Tag: Alhurra

International Broadcasting

BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson: America’s Voice Must Be Credible And Must Be Heard | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) press release: Walter Isaacson: America’s Voice Must Be Credible And Must Be Heard September 29, 2010 (Washington, DC) Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Chairman Walter Isaacson tonight announced a new direction for U.S. international broadcasting that “seizes on the latest media tools and technology to stay one step ahead of those who seek to repress…

Read more
Uncategorized

A Costly Slice of Pizza Spin from Taxpayer-Supported Broadcaster

FreeMediaOnline.org September 6, 2010 — In an unusual case of government insider expose, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) employee Kim Andrew Elliott reported in his private blog that the taxpayer-supported Federal agency in charge of US international broadcasting, including television and radio programs to the Middle East — which in the past aired views of Holocaust deniers — is…

Read more
International Broadcasting

Down The Path Called Dysfunctional – Charges of BBG Federal Survey Fraud

FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, December 22, 2009, San Francisco — The BBG has long been considered one of the worst managed Federal agencies. The current Bush-era members of the bipartisan Board in charge of U.S. international broadcasting are expected to be replaced soon by President Obama’s nominees who now await confirmation by the U.S. Senate. (You would not know…

Read more
Uncategorized

Cautious to a Fault: Solidarity with Reformers in Poland and Iran – Reagan’s Response in 1981 Markedly Different from Obama’s in 2009

FreeMediaOnline.org,  Free Media Online Blog,  GovoritAmerika.us, Commentary by Ted Lipien, June 26, 2009, San Francisco — Ronald Reagan’s strong response to the imposition of martial law  against the independent Solidarity trade union in Poland in 1981 was distinctly different from President Barack Obama’s nuanced comments about the crackdown on demonstrators in Iran in the aftermath of the disputed Iranian presidential elections. While President Obama may have wanted to show his appreciation…

Read more
Uncategorized

In Search of A Smarter, More Cultured Approach to U.S. Public Diplomacy and Broadcasting in the Middle East

FreeMediaOnline.org,  Free Media Online Blog,  GovoritAmerika.us, Commentary by Ted Lipien, June 04, 2009, San Francisco — President Obama’s recent announcement of a new Global Engagement Directorate that will combine “diplomacy, communications, international development and assistance” was short on specifics how this new structure might change the focus of U.S. public diplomacy and broadcasting initiatives. That’s hardly surprising, considering that the White House has to deal with many other seemingly more pressing problems.…

Read more
Cold War, Featured, Highlights, History, RFE, RL, Russia

RFE/RL Has Lost Its Uniqueness Warns Former Director of Radio Liberty’s Russian Service

Interview with Former Director of Radio Liberty’s Russian Service, Italian journalist, writer and Russian expert Mario Corti. In a nutshell, the station [Radio Liberty] has abandoned its uniqueness, its identity, its face. Mario Corti Those among the old KGB and the new FSB , who see the U.S. as an enemy rather than a valuable and generous partner of Russia, could only be…

Read more
Uncategorized

Broadcasting Board of Governors Misleads Congress in Its 2010 Budget Request, Hides Its Poor Management Record, and Plans to Terminate More Broadcasts

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, May 11, 2009, San Francisco — The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the federal agency responsible for managing U.S. international broadcasts made a number of misleading statements in its Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request to the U.S. Congress. The BBG repeatedly states that the Voice of America (VOA) Russian service responded with “comprehensive coverage”…

Read more
Uncategorized

Alhurra… “Today” – KABOBfest

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, May 11, 2009, San Francisco — What viewers are subjected to during Alhurra’s version of primetime are three hours of mindless chatter interspersed with shallow assessments of selected current events and random feature stories (some of which are marginally entertaining). There is no depth in the news coverage, nor in the rest of the…

Read more
Uncategorized

WILL AMERICA’S VOICE STAY SILENCED? – Understanding Government – understandinggov.org

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, May 8, 2009, San Francisco —  Understanding Government website — undestandinggov.org — has published an in-depth report on the management crisis at the Voice of America (VOA) and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which runs U.S. international broadcasting operations. The report refers to the work of FreeMediaOnline.org and GovoritAmerika.us in support of independent journalism in media-at-risk countries. WILL…

Read more
Uncategorized

A Sense of Betrayal Propels A Journalist to Seek Help from the European Human Rights Court Against the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, Commentary by Ted Lipien, April 15, 2009, San Francisco — When Anna Karapetian, an Armenian-born journalist, accepted a job offer in 1995 from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a U.S. government-funded radio station that promotes democracy and the rule of law mostly in the countries of the former Soviet Union, she could not have imagined that nearly 15…

Read more
History

America’s Silenced Voice Abroad – A Journalist Remembers the Broadcasting Board of Governors Early Moves to Outsource Voice of America International Programs to Private Contractors

Miro Dobrovodsky passed away on July 23, 2009.  FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, March 25, 2009, San Francisco —  Miro Dobrovodsky, one of the best journalists who came to the U.S. from Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War to escape media censorship in their native countries, sent me an email pointing out that the process of silencing the Voice of America…

Read more
Uncategorized

Sexy Images from the Voice of America

No in-depth reports from the Voice of America or high-resolution photos from the State Department, but one can now find sexy images on the VOA Russian website. The Clinton-Lavrov meeting and the First Lady’s visit to the State Department revealed  a sorry state of U.S. public diplomacy and international broadcasting. It took hours after Secretary Clinton and her Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov had finished their joint press conference in Geneva before the…

Read more
Uncategorized

Senator Lugar is right about past U.S. public diplomacy mistakes

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, March 4, 2009, San Francisco   Senator Richard Lugar is right about past mistakes that had crippled U.S. public diplomacy, but new actions by the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors also continue to silence America’s voice abroad   Closed Down American Centers and Crippled Voice of America In an insightful and candid article posted on the Foreign Policy magazine blog,…

Read more
Uncategorized

What? – No Voice of America in Arabic? – President Obama and U.S. Broadcasting in the Middle East

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, January 29, 2009, San Francisco —  President Obama may have been surprised to find out that the Voice of America, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described as largely responsible for “telling America’s story” to the world, no longer has programs in Arabic of any kind due to actions taken by the Bush Administration and…

Read more
Uncategorized

Armenian Journalist Hopes Obama Administration Will Protect Foreign Workers Rights at RFE/RL

Anna Karapetian, a journalist from Armenia who in radio broadcasts funded by the U.S. government reported on human rights abuses in her country, is one of many people around the world who see Barack Obama’s inauguration as a hopeful beginning of a new era of change in Washington.  Ms. Karapetian hopes that with Mr. Obama’s strong commitment to protecting workers’ rights, the new administration will…

Read more