Public Diplomacy Archives

Congress, Featured, Hamas, Highlights, History, International Broadcasting, Israel, Media, Newspaper Articles, Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia, Terrorism, Ukraine, VOA

The Hill Op-ed Against Anti-Semitism in Media and Walter Durnaty-Style Journalism at USAGM’s Voice of America (VOA)

By Ted Lipien December 29, 2023

USAGM Watch Commentary In his latest op-ed in The Hill, former Voice of America (VOA) acting associate director Ted Lipien, who also served briefly in 2020-2021 as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) president, quotes his former VOA Polish Service colleague, Jewish-American writer Henryk Grynberg: “the president of a leading American university cannot apologize for her lack of basic human values”…

Voice of America bans calling Hamas terrorists illustration by Linas Garsys /

Congress, Featured, Hamas, Highlights, History, International Broadcasting, Israel, Media, Newspaper Articles, Poland, Public Diplomacy, Radio, Russia, Terrorism, Ukraine, VOA

Why I can’t be silent when Voice of America bans calling Hamas ‘terrorists’ | Washington Times op-ed by Ted Lipien

By Ted Lipien November 22, 2023

I cannot remain silent because those who refuse to expose terrorism or delay condemning it today will find themselves unable to stop it later. Ted Lipien, former Voice of America Polish Service chief during the Solidarity trade union movement’s peaceful and successful struggle for national independence and democracy in Poland. Washington Times, November 21, 2023. USAGM Watch Media Commentary If…

“Radio Broadcast Sent To Russia By State Department” photograph from the National Archives, Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Description: Interior view of seven men and women taken during a radio broadcast sent to Russia from the State Department’s studios in New York. Identified as left to right: Boris Brodenov, Kathrine Elene, James Shigorin, Vladmir Postman, Mrs. Lucy Bates, Victor Franzusoff, and Mrs. Tatiana Hecker, all American citizens. Lettering on top of microphone is in Russian language. (Charles Thayer supervised the programs.) Date(s): ca. February 1947.

Featured, Highlights, History, International Broadcasting, OWI, Poland, Public Diplomacy, Radio, RFE, RL, Russia, VOA

Why Voice of America and BBC Had No Russian-Language Broadcasts Until After WWII?

By Ted Lipien December 29, 2022

Cold War Radio Museum By Ted Lipien A partial answer to the question of why the Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had no Russian-language radio broadcasts to the Soviet Union until after the end of World War II can be found in the biography of William Benton by Sidney Hyman. William Benton (1900–1973) was a…

Cold War, Featured, Glos Ameryki, Highlights, History, International Broadcasting, OWI, Poland, Public Diplomacy, Radio, RFE, RL, Russia, VOA

A Book for Experts and Students of Cold War History

By Ted Lipien October 3, 2022

Mark Pomar’s new book about the Cold War political radio could help American government officials unfamiliar with the history of U.S. international broadcasting. Mark Pomar’s book Cold War Radio [Mark G. Pomar, Cold War Radio: The Russian Broadcasts of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Lincoln: Potomac Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, 2022), Amazon Link] is, in my…

Voice of America Director Evelyn S. Lieberman (1997-1999). VOA Photo.

Featured, Highlights, International Broadcasting, Photos, Public Diplomacy, VOA, Women

With Voice of America Director Evelyn Lieberman in Russia

By Ted Lipien August 29, 2022

Evelyn May Lieberman (née Simonowitz; July 9, 1944 – December 12, 2015) was the Director of the Voice of America (VOA) from 1997 until 1999 during the Clinton administration. She was the first woman to serve as White House Deputy Chief of Staff and was the first United States Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. It was Lieberman who transferred former…

Ethiopia, Featured, Highlights, History, International Broadcasting, Media, Newspaper Articles, Public Diplomacy, Radio, Russia, VOA, VOA80

At Voice of America, history repeats itself

By Ted Lipien November 17, 2021

At Voice of America, history repeats itself because of poor USAGM leadership, partisan bias and violations of VOA Charter. USAGM Watch Media Commentary According to the former Voice of America journalist and manager who led the VOA Polish Service during the peaceful Solidarity revolution against communism and Soviet Russia’s control of Poland, “The taxpayer-funded Voice of America is increasingly being…

Cold War, Glos Ameryki, History, International Broadcasting, Photos, Poland, Public Diplomacy, Religion, VOA

MSZANA DOLNA NA 150-TĄ ROCZNICĘ NIEPODLEGŁOŚCI STANÓW ZJEDNOCZONYCH

By Ted Lipien July 5, 2017

Tadeusz Lipień 4-go lipca Ameryka obchodziła Dzień Niepodległości. Podczas wizyty w Polsce 6-go lipca, prezydent Donald Trump dołączy do wielu innych amerykańskich przywódców, którzy w przeszłości potwierdzali znaczenie sojuszu polsko-amerykańskiego i przyjaźni między Stanami Zjednoczonymi a Polską. Ten szkic ma na celu przypomnienie jak mieszkańcy międzywojennej Rzeczypospolitej obchodzili w 1926 r. w wyjątkowy sposób 150-tą rocznicę podpisania amerykańskiej Deklaracji Niepodległości.…

Glos Ameryki, History, Photos, Poland, Public Diplomacy, Religion, VOA

History’s Greatest Fourth of July Birthday Card: A Personal Story of Polish-American Friendship

By Ted Lipien July 3, 2017

By Ted Lipien Today, July 4, 2017, America celebrates its Independence Day. During his upcoming visit to Poland on July 6, President Donald Trump will be among a long line of American leaders reaffirming the importance of the Polish-American alliance and friendship. This article is about a unique way in which the citizens of the interwar Polish Republic marked in…

Op-Ed: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty can’t cope with Putin propaganda | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien May 8, 2016

By Ted Lipien Published May 8, 2016 by Digital Journal Arguing that the United States has so far failed to invest seriously in understanding or pushing back against the problem of Russian propaganda and disinformation, Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Washington Post columnist, and Edward Lucas, a senior editor at the Economist, are launching this week a counter-disinformation initiative at the Center for European Policy…

Op-Ed: Reform needed for U.S. soft power to work | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien January 2, 2016

By Ted Lipien Published January 2, 2016 in Digital Journal The recent U.S. News & World Report article about American journalist turned government propagandist Edward R. Murrow and the perennial problem of not enough money in the U.S. budget for “soft power” propaganda is accurate only to a point. (Warren, James. “The Struggle to Propagate the Truth: Edward R. Murrow wouldn’t be…

Op-Ed: Reform and adult supervision for Broadcasting Board of Governors | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien November 30, 2015

By Ted Lipien Published November 30, 2015 by Digital Journal U.S. overseas broadcasting in support of freedom has a long and distinguished history. People who know it well, including Kevin Klose, a former Washington Post foreign correspondent, former National Public Radio (NPR) president and, most importantly, someone who successfully ran Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and worked briefly for the…

1944 Warsaw Uprising Betrayed by Pro-Stalin WWII Voice of America

By Ted Lipien August 2, 2015

August 1, 2015 marked the 71 anniversary of the start of the Warsaw Uprising, a 63-day unsuccessful operation by the Polish resistance Home Army (Polish: Armia Krajowa) to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. About 16,000 Polish fighters were killed and between 150,000 and 200,000 Polish civilians died, mostly from mass executions. After the Home Army capitulation in Warsaw, the Germans…

WWII Voice of America aired Stalin propaganda to cover up his role in Katyn massacre

By Ted Lipien June 24, 2015

WWII Voice of America aired Stalin propaganda to cover up his role in Katyn massacre From deliberate pro-Stalin WWII propaganda to careless “pro-Putin bias” — Avoiding propaganda pitfalls at Voice of America By Ted Lipien Official documents declassified and released by the National Archives since 2012 show that during World War II and for years afterwards, the U.S. Government-run Voice…

Op-Ed: Walter Isaacson on U.S. media and public diplomacy | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien May 5, 2015

By Ted Lipien Published May 5, 2015 by Digital Journal U.S. international media outreach is in a deep crisis in the period of intensifying anti-American propaganda, particularly on foreign pseudo-news websites and social media. It’s a matter of concern for a lot of Americans, including, among others, former U.S. Secretaries of State George Shultz and Hillary Clinton. The federal agency…

Op-Ed: Voice of America can learn from State Dept. about social media | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien April 3, 2015

By Ted Lipien Published April 3, 2015 by Digital Journal The U.S. State Department is not a news or journalistic organization. It never was and never will be. But State Department public diplomacy specialists could teach Voice of America a few technical things about journalism in the digital age. VOA aspires to be a news organization engaging audiences abroad with the help…