Tag: Barack Obama

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In Search of A Smarter, More Cultured Approach to U.S. Public Diplomacy and Broadcasting in the Middle East

June 4, 2009

FreeMediaOnline.org,  Free Media Online Blog,  GovoritAmerika.us, Commentary by Ted Lipien, June 04, 2009, San Francisco — President Obama’s recent announcement of a new Global Engagement Directorate that will combine “diplomacy, communications, international development and assistance” was short on specifics how this new structure might change the focus of U.S. public diplomacy and broadcasting initiatives. That’s hardly surprising, considering that the White House has to deal with many other seemingly more pressing problems.…

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News Flashes from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Understanding Government

June 3, 2009

FreeMediaOnline.org,  Free Media Online Blog,  GovoritAmerika.us, June 3, 2009, San Francisco —  Understanding Government website — undestandinggov.org — has published an in-depth report on charges of discrimination against foreign-born journalists at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which is managed by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent Federal agency created by Congress to oversee U.S. international broadcasting operations. The report refers to the work of FreeMediaOnline.org…

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Broadcasting Board of Governors Misleads Congress in Its 2010 Budget Request, Hides Its Poor Management Record, and Plans to Terminate More Broadcasts

May 11, 2009

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, May 11, 2009, San Francisco — The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the federal agency responsible for managing U.S. international broadcasts made a number of misleading statements in its Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request to the U.S. Congress. The BBG repeatedly states that the Voice of America (VOA) Russian service responded with “comprehensive coverage”…

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WILL AMERICA’S VOICE STAY SILENCED? – Understanding Government – understandinggov.org

May 7, 2009

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, May 8, 2009, San Francisco —  Understanding Government website — undestandinggov.org — has published an in-depth report on the management crisis at the Voice of America (VOA) and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which runs U.S. international broadcasting operations. The report refers to the work of FreeMediaOnline.org and GovoritAmerika.us in support of independent journalism in media-at-risk countries. WILL…

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“A Day Late and a Photo Short” – White House and State Department Websites Rarely Updated during Obama’s European Trip

April 6, 2009

   FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog,  GovoritAmerika.us, April 6, 2009, San Francisco –During President Obama’s most recent visit to Europe, the White House website was rarely updated with news reports and photos and had no new entries at all on Sunday, April 5 when the President was visiting Prague, the Czech Republic, where he made an important foreign policy speech in which he called for a…

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Attack Against Russian Human Rights Activist Lev Ponomarev Raised during Obama-Medvedev Meeting

April 1, 2009

  FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog,  GovoritAmerika.us, April 1, 2009, San Francisco —  According to a senior U.S. Administration official, the violent attack against Lev Ponomarev, a leading Russian human rights activist, was raised during Wednesday’s meeting in London between President Obama and Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev. “I’m sure many of you have read, Lev Ponomarev was badly beaten in Moscow…

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History

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

March 25, 2009

Miro Dobrovodsky passed away on July 23, 2009.  FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, March 25, 2009, San Francisco —  Miro Dobrovodsky, one of the best journalists who came to the U.S. from Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War to escape media censorship in their native countries, sent me an email pointing out that the process of silencing the Voice of America…

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Sexy Images from the Voice of America

March 16, 2009

No in-depth reports from the Voice of America or high-resolution photos from the State Department, but one can now find sexy images on the VOA Russian website. The Clinton-Lavrov meeting and the First Lady’s visit to the State Department revealed  a sorry state of U.S. public diplomacy and international broadcasting. It took hours after Secretary Clinton and her Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov had finished their joint press conference in Geneva before the…

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Senator Lugar is right about past U.S. public diplomacy mistakes

March 4, 2009

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, March 4, 2009, San Francisco   Senator Richard Lugar is right about past mistakes that had crippled U.S. public diplomacy, but new actions by the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors also continue to silence America’s voice abroad   Closed Down American Centers and Crippled Voice of America In an insightful and candid article posted on the Foreign Policy magazine blog,…

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Mistakes Repeated

February 2, 2009

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, February 2, 2009, San Francisco — This commentary is by The Federalist, one of our regular contributors.   Mistakes Repeated by The Federalist   On January 20, 2009, as the United States inaugurated Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, the Associated Press reported that Hamas was holding victory rallies in Gaza amid…

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What? – No Voice of America in Arabic? – President Obama and U.S. Broadcasting in the Middle East

January 29, 2009

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, January 29, 2009, San Francisco —  President Obama may have been surprised to find out that the Voice of America, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described as largely responsible for “telling America’s story” to the world, no longer has programs in Arabic of any kind due to actions taken by the Bush Administration and…

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The Worst of Times

January 8, 2009

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog  The Federalist Commentary, January 8, 2009, San Francisco — This commentary is by The Federalist, one of our regular contributors with inside knowledge of US government bureaucracy.   The Worst of Times by The Federalist   “US international broadcasting is being led by people not interested in its mission or in sustaining its programs.”   This applies…

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Thinking About The Unthinkable

January 6, 2009

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog  The Federalist Commentary, January 6, 2009, San Francisco — This commentary by The Federalist, one of our regular contributors with inside knowledge of US government bureaucracy, is designed to open a discussion on the Free Media Online Blog about the proper role for US public diplomacy and international broadcasting in dealing with terrorism and threats to…

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Size 10 – US Public Diplomacy Disaster

December 18, 2008

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog  The Federalist Commentary, December 18, 2008, San Francisco — One of our regular contributors offers a unique perspective on the bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors and its policies that led to the outsourcing of U.S. international broadcasting to scandal-ridden private entities. One of them, Alhurra Television for the Middle East,  was described in an independent study, which…

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Failure of Privatizing U.S. Image Abroad: White House Publishes Self-Serving But Questionable Claims from the Broadcasting Board of Governors

December 11, 2008

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, December 11, 2008, San Francisco — The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which manages U.S. government-funded broadcasts for overseas audiences, has launched a campaign to defend its strategy of privatizing and outsourcing public diplomacy efforts, which it claims is designed to improve America’s image abroad using advertising and other private sector solutions. Nearly everyone…

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