę.

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Shortly after the imposition of martial law, VOA Polish broadcasts were expanded from two and a half to seven hours daily. Ä few weeks later, Voice of America aired the audio for the special television program “Let Poland Be Poland,” which was produced by the United States International Communications Agency (USICA). The agency, ran by President Reagan’s close friend Charles Z. Wick, was earlier known as the United Information Agency (USIA). Later, its name was changed back to USIA. At that time, the Voice of America was one of the elements of USICA.

The 90-minute program included statements of support from Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston, Glenda Jackson, Kirk Douglas, Paul McCarthney, Bob Hope, President Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra, who performed the Polish folk song, “Ever Homeward” in both English and Polish, Czeslaw Milosz, Helmut Schmidt, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and others famous political leaders and artists. In total, 16 heads of state and government leaders made statements in support of Poland and of Solidarity.

Frank Sinatra singing “Ever Homeward” in “Let Poland Be Poland.” Link

A better recording of the song can be found in this video.

A scholar of U.S. public diplomacy, Paul Rockower, wrote that the program, “Let Poland be Poland,” was unique in its scope for multiple reasons (Link):

The Voice of America was not directly involved in the production of “Let Poland Be Poland,” but the then deputy chief of the VOA Polish Service and later its chief, Ted Lipien, was responsible for getting Polish poet and Nobel Prize winner for literature Czeslaw Milosz to participate in the television program.

The Voice of America broadcast radio programs in Polish from 1942 until 2000.

This is an excerpt (in Polish) from the book by Jarosław Jędrzejczak about the history of the Polish Service of the Voice of America, which covers the period of the martial law in Poland. The book is expected to be published in 2012.

Radio stanu wojennego

Fragment książki Jarosława Jędrzejczaka o Sekcji Polskiej Głosu Ameryki. Wydanie książki jest spodziewane w 2012.

W grudniu 1981 roku po ogłoszeniu w Polsce stanu wojennego rozszerzono program z 2,5 godzin do 7 godzin na dobę. Na specjalnych etatach Białego Domu zatrudniono dodatkowo w Polskiej Sekcji 10 osób. Większość z nich wywodziła się z najnowszej, solidarnościowej emigracji. Audycja poranna nadawana była codziennie początkowo od 6.30 do 7.45 a następnie od 6.00 do 8.00. Blok wieczornych audycji zaczynał się o 20.00 i kończył o pierwszej po północy.

W owym okresie wielonakładowy amerykański tygodnik U.S. News and World Report okładkę wydania z 11 stycznia 1982 roku zatytułował „Wielka wojna propagandowa”. W artykule pod tym samym tytułem pisał:

Kryzys w Polsce intensyfikuje to, co przeradza się w zmasowaną globalną walkę propagandową między Stanami Zjednoczonymi i Związkiem Radzieckim o serca i umysły milionów ludzi na świecie.

Bezpośrednio po narzuceniu Polsce stanu wojennego w grudniu 1981 roku Marek Święcicki wystartował z codzienną godzinną audycją „Echa wydarzeń dnia Głosu Ameryki”. Razem z powtórką pojawiały się dwa programy o 20 i 22 czasu środkowoeuropejskiego. Sam autor audycji w swoich wspomnieniach napisał:

Sądząc z wielu listów i opinii ustnych odegrała ona niewątpliwą rolę w podtrzymywaniu na duchu społeczeństwa polskiego w mrocznym okresie zwielokrotnionej przemocy komunistycznej.

W 1981 roku w przemówieniu telewizyjnym i radiowym do narodu z okazji świąt Bożego Narodzenia ówczesny prezydent Stanów Zjednoczonych Ronald Reagan olbrzymią większość czasu poświęcił Polsce. Zachęcił wtedy Amerykanów by tak jak on w oknie Białego Domu, postawili w wigilię Bożego Narodzenia w oknach swych domów i mieszkań palącą się świeczkę na znak solidarności z cierpiącym narodem polskim.

Tego dnia paląca się świeczka stała również w oknie apartamentu papieskiego w Watykanie. Później z inicjatywy prezydenta Reagana w telewizji zorganizowano wielki koncert pod tytułem zapożyczonym z piosenki Jana Pietrzaka „Żeby Polska była Polską”. Obszerne fragmenty koncertu ukazały się na antenie Głosu Ameryki.

Poszerzenie czasu emisji polskiego programu na falach VOA spowodowało, iż stare, mniej atrakcyjne w formie audycje zostały zastąpione nowymi pojawiającymi się sukcesywnie. Jednocześnie wraz z nowymi produkcjami przed mikrofonami zaistnieli ich autorzy rozpoczynający prace w VOA. Wówczas między innymi rozbrzmiały w eterze: „Przegląd wydarzeń tygodnia”, „Nashville – muzyka country” Róży Nowotarskiej, „Video, komputer”, „Z mikrofonem przez historię” Marka Święcickiego, „Notatnik rolniczy” Zdzisława Mikulskiego, „Teatr w Ameryce” w opracowaniu Sylwii Daneel, „Wydarzenia i ludzie”, „Świat książek” Jarosława Andersa, „Ameryka w przekroju” w opracowaniu Ireny Broni Radwańskiej, „Motorama” Wojtka Minicza, „Polonia”, „Przegląd pism emigracyjnych” Tadeusza Walendowskiego, „Czwartkowe spotkania z poezją i prozą” Nowotarskiej, „Americana”, „Amerykańskie opinie”, „Przegląd filmowy” Zwanieckiego, „Top 10 lista przebojów” Wojtka Żórniaka, „Z Ameryką na co dzień” oraz „Świat muzyczny Willisa Conovera” prowadzony przez Renatę Lipińską.

Do niedzielnego programu o 21.00 włączono transmisję Mszy Świętej w języku polskim. Było to zasługą ówczesnego szefa Sekcji Polskiej Feliksa Bronieckiego.

Według informacji Marka Walickiego Msze Święte w okresie stanu wojennego były rejestrowane w kościele polskiej Misji w Silver Spring pod Waszyngtonem. Do kościoła VOA wysyłał technika, który nagrywał nabożeństwo z polskim kazaniem. W niedzielnej audycji Mszę Świętą jedynie odtwarzano z taśmy magnetofonowej.

W waszyngtońskim studio znaleźli swoje miejsce, przybyli prosto z Polski, ludzie różnych profesji. Byli wśród nich między innymi: iberysta Piotr Niklewicz, muzyk i muzykolog Mirosław Kondracki, profesor filologii angielskiej Zdzisław Mikulski, krytyk literacki Jarosław Anders, lektor języka angielskiego Waldemar Chlebowski, lektorka radiowa Małgorzata Gerlicz, dziennikarz Radia Polonia Piotr Mroczyk, filmowiec Tadeusz Walendowski, bibliotekarz Witold Sułkowski, finansistka Helena Skotowska i jej kolega po fachu Andrzej Zwaniecki, dziennikarka Radia Wrocław Iwona Skoczylas, radiowe małżeństwo anglistka Anna i informatyk Marek Zalewscy, filolog języka angielskiego Marek Rudzki, dziennikarz TVP Bogdan Wojciechowski .

W 1982 roku rozpoczyna współpracę z Głosem Ameryki Jan Grużewski. Grużewski pełni nieetatową funkcję paryskiego korespondenta VOA. Był autorem przeglądów prasy francuskiej i zagranicznej. Jak wspomina Marek Walicki „Był on – poza Zofią Korbońską – jednym z niewielu bliskich mi powstańczych warszawiaków”.

W drugiej połowie lat osiemdziesiątych pojawia się audycja nosząca tytuł „Bez montażu”, pierwsza współtworzona przez słuchaczy, z którymi telefonicznie na antenie rozmawiali prowadzący program dziennikarze z Sekcji Polskiej Głosu Ameryki między innymi Bogdan Marison, Wojtek Żórniak, Waldemar Chlebowski i Janusz Hewell. Obok słuchaczy przed radiowym mikrofonem VOA występują najwybitniejsi przedstawiciele polskiej opozycji politycznej.

Według danych The East European Audience and Opinion Research, w 1984 roku w Polsce tygodniowy wskaźnik audytoriów zachodnich stacji przedstawiał się następująco: RWE – 66%, Głos Ameryki – 48%, BBC –33% i DLF – 9%. Wskazywano jednocześnie, iż najlepsze godziny emisji audycji to 22-23. W związku z powyższym główne programy informacyjne polskojęzycznych stacji ukazywały się właśnie w tym czasie. RWE – 22.10 – Fakty, wydarzenia, opinie; Głos Ameryki – 22.10 – Echa wydarzeń dnia, BBC – 21.40 -Reflektorem po świecie.

W latach 1985 –1987 w centralnej redakcji VOA pracował wywodzący się z Polskiego Radia, były dziennikarz Rozgłośni Polskiej Radia Wolna Europa Marek Łatyński. Łatyński w 1987 roku powrócił do RWE, gdzie do 1989 roku sprawował funkcję dyrektora sekcji polskiej RWE. We wspomnieniowej książce „Ogród Angielski 1” Łatyński o pracy w Głosie Ameryki napisał:

Robiłem programy o wydarzeniach we wschodniej Europie i w ZSRR dla działu centralnego Głosu Ameryki, a więc po angielsku. Sam język nie był dla mnie główną trudnością: mówiłem i pisałem po angielsku od dziecka. Trudności polegały na innych dziennikarskich konwencjach, które sprowadzały się do czystej i dość suchej relacji o wydarzeniach i ukrywaniu własnego poglądu, a nie interpretowaniu ich na podstawie własnej znajomości rzeczy, jak w Wolnej Europie, a także na przystosowaniu się do nowego otoczenia w pracy.

W dziejach Sekcji Polskiej VOA nie brakowało też, specjalnych programów nadawanych w dodatkowym czasie antenowym. Dobrym przykładem są audycje emitowane podczas wizyt papieża Jana Pawła II w Polsce i w Ameryce. 11 października 1979 roku Marek Walicki otrzymał podziękowanie za wkład pracy i profesjonalną obsługę papieskiej wizyty w USA. Od 1980 roku jednym z współtwórców radiowych transmisji pielgrzymek Ojca Świętego był jezuita Stefan Filipowicz. Z perspektywy minionych lat ojciec Filipowicz w liście do mnie tak wspomina okres swojej radiowej działalności w VOA:

Pracowałem w VOA prawie 8 lat, informując Polskę o różnych przejawach życia Kościoła w USA i na świecie. Nadto komentowałem uroczystości papieskie, jak pasterki czy na przykład całą drugą wizytę Jana Pawła II w kraju, kiedy to władze komunistyczne nie dały nam łączy telefonicznych i korzystaliśmy z bieżącego komentarza Radia Watykańskiego, wyciszając głos mojego kolegi z Watykanu, ojca Floriana Pełki, i w to miejsce wkładając mój komentarz. Było to jedno z trudniejszych przedsięwzięć. Wsłuchiwałem się w głośnik, a kiedy wyczułem, że ojciec Pełka wciąga powietrze, by się włączyć z komentarzem, bezbłędnie wchodziłem ja z moim własnym. (… ) W moich archiwach zostawiłem jedynie tematy kilkuset audycji nadawanych w tym pionierskim okresie.

Praca ojca Filipowicza i radiowców z Polskiej Sekcji relacjonujących drugą pielgrzymkę Jana Pawała II do Polski w czerwcu 1983 roku została dostrzeżona przez dyrekcję USIA. 20 czerwca 1983 roku Sekcja Polska otrzymuje specjalną pochwałę Amerykańskiej Agencji Informacyjnej za radiową obsługę papieskiej wizyty w ojczystym kraju.

W lutym 1982 roku Sekcja Polska z rąk naczelnego dyrektora Jamesa Conklinga, otrzymała Wielką Nagrodę Głosu Ameryki – A Superior Honor Award za wyjątkową służbę, wysoki poziom zawodowy i pełne oddanie w przygotowywaniu i opracowywaniu programów dla objętej stanem wojennym Polski. Było to największe wyróżnienie, jakie mogło spotkać polskich radiowców z VOA. W wydanym z tej okazji pamiątkowym dyplomie wymieniono nazwiska szesnastu stałych pracowników Polskiej Sekcji. W kolejności alfabetycznej, w oryginalnej angielskiej pisowni na dyplomie znalazły się następujące osoby: Feliks Broniecki, Wacław Bniński, Irene Broni, Sylvia Daneel, Henryk Grynberg, Jan Herburt-Hewell, Ewa Jaxa-Debicka, Rose Kobylinski, Tadeusz Lipien, Boyden Marison, Richard Mossin, Elizabeth Speidel, Roma Starczewska-Murray, Marek Swiecicki, Marek Walicki i Zbigniew Wierzbicki.

Dalsze zmiany w polskim programie możliwe były już dzięki niezwykłym zdolnością najmłodszego wśród kierowników sekcji językowych VOA Tadeusza Lipienia, który zastąpił przechodzącego na emeryturę Feliksa Bronieckiego. W 1982 roku, gdy obejmował stanowisko szefa Sekcji Polskiej Lipień miał 27 lat. Nowy szef ukończył wcześniej studia na wydziale spraw międzynarodowych Uniwersytetu George Washington w Waszyngtonie.

W owym okresie dzielnie pomagał mu pełniący obowiązki zastępcy kierownika sekcji Marek Walicki, który słuchaczom zachodnich stacji bliżej znany był pod swoimi radiowymi pseudonimami jako Jan Korsak z VOA lub wcześniej jako Jan Łada z fal Rozgłośni Polskiej Radia Wolna Europa. Walicki obok pracy administracyjnej przygotowywał audycje popularyzujące ogólnie rozumianą naukę oraz najnowsze wynalazki amerykańskie głównie techniczne i medyczne.

Prosto z Londynu ściągnięty zostaje do Waszyngtonu Piotr Mroczyk, który wcześniej związany był z Telewizją Polską. Po rozstaniu z Ameryką Mroczyk kieruje pracami Rozgłośni Polskiej Radia Wolna Europa. Był jej ostatnim dyrektorem, a następnie szefem istniejącego trzy lata w Warszawie Radia Wolna Europa Inc., które swoją działalnością nawiązywało do istniejącego przez czterdzieści dwa lata w Monachium Radia Free Europe.

Korespondentem nowojorskim, a później także pracownikiem centrali w Waszyngtonie był wówczas Sławomir Suss. Po odejściu z VOA kontynuował radiową pracę w RWE w Monachium.

W 1987 roku dyrekcja VOA wyróżnia Marka P. Krzyżańskiego i Bogusława Jerke za audycję poświęconą Nagrodzie Praw Człowieka im. Roberta F. Kennedy. Program został wyemitowany w czwartym kwartale 1986 roku.

W latach osiemdziesiątych Głosu Ameryki słuchali niemal wszyscy, a niektórzy świadectwo tego zamieścili w swoich publikacjach. Ojciec Jacek Salij w książce „Nadzieja poddawana próbom” w treść swoich rozważań wplata wątek związany z odbiorem audycji radiowych z Waszyngtonu.

Tak się złożyło, że w latach 1988-1989, kiedy chciałem wysłuchać wieczornego dziennika, najczęściej włączałem „Głos Ameryki”. Uderzyło mnie, że tak wiele mówiła ta radiostacja o prezydencie Reaganie i że skończyło się to dosłownie z dnia na dzień, z chwilą, kiedy przestał być prezydentem. Odtąd tamte dzienniki niezwykle wiele miejsca zaczęły poświęcać nowemu prezydentowi. Zatem osoba prezydenta była przedmiotem tak ogromnego zainteresowania nie ze względu na nią samą, ale ze względu na swój urząd, dzięki któremu każdy kolejny prezydent symbolizuje jedność państwa i jakoś całkiem realnie ją kształtuje. ( … )

W listopadzie 1985 roku Zespół Analiz Ministerstwa Spraw Wewnętrznych PRL opracował dokument „Kierunki propagandy dywersyjnych rozgłośni polskojęzycznych”. Wspomniany dokument znajduje się w zbiorach Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej. Urzędnicy MSW analizie poddali audycje pięciu polskojęzycznych redakcji: Radia Wolna Europa, Głosu Ameryki, BBC, Deuchlandfunku i Radia France Internationale, które łącznie w ciągu doby emitowały 37 godzin i 45 minut programu. W owym okresie RWE nadawało 22-godzinny program, VOA 7-godzinny, BBC 4-godzinny, DLF 3,45 godzinny i RFI 1-godzinny. Autorzy dokumentu jako główny cel programów omawianych rozgłośni podają „oczernianie i zdyskredytowanie ideologii socjalistycznej i wszystkich sił społecznych i politycznych realizujących przemiany socjalistyczne w Polsce”. Charakteryzując Głos Ameryki lat osiemdziesiątych autorzy opracowania pisali:

Głos Ameryki pełni niejako funkcje rozgłośni autorytatywnie interpretującej wydarzenia polityczne w świecie. Wydaje się więc, że audycje tej rozgłośni przeznaczone są dla słuchaczy interesujących się polityką, bez specjalnego ukierunkowania na grupy zawodowe, czy słuchaczy o określonym poziomie wykształcenia.

W 1992 roku przy okazji realizacji filmu dokumentalnego „Głos z Ameryki” Jan Nowak Jeziorański były dyrektor Rozgłośni Polskiej Radia Wolna Europa udzielając wywiadu Beacie Postnikoff powiedział:

Nie było między nami właściwie współzawodnictwa aczkolwiek nasi koledzy z Głosu Ameryki zazdrościli nam znacznie większych środków, całodziennych programów, a przede wszystkim swobody redakcyjnej. Bo jednak Głos Ameryki jest część amerykańskiego aparatu państwowego. Podczas kiedy myśmy byli nie tylko jako organizacja bardzo autonomiczni, ale polska załoga redakcyjna miała właściwie zupełną swobodę i inicjatywę. Myśmy mieli prawo mówić jak Polacy do Polaków z naszego punktu widzenia. Podczas kiedy Głos Ameryki jest niejako projekcją Stanów Zjednoczonych. Może to nie jest koniecznie ograniczone tylko do punktu widzenia rządowego, ale Polska w tych audycjach ma się ukazywać tylko w kontekście ogólnym, amerykańskim. No więc na przykład rola i działalność Polonii Amerykańskiej, bo to jest częścią obrazu amerykańskiego. W moim przekonaniu obie te radiostacje miały swoje charakterystyczne właściwości. Każda inne, które niejako wzajemnie się uzupełniały.

Kiedy byłem pytany przez Amerykanów czy wobec dużego sukcesu, jaki Wolna Europa odniosła w Polsce, Głos Ameryki jest w ogóle potrzebny? Odpowiadałem zawsze – absolutnie tak, bo to jest dla nas tarcza, która nas osłania przed używaniem nas jako instrumentu na co dzień rządu amerykańskiego. Dopóki istnieje Głos Ameryki mamy spokój. Gdyby Głos Ameryki przestał istnieć wówczas znaleźlibyśmy się pod wielkim naciskiem organizacji rządowych żeby przedstawiać ich punkt widzenia.

Rząd Amerykański no powiedzmy może nie wtrącał się na co dzień, ale jednak są, muszę powiedzieć stałe tendencje i Głos Ameryki jest bardzo przygnieciony przez państwową służbę i państwową biurokrację… Ale mimo to jak twierdzę robi dobrą robotę.

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Link to the video of the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, congratulating the Voice of America (VOA) on the 70th anniversary of VOA broadcasting to China. The video is available on the VOA China Branch website but not on the BBG website.

The reception on December 6 drew hundreds of VOA employees and their supporters, including Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, Rep. Rohrabacher, Rep. Chris Smith, Rep. David Rivera, Rep. Don Young and many Congressional staffers.

Sources tell BBG Watch that employees of the VOA China Branch begged BBG public affairs officers to issue a press release about the Capitol Hill event but their requests were rebuffed. Two days after the reception to honor VOA broadcasts to China, the BBG public affairs office issued a press release about the 50th anniversary of VOA broadcasting to Latin America. They also had issued earlier a press release about the closing down of the Voice of America Croation Service.

Critics see the refusal to issue a press release on VOA in China as a bureaucratic retaliation by BBG executives against members of Congress who had prevented them from ending VOA radio and television broadcasts in Mandarin and Cantonese. The BBG wanted to terminate these programs on October 1, 2011, which happens to be the anniversary of the founding of communist China, but thanks to an amendment introduced by Rep. Rohrabacher, which received full bipartisan support, the broadcasts were saved.

Sources told BBG Watch that the strategy of confronting Congress is being opposed now by at least two BBG members, Republican member Victor Ashe and Democratic member Michael Meehan, but most of the other members of the eight person bipartisan board, not counting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an ex officio member, seem to support BBG executives who had advised them to end VOA broadcasts to China. According to BBG Watch sources, BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson has agreed to a $10,000 pay raise for a BBG executive who was one of the chief architects of the doomed decision regarding China.

The same executives have developed the plan to privatize Voice of America and Radio and TV Marti and to merge Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Sawa, and Alhurra TV into a large corporate bureaucracy. That plan is likely to encounter even stronger opposition from members of Congress, particularly those like Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen who support broadcasting to Cuba and other countries without free media and view the proposed privatization of VOA and Radio and TV Marti as yet another BBG concession to regimes in Havana, Beijing, and Moscow. Critics argue that the privatization and merger plan would further increase the power of BBG bureaucrats, limit Congressional oversight, and cost U.S. taxpayers just as much if not more than the current arrangement.

According to sources, both Meehan and Ashe wanted to attend the Capitol Hill reception but had other engagements. No other BBG member came to the event. Ashe was travelling to visit the BBG shortwave transmitting station in Greenville, North Carolina, which BBG executives want to close down. According to BBG Watch sources, Ashe believes that shortwave broadcasting to countries without free media, especially those which practice Internet censorship, continues to serve an important strategic national security function. He is also known to want to save American jobs. BBG executives, who each year give themselves large bonuses but are rated as being among the worst managers in the federal government, had proposed earlier to fire 45 VOA China Branch journalists and broadcasters, most of whom specialize in human rights reporting.

Critics of the BBG noted that the board was represented at the Capitol Hill reception by BBG officials who were the chief architects of the decision to end VOA broadcasting to China. In 2008, they succeeded in ending VOA radio and TV programs to Russia, which is now experiencing major anti-government protests. “They dug themselves into a deep hole by alienating the strongest supporters of U.S. international broadcasting on Capitol Hill and by feeding bad advice to BBG Chairman who is busy promoting his book about Steve Jobs and, like most other part time BBG members, lacks sufficient knowledge of government bureaucracy and public diplomacy,” said one BBG Watch source. The same source said: “BBG members face a simple choice, they can either side with Congress which gives them money and whose members are some of the strongest supporters of U.S. international broadcasting, or they can continue to listen to their executives who cost them each $170,000 a year plus a $10,000 bonus, who want to cut broadcasts, and who have alienated BBG’s alies. The choice is that simple.”

The BBG has hired Lynne Weil, a senior official in the State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy, to serve as their top public relations representative. Weil, who in the past had worked for a number of members of Congress, has not yet assumed her duties at the BBG and is not seen as being responsible for the latest snub directed at Congressional critics of the BBG.

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After the BBG public affairs officials refused to issue a press release, employees of the Voice of America China Branch wrote their own announcement for the media.

Celebrating 70 Years of VOA broadcasting to China

Since 1941, Voice of America has been broadcasting uncensored, fair and balanced news programming into China. This has extended the spirit of democracy and free flow of information to a nation ruled by a totalitarian regime and subjected to its system of censorship.

On December 6th, 2011, the international broadcasters of VOA China Branch are sponsoring a celebration of this historic milestone, hosted by the Honorable Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.

VOA Chinese broadcasting plays an important role as a reliable news source and provides listeners with an alternative to China’s state media. This role is especially crucial during periods of social transformation such as the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square revolts and pro-democracy protests of 1989, and the Tibetan unrest of 2008. VOA Chinese broadcasting has helped enrich listeners’ knowledge and independent thought through exposure to the views of influential individuals such as Liu Xiaobo, Ai Weiwei and the Dalai Lama.

VOA Chinese has earned the loyalty of an expansive audience:

* Largest Audience: According to a 2010 Broadcasting Board of Governors survey, the VOA Chinese radio audience is twice as large as that of the next two media agencies, BBC and RFA (Radio Free Asia), combined.

* Best-Known International Media: According to the same survey, awareness of VOA in China has routinely been up to 5 times higher than that of other major international media such as BBC and RFA. In 2010, 12% of respondents are aware of VOA, as compared to 4% for BBC, and 3% for RFA, CNN, and NHK respectively.

In order to better serve our audience, VOA Chinese broadcasting goes beyond short wave radio, encompassing satellite, internet and mobile phone technology to create a diversified and abundant news offering.

On May 16th, 2011, a bipartisan letter signed by eight members of Congress, including Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Congressman David Wu, recognized the importance of VOA Chinese and its contribution to the improvement of America’s security and its image abroad. VOA Chinese will continue to uphold this legacy of excellence and remains committed to the spread of democracy and uncensored information to the people of China. Chief of VOA Chinese Branch Sasha Gong echoes this sentiment, saying, “We are celebrating 70 years and many more to come!” Media Contact: Paris Huang, 202-549-5260, parish0727@hotmail.com

70 Years

Voice of America China Branch

Before the establishment of Voice of America, American international broadcasting of Chinese-language programs had already begun. On February 18th, 1939, America began broadcasting radio programs in Cantonese. On December 28th, 1941, Mandarin Chinese broadcasting began with only two employees. During this period of World War II, the China Branch broadcast every day for one hour, with the broadcast time split evenly between Mandarin and Cantonese programming.

In the wake of the Japanese invasion of China, the Chinese government moved to the interior of the country and VOA broadcasting evolved to meet wartime needs. In order to provide Chinese citizens with timely reporting on war developments in China, the Pacific, and areas around the world, the number of employees in the China Branch gradually increased, resulting in more abundant news programs and specialized reports. The Branch also began broadcasting in Taiwanese and Chaozhou (Teochew) dialects. As World War II came to an end and international tensions decreased, China Branch staff was reduced from 50 people to fewer than 30.

During World War II, the Voice of America was subordinate to the Office of War Information. In 1945, the organization was reshuffled and put under the Foreign Information Service of the State Department; the China Branch also moved from San Francisco to New York City. While based in New York, the China Branch broadcast eight hours each day in five different dialects, including Mongolian for a time.

In August of 1953, the US Congress passed a bill establishing the U.S. Information Agency; Voice of America became part of this new government structure. The following year, Voice of America moved from New York to Washington D.C., where it remains today. In April 1994, the U.S. government rearranged the international broadcasting framework, establishing the International Broadcasting Bureau, which resulted in Voice of America being part of the International Broadcasting Bureau.

In October of 1998, President Clinton signed a new law requiring all publicly funded, non-military international broadcasting to be placed under the authority of a new broadcasting board. In October 1999, the independent, bipartisan nine-member Broadcasting Board of Governors was established.

Today, Voice of America China Branch Mandarin Service broadcasts eight hours a day, seven days a week. VOA’s Cantonese Service broadcasts two hours a day, seven days a week. These broadcasts cover a potential audience of 1.3 billion Mainland Chinese and 23 million Taiwanese, as well as Chinese-speaking populations in South East Asia, North America, Australia, and other countries.

To better serve the needs of this audience, in September of 1994, China Branch began simultaneously broadcasting Chinese TV programs on both satellite and radio. In 1997, Voice of America China Branch launched its own website: http://www.voachinese.com. VOA Chinese iPhone Apps was launched in May, 2011, which also allows users to send news tips and real-time photos to us.

VOA China Branch Mandarin Service programs include news and commentary, live call-in shows, simulcast radio and TV programs, scholarly discourses, as well as a variety of shows concerning

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