In anticipation of Friday’s presidential election, Iran’s leadership has harshly cracked down on journalists, dissidents, and cyber activists, as well as members of their families. The regime is leaving nothing to chance, determined to avoid a replay of the surprise demonstrations that followed the 2009 presidential election and led to …
The Obama Administration’s “culture of intimidation,” as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R–KY) has called it, has affected the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). In a power grab that is as outrageous as it is brazen, the Obama Administration is proposing to replace the only remaining Republican and one of …
The fired journalists of Radio Liberty’s (RL) Moscow office are finally seeing a deep injustice reversed. Following a visit to Moscow, Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) members Susan McCue and Michael Meehan announced: Given the rapidly shrinking independent media across Russia over the past few months, we have asked the …
Transparency in government took a huge step forward on January 3. On that day, President Obama signed into law the Smith–Mundt Modernization Act as an amendment to the 2013 Defense Authorization Bill. With the new revision, State Department foreign programming may be broadcast in the United States, though it may …
The disgraceful firing of Radio Liberty’s loyal Moscow staff on September 20 and 21 is the latest chapter in the Obama’s Administration’s Russia policy retreat, also known as the “reset.” Forty-one dedicated and professional reporters with deep knowledge ofRussia—and in particular its human rights record—have been given their marching papers …
The treatment inflicted on 41 Russian journalists in Moscow’s Radio Liberty office is nothing less than scandalous, and it threatens to silence American broadcasting into Russia for good. But what is even more scandalous is that it was not the Russian government that, without warning, shut those journalists out of …
If you sup with the Russian government, you’d better bring a long spoon. While some U.S.–Russian cooperation appears to be happening on the surface, behind the smiles, nasty surprises are often waiting. No one knows this better than U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, who assumed his post in January. …
In the age of media saturation and extravagant federal budget deficits, the question does comes up: Why does the United States need to spend some $750 million on international broadcasting every year? As with every taxpayer dollar spent, this question deserves an answer, and rarely has a more eloquent one …
