The Public Diplomacy Council, a nonprofit organization which includes former diplomats, academics and other foreign policy experts, has called on President elect Obama and Congress to take urgent action in reforming publicly-funded U.S. international broadcasting. The Council blames the bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), whose members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to manage U.S. international broadcasting, for ignoring…
Uncategorized
Reporters Without Borders Protests Restrictions on International Broadcasts in Azerbaijan; Voice of America Also Threatened By Its Own Broadcasting Board of Governors
FreeMediaOnline.org and Free Media Online Blog November 5, 2008, San Francisco — The worldwide press freedom organization, Reporters Without Borders, has sent a letter to President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev appealing to him to intervene after the National Broadcasting Council announced it planned to take three foreign radios stations off the FM band by 2009. They are the BBC, Radio Free…
FreeMediaOnline.org and Free Media Online Blog October 22, 2008, San Francisco — Voice of America (VOA) has taken a small step to restore radio broadcasts to Russia which were terminated by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) shortly before the Russian military attack on Georgia. Responding to criticism from Congress and media freedom organizations, the BBG staff has allowed VOA to start…
Uncategorized
FreeMediaOnline.org Joins Call for End of Impunity in Russia on Anniversary of Politkovskaya Killing
FreeMediaOnline.org and Free Media Online Blog October 3, 2008, San Francisco — As journalists, their organisations, and human rights and press freedom groups are preparing to commemorate the second anniversary of the killing of investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, the International Federation of Journalists urged Friday all its affiliates worldwide to join the call for renewed efforts to end impunity in Russia. Link In response…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, September 24, 2008, San Francisco — On Monday, September 22, 2008, VOA Director, Dan Austin, in the company of VOA Chief of Staff, Barbara Brady, VOA Associate Director of Language Programming, John Lennon, and VOA Senior Project Officer, Will Marsh, met with the VOA Ukrainian, Serbian, Hindi, and Portuguese-to-Africa services. Austin announced that the…
THIS POST CAN BE REPUBLISHED with attribution to FreeMediaOnline.org. FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog September 16, 2006, San Francisco — In a show of bipartisanship, two powerful members of Congress sent a letter to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) demanding that the BBG reverse its decision to terminate Voice of America (VOA) radio programs in Hindi to India. The BBG is…
Uncategorized
Model Interactive Website Touted As Replacement for Voice of America Radio to Russia Attracts No Comments from Users
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien. September 12, 2008, San Francisco — The model website, which the staff of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) says will be used to create a new interactive platform as replacement for broadcasting VOA radio programs to Russia, has solicited no comments from international users despite being up for a few weeks. All VOA…
Uncategorized
Broadcasting Board of Governors Refuses to Vote on Restoring Voice of America Radio to Russia
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 11, 2006, San Francisco — FreeMediaOnline.org has learned that several members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors refused to take a vote Thursday to restore Voice of America radio programs to Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and other countries. VOA radio to Russia was shut down by the BBG on July 26, just 12 days before Russian…
Uncategorized
BBG to Vote Thursday on Restoration of VOA Radio Broadcasts to Russia and Other Countries
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 11, 2006, San Francisco — Sources at the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) have told FreeMediaOnline.org, a media freedom nonprofit, that at least one of the Board members, most likely Blanquita Cullum, has requested a formal vote Thursday on restoring the Voice of America radio broadcasts to Russia, Ukraine, and other countries. A source told FreeMediaOnline.org that BBG…
Uncategorized
Reduce U.S. Radio To Tibet But Show A Picture of Buddhist Monks — A Tale of One Incredible Government Agency and Its New Website
A New Website Hides a Tale of Fewer Radio Programs to Tibet, China, Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, September 10, 2008, San Francisco — Websites tell their tales, and the newly redesigned, flashy website of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) tells a tale of hubris, waste, and reduced access to uncensored radio news for those who…
Bureaucratic Jamming Of U.S. Broadcasts To Russia, Georgia And Ukraine FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 7, 2008, San Francisco — Political jamming originating in Washington rather than Soviet-style electronic jamming of radio signals made it impossible for the Russian speakers in the war zone in Georgia and in Russia itself to hear Voice of America (VOA) news broadcasts during the recent crisis…
Uncategorized
U.S. Broadcasting Board Plans to Cut American News Radio to Ukraine Where Vice President Cheney Visits Today
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 5, 2008, San Francisco — Even as Vice President Cheney visits Ukraine to show U.S. support for that country in the face of pressure from Russia, the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), has not given up on its plan to cut the Voice of America (VOA) Ukrainian radio news broadcasts from Washington, D.C.…
FreeMediaOnline.orgCommentary by Ted Lipien, September 4, 2008, San Francisco — While the White House mobilized in just a few days to put together a $1 billion aid package for Georgia, and President Bush sent Vice President Dick Cheney on a trip to the region, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees all civilian U.S. international broadcasts, is still in the mode of defending the shutting down…
FreeMediaOnline.org, September 3, 2008, San Francisco — The Broadcasting Board of Governors’ decision to stop Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Russia may seem like “a bit of a small tempest in a small teapot,” as Monroe Price, director of the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, described it in his article “South Ossetia, Georgia and Information…
FreeMediaOnline.org, San Francisco, August 27, 2008 — Senator Biden’s record of playing politics with U.S. international broadcasting gives credence to recent news reports that his Senate staff had a key role in stopping the Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Russia shortly before the Russian attack on Georgia. Despite strong opposition in Congress, the bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors, which manages U.S. government-funded broadcasting…