A New Website Hides a Tale of Fewer Radio Programs to Tibet, China, Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, September 10, 2008, San Francisco — Websites tell their tales, and the newly redesigned, flashy website of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) tells a tale of hubris, waste, and reduced access to uncensored radio news for those who…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 8, 2008, San Francisco — Perhaps Paula Zahn, formerly of CNN and ABC, could have explained to the White House, the U.S. Congress and the American people why the Voice of America (VOA) Russian-language radio programs were not being heard in the war zone in Georgia, or in Russia itself, when the Russian troops invaded their small neighbor on…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, Commentary by Ted Lipien, September 8, 2008, San Francisco — A country like Russia either needs surrogate broadcasting or it doesn’t. Many countries, however, need balanced and objective news from the Voice of America that surrogate broadcasters living overseas are not trained to provide. If a country also needs a genuine surrogate broadcaster — as it is the case now with…
Bureaucratic Jamming Of U.S. Broadcasts To Russia, Georgia And Ukraine FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 7, 2008, San Francisco — Political jamming originating in Washington rather than Soviet-style electronic jamming of radio signals made it impossible for the Russian speakers in the war zone in Georgia and in Russia itself to hear Voice of America (VOA) news broadcasts during the recent crisis…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 5, 2008, San Francisco — Helle Dale, the director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation, wrote a convincing article warning that the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is dangerously weakening the U.S. ability to communicate with countries like Russia, Georgia, and Ukraine. The BBG had shut down…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 5, 2008, San Francisco — Even as Vice President Cheney visits Ukraine to show U.S. support for that country in the face of pressure from Russia, the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), has not given up on its plan to cut the Voice of America (VOA) Ukrainian radio news broadcasts from Washington, D.C.…
FreeMediaOnline.orgCommentary by Ted Lipien, September 4, 2008, San Francisco — While the White House mobilized in just a few days to put together a $1 billion aid package for Georgia, and President Bush sent Vice President Dick Cheney on a trip to the region, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees all civilian U.S. international broadcasts, is still in the mode of defending the shutting down…
FreeMediaOnline.org, September 3, 2008, San Francisco — The Broadcasting Board of Governors’ decision to stop Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Russia may seem like “a bit of a small tempest in a small teapot,” as Monroe Price, director of the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, described it in his article “South Ossetia, Georgia and Information…
What Would Barack Obama Say If He Knew… Commentary by Ted Lipien FreeMediaOnline.org, San Francisco, August 29, 2008 — Why would U.S. taxpayers want to help a nationalist Russian politician spread his racist and anti-immigrant views on a radio station, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)? Radio Liberty is based in Moscow and Prague but is managed by the bipartisan broadcasting Board of…
FreeMediaOnline.org, San Francisco, August 27, 2008 — Senator Biden’s record of playing politics with U.S. international broadcasting gives credence to recent news reports that his Senate staff had a key role in stopping the Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Russia shortly before the Russian attack on Georgia. Despite strong opposition in Congress, the bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors, which manages U.S. government-funded broadcasting…
FreeMediaOnline.org, August 24, 2008, San Francisco — The Tickle File, ftm’s (www.followthemedia.com) daily column of media news, asks about the absence on the airwaves of BBG Georgian and VOA Russian. FTM reported that “VOA has just dumped its Russian language broadcast service (great timing but it still has a Russian language web site).” The BBC still has the Russian language radio…
FreeMediaOnline.org, August 23, 2008, San Francisco — In a move seen as a foreign policy embarrassment for Senator Obama’s vice-presidential running mate, the Senate staff of Senator Joe Biden was said to be involved in stopping the Voice of America (VOA) radio programs to Russia just 12 days before Moscow launched its military attack on Georgia. VOA is an international broadcasting service funded by…
FreeMediaOnline.org, August 22, 2008, San Francisco — A former Voice of America executive suggested that the BBG should be encouraged to repair the damage it had caused U.S. international broadcasting in Eurasia. I agree. The suggestion was that the Board should take positive actions on its own rather than wait for Congress to force them to reverse the program cuts affecting Russia, Georgia,…
FreeMediaOnline.org, San Francisco, August 21, 2008 — In a move seen as a foreign policy and public diplomacy blunder, in which the Senate staff of Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) is said to be involved, the Voice of America (VOA), an international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government, stopped its radio programs to Russia just 12 days before Moscow launched its military attack on Georgia. According to a…
FreeMediaOnline.org, August 20, 2008, San Francisco — Listen to the last Voice of America radio broadcast to Russia The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) stopped these VOA broadcasts from Washington on July 26, 2008, 12 days before Russia attacked Georgia. After Russia’s attack on Georgia, it took the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) days to say something about U.S. broadcasting to…