Author page: BBGWatcher

International Broadcasting

Czech politician accuses U.S. of discrimination against foreign journalists

A member of the Czech Senate has written a strongly-worded letter to key U.S. senators complaining of discriminatory personnel policies aimed against foreign journalists employed by the U.S. Government-funded Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). U.S. taxpayer-funded RFE/RL has its headquarters in the Czech Republic and broadcasts radio programs to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and some of the former Soviet…

Read more
Digital Journal, Featured, Highlights, International Broadcasting, RFE, RL, Russia, VOA

Op-Ed From Russia with Censorship | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien

Published September 16, 2009 by Digital Journal

Marine Gunny Sgt. Patrick Modriskey takes a break from his temporay duty in Moscow, Russia, to visit the 'Red Square' Oct. 30, 2006. Dept. of Defense photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen (released)

FreeMediaOnline.org Logo. FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, Commentary by Ted Lipien, September 16, 2009

San Francisco — Censorship from Russia and China comes home to America in profit-oriented and staying-in-the-market-at-any-cost decisions by American businesses and sometimes even US government agencies, as FreeMediaOnline.org, a San Francisco-based media freedom nonprofit, has been documenting and reporting.

Read more
Uncategorized

RFE RL Faces Ethnic Discrimination Charges

Snjezana Pelivan

FreeMediaOnline.org Logo. FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, September 9, 2009, San Francisco — A former employee of Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has asked the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to look into charges that the US taxpayer-funded radio station broadcasting to countries without free media discriminates against foreign-born journalists and other workers by denying them the same legal protections available to American and Czech employees.

Read more
Uncategorized

The Murder of Georgi Markov: The Mystery Remains – Are Radio Liberty Journalists Now Safe?

Thirty-one years ago this week, on 7 September 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian émigré journalist who wrote for Radio Free Europe, BBC and Deutsche Welle, was assaulted in broad daylight on London’s Waterloo Bridge. Markov’s murder happened during the Cold War, but in more recent years the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and of numerous other journalists in Russia, as well…

Read more
Uncategorized

Independent US Bloggers Beat Voice of America and Radio Liberty in Delivering Uncensored News to Russia

FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, September 6, 2009, San Francisco — Neither the Voice of America nor Radio Liberty, both US government-funded international broadcasters, provided Internet users and radio listeners with a Russian translation of an article about Vladimir Putin which sparked a major controversy over censorship both in Russia and in the US. Conde Nast, the publisher of…

Read more
Uncategorized

VOA Director Testifies Before Congress About Strategy in Russia and Cyber Attack on VOA Website But Serious Mistakes Go Unreported

FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, July 23, 2009, San Francisco — Voice of America director Dan Austin had a hard job explaining before Congress the broadcasting and program delivery strategy for Russia and the cyber attack that shut down the VOA website, including its Russian-language site, for at least two full days during President Obama’s visit to Russia earlier…

Read more
Uncategorized

With VOA Left Voiceless, Obama Fails to Reach Russian Public – Jonathan Liedl, The Heritage Foundation

This post by Jonathan Liedl of the Heritage Foundation on the SZONE.US Forum includes several links to FreeMediaOnline.org reports. With VOA Left Voiceless, Obama Fails to Reach Russian Public President Obama’s foreign policy thus far has been marked by an emphasis on public diplomacy. As a result, successfully engaging foreign publics has become a top priority of his administration. The…

Read more
Uncategorized

White House Video From Russia Released 10 Days Late, Without Russian Translation, And A Message Overtaken By Events

AS RELEASED BY THE WHITE HOUSE, FRI, JULY 17, 12:51 PM EST Highlights from the President’s Trip to Russia Posted by Katherine Brandon Get a behind-the-scenes look at the highlights of the President’s trip to Moscow earlier this month. See images of his trip, and listen to the President speak at the New Economic School. You can read the whole…

Read more
Uncategorized

With Obama in Moscow, Voice of America Russian Reporters Saw Their Work Vanish

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has put all the eggs of broadcasts to Russia from the U.S. in one basket. FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, Commentary by Ted Lipien, July 10, 2009, San Francisco — Established in 1942 in response to wartime emergency, the Voice of America (VOA) has been the official U.S. broadcaster, funded by American taxpayers…

Read more
Uncategorized

U.S. International Broadcaster Voice of America Unable to Recover from a Crippling Cyber Attack for More Than Two Days

FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, July 09, 2009, San Francisco — While other U.S. government computer networks have long been back in operation after the cyber attack launched last weekend, the lead Federal agency in charge of communicating with the world on behalf of the United States suffered a catastrophic failure, which it has been unable to overcome for…

Read more
Uncategorized

Voice of America International News Website Blocked by Suspected Cyber Attack

FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, July 08, 2009, San Francisco –The Voice of America (VOA) multi-language international news website has been down most of the time during the final day of Barack Obama’s first presidential visit to Moscow as a result of a suspected North Korean cyber attack. Other U.S. government websites were also affected by the same cyber…

Read more
Uncategorized

Report Cites Continued Weaknesses in US Broadcasting to Cuba – Voice of America

U.S. lawmakers have heard testimony about continuing weaknesses in U.S.-government funded television broadcasting to Cuba. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) updated members of Congress on steps taken by the Broadcasting Board of Governors and its Office of Cuba Broadcasting on recommendations to deal with management, morale and other problems. Since its inception in 1990, TV Marti has been the subject…

Read more