There is a long history of censorship at the Voice of America, which shows how easily some VOA leaders, editors, and journalists were duped by propaganda from communist and other authoritarian regimes. During World War II and in some periods of the Cold War, the VOA management protected Stalin. Today’s VOA leaders protected from embarrassment Vietnam’s communist Prime Minister Pham…
Voice of America and Martial Law in Poland 40 Years Ago
Voice of America and martial law in Poland 40 years ago – a quick response by the Reagan Administration to the communist regime’s attempt at holding on to power and destroying Solidarity. Photo: Polish Army tanks enter the town of Zbąszyń while moving east towards Poznań, 13 December 1981. A Commentary by Ted Lipien (Tadeusz Lipień), December 13, 2021. Martial Law in Poland: December 13,…
Biden can combat foreign propaganda by reforming Voice of America
OPINION My op-ed in The Washington Examiner was written in response to recent media reports suggesting that leaders who have been long in charge of both the Voice of America (VOA) and the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) are responsible for a management culture which allows major abuses of journalistic practices and the VOA Charter to occur, such as…
Op-Ed: Chinese dissident criticizes Obama, praises Hillary Clinton | Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published March 22, 2015 in Digital Journal In an exclusive interview with the Voice of America (VOA) Mandarin Service, blind Chinese exiled human rights activist Chen Guangcheng blamed President Obama and the White House staff, but not former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for allegedly trying to force him out from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. A more prompt…
Op-Ed: Chen Guangcheng listened in prison to Voice of America radio | Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published May 20, 2012 by Digital Journal Blind Chinese legal activist and dissident Chen Guangcheng had been secretly listening to Voice of America (VOA) Mandarin shortwave radio broadcasts while he was in prison in China. The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting – CUSIB – reported that blind Chinese legal activist and dissident Chen Guangcheng, who arrived Saturday in the…
Op-Ed: Annette Lantos wants to save Voice of America from cuts by BBG | Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published April 12, 2012 by Digital Journal Annette Lantos, the wife of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, has joined efforts to oppose the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ (BBG) proposals to cut Voice of America (VOA) services, the independent Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting reported. In a letter addressed to the presidentially appointed members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors…
Silencing VOA programming would end U.S. support for China’s freedom. John Lenczowski, who as President Reagan’s Soviet affairs adviser was instrumental in increasing funding for Voice of America and Radio Free Europe broadcasts to Poland during Solidarity’s struggle for democracy, wrote in a Washington Times op-ed that by proposing to end VOA radio and TV transmissions to China, the Broadcasting…
Now, as the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks nears, it may be time for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) to consider its mission and how it achieves it, wrote Michael Rubin in Commentary magazine post Why Would U.S. Taxpayers Publish a Celebration of the 9/11 Attack? This is about yet another example of how BBG’s directives to use a wrong…
Op-Ed: US helping Chinese censors stifle the Jasmine Revolution | Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published August 19, 2011 by Digital Journal Washington – The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) executives have done a lot to damage U.S. radio and TV programs for audiences abroad nearly beyond repair. The latest crisis at the agency, which manages U.S. government-funded overseas broadcasts, involves appeasing a dictatorial regime in Africa, censoring Voice of America (VOA) news,…
Fox News reported — Lawmakers Scramble to Keep Voice of America On Air in China — that Congressional lawmakers are scrambling to prevent America’s international media arm from going off-air in China, arguing that a plan to shift much of its reporting to the Internet won’t do much good in a country notorious for its web censors. In a full…
Former BBG Governor Blanquita Cullum, who served during the George W. Bush administration, wrote in a Washington Times column: “The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA), among other broadcasts, is preparing to implement what some inside observers have termed a “strategic disintegration plan” – marking America’s exit as a bona…
BBG Chairman makes news by calling Russia’s and China’s official media America’s ‘enemies’; former BBG member gets praise on Capital Hill
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Chairman Walter Isaacson, recently placed by President Obama in the job of managing U.S. international broadcasting, made news this week by naming China’s and Russia’s official media as America’s “enemies,” alongside state media in Iran and Venezuela. He used such strong language while calling for more money for his federal agency to combat foreign…
U.S. International Broadcasting in Leaderless Limbo | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.
U.S. International Broadcasting in Leaderless Limbo | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News..
Op-Ed: Obama should listen to fellow Nobel winners Dalai Lama and Walesa | Ted Lipien in Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published October 10, 2009 by Digital Journal Barred from the White House, the Dalai Lama, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner sends Obama a letter with congratulations and some good advice, but his message may be ignored just like an earlier message from Lech Walesa, also a Nobel Prize laureate. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner would…