Tag: Digital Journal

Antony J. Blinken, the 71st US Secretary of State.
Blogger News Network, Congress, Digital Journal, Russia

Biden’s Advisor Anthony Blinken in 2009: Think less of what U.S. can do for Central Europe, get over history

By Ted Lipien For whatever reason, articles tend to disappear from the Internet. It happened recently to my October 20, 2009 article in Digital Journal “Biden’s advisor: think less of what U.S. can do for Central Europe, get over history.” The original article can still be viewed on Blogger News Network.  I wonder whose advice it was to President Biden…

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Digital Journal, International Broadcasting, Poland, RL, Russia, VOA

Op-Ed: Murder of Polish priest may offer clues in Boris Nemtsov’s case | Digital Journal, March 3, 2015 Republished

Photo of Vice U.S. President George H. W. Bush, Barbara Bush, and Polish Solidarity trade union leader Lech Wałęsa in Warsaw, Poland at the tomb of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko with the slain priest’s parents, Marianna and Władysław Popiełuszko and other family members, September 28, 1987. Photos and audio recordings from Warsaw by Ted Lipien, then Voice of America (VOA) Polish…

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International Broadcasting, RL, Russia, VOA

Op-Ed: From Russia with Censorship 2009 – Republished 2021

One of my commentaries on media censorship in Vladimir Putin’s Russia was first published in Digital Journal on September 16, 2009 as “Op-Ed: From Russia with Censorship.” Since then, both the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Liberty (known in Russia as Radio Svoboda) have improved their Russian coverage, but Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is now facing a defining…

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Digital Journal, International Broadcasting, Public Diplomacy, RFE, RL, Russia

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

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…

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Digital Journal, International Broadcasting, VOA, VOA80

Op-Ed: Cuba jazz musician snubbed by White House and Voice of America | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien in Digital Journal Published April 24, 2016 by Digital Journal The Voice of America (VOA), a U.S. taxpayer-funded international media outlet made famous by pro-human rights Cold War programming as well as cultural diplomacy programs of its late jazz producer and music broadcaster Willis Conover, failed to report on the recent White House snub of Cuba’s legendary jazz…

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Digital Journal, Featured, International Broadcasting, RFE, RL, VOA

Op-Ed: Voice of America or Voice of Castro without any balance? | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien Published April 20, 2016 by Digital Journal John Kerry is wrong and what Hillary Clinton had said three years ago about U.S. government media outreach abroad is still true. She called the effort “practically defunct.” According to Secretary Kerry when he spoke on April 19, 2016, “Today’s Broadcasting Board of Governors is not the BBG of a few years ago.” The BBG…

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Digital Journal, RFE, RL, Russia, VOA

Op-Ed: Anti-Israel RFE/RL Facebook message may inspire terrorists | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien Published March 28, 2016 by Digital Journal Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the independent federal agency in Washington, DC, wrote in an introduction to its Facebook post on March 25, 2016 that there is “wholesale racism” in Israel. [Emphasis added.] This stunning and, in my view, false and irresponsible message from a…

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Digital Journal, History, International Broadcasting, Public Diplomacy, RFE, RL, VOA

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

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…

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Digital Journal, VOA

Op-Ed: Voice of America falsely tells world U.S. is in a ‘State of Fear’ | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien Published December 7, 2015 by Digital Journal U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) falsely told its international audiences in a homepage headline and in a confusing article that because of mass shootings and terrorist attacks Americans live in a “State of Fear.” Anyone who has seen American city streets, brightly decorated shopping malls, churches, synagogues and mosques this 2015…

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Digital Journal, International Broadcasting, OWI, Public Diplomacy, RFE, RL, VOA

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

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…

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Cold War, Digital Journal, Featured, History, International Broadcasting, RFE, RL, Russia, VOA

Op-Ed: Voice of America in intellectual twilight zone against Putin | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien Published August 12, 2015 in Digital Journal The Voice of America, one of America’s taxpayer-funded weapons against Russian propaganda, had something in common with Russia’s propaganda weapon RT last week. RT (formerly Russia Today), a multimedia English-language website, still looked vastly more polished, more frequently updated and far more visually appealing than VOA’s late 20th century GI (Government…

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Cold War, Digital Journal, International Broadcasting, RFE, RL, Russia

Op-Ed: Kudos to RFE/RL | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien Published July 31, 2015 in Digital Journal Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is one of America’s best investments in peaceful backing of freedom abroad, which brings security at home. Funded by U.S. taxpayers through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), RFE/RL “serves as a ‘surrogate’ free press in 21 countries where the free flow of information is either…

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Digital Journal, International Broadcasting, Public Diplomacy, RFE, RL, VOA

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

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…

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Digital Journal, Featured, International Broadcasting, Iran, Media, Public Diplomacy, VOA

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

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…

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China, Digital Journal, VOA

Op-Ed: Chinese dissident criticizes Obama, praises Hillary Clinton | Digital Journal

By Ted Lipien Published March 22, 2015 in Digital Journal In an exclusive interview with the Voice of America (VOA) Mandarin Service, blind Chinese exiled human rights activist Chen Guangcheng blamed President Obama and the White House staff, but not former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for allegedly trying to force him out from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. A more prompt…

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