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 …
The world has reacted to the Boston marathon bombings with horror and compassion, much as it did to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This reaction reflects normal human emotions when confronted with acts of such evil, and Bostonians will appreciate the common humanity expressed by so many the …
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) recently informed its workforce about sequestration cuts to Voice of America’s (VOA) shortwave and medium-wave broadcasting. Ironically, the Board is cutting the most cost-effective part of its organization: radio. It would be more rational to cut the bloated management and administration of the International …
Sunday night, Argo—the Ben Affleck film portraying the rescue of U.S. Embassy staffers from Iran—won best picture at the Oscars. Iran may have boycotted this years’ Academy Awards by pulling its film submission, but it certainly didn’t ignore Argo’s Oscar win. The biggest winner may have been U.S. public diplomacy …
Two new reports have delivered a one-two punch to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). One of the reports, by the State Department’s Inspector General (IG), focused narrowly on the functioning of the BBG itself, which it concluded is failing in its mandated duties, including implementation of key aspects of …
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 recent layoff of Voice of America (VOA) employees in Russia comes at a time when U.S. international broadcasting is also losing ground to bureaucratic overkill. Despite a continually expanding budget, many mission-critical broadcasting services are being cut, personnel are being let go, and broadcasters are being required to do …
An example of government waste and bad planning—the exorbitantly expensive Gallup Organization contract with the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)—is finally coming under a long-overdue review. At a time when language service after language service of Voice of America, this country’s primary public diplomacy tool, is under threat of being …
What in the world is going on at the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and the Voice of America (VOA)? The BBG has started to exhibit a level of secrecy worthy of the CIA, clamping down heavy-handedly on internal communications. VOA, meanwhile, has joined other news organizations at the United …
