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…
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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…
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,…
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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…
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Broadcasting Board of Governors Rated Worst Than Ever By Its Employees and As One of The Worst Federal Agencies
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, January 15, 2009, San Francisco — FreeMediaOnline.org has been reporting recently on the actions of U.S. political appointees and senior government agency officials who had stopped Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Russia 12 days before the outbreak of the war in the Caucasus, terminated VOA Hindi radio to India shortly before the terrorist attacks…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog The Federalist Commentary, January 8, 2009, San Francisco — This commentary is by The Federalist, one of our regular contributors with inside knowledge of US government bureaucracy. When A Federal Agency Goes Bad by The Federalist “US international broadcasting is being led by people not interested in its mission or sustaining its programs.” The Office of…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, January 13, 2009, San Francisco — State Department videos embarrass the U.S. among audiences abroad while the Department’s top promoter of Public Diplomacy 2.0 pushes to eliminate Voice of America radio journalism in favor of TV and Internet propaganda advertising and broadcasting based on Cold War models. While I was an elementary school…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog The Federalist Commentary, January 8, 2009, San Francisco — This commentary is by The Federalist, one of our regular contributors with inside knowledge of US government bureaucracy. The Worst of Times by The Federalist “US international broadcasting is being led by people not interested in its mission or in sustaining its programs.” This applies…
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U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors Silenced Voice of America Radio in Ukraine One Day Before Russia Halted Gas Supplies to Europe
U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors Silenced Voice of America Radio in Ukraine One Day Before Russia Halted Gas Supplies to Europe FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, January 7, 2009, San Francisco — In yet another show of incredibly poor judgement combined with bad timing and ulterior bureaucratic motives resulting in a major waste of U.S. tax dollars, the Broadcasting Board of…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog The Federalist Commentary, January 6, 2009, San Francisco — This commentary by The Federalist, one of our regular contributors with inside knowledge of US government bureaucracy, is designed to open a discussion on the Free Media Online Blog about the proper role for US public diplomacy and international broadcasting in dealing with terrorism and threats to…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, December 16, 2008, San Francisco — In The Huffington Post article, “Alhurra TV: Uncle Sam’s Boondoggle” Dr. Nancy Snow has pointed out a number of serious problems with the U.S. government-funded Alhurra Arabic-language television program for the Middle East and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which manages Alhurra. Dr. Snow, an Associate Professor of Public Diplomacy…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, December 4, 2008, San Francisco — Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, the poet Natalia Gorbanevskaia, Andrei Sakharov’s widow Elena Bonner, French philosopher André Glucksmann, and other French writers, including Thierry Wolton, Alain Besançon, Michel Aucouturier, Stéphane Courtois and Marie Mendras, signed a petition along with more than 500 others (as of Dec. 4, 2008) against the planned termination of the Russian program of…
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Prior to Mumbai Terrorist Attacks, U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors Ignored Many Appeals for Keeping Voice of America Hindi Radio on the Air
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, December 4, 2008, San Francisco — Commenting on the recent terrorist attacks in India, a union representing the Voice of America (VOA) employees said on its website that the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a bipartisan body which manages VOA and other U.S. government-funded broadcasts for audiences overseas, has made “at least a half dozen mistakes in the past…
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, November 28, 2008, San Francisco — Voice of America, a U.S. taxpayer-funded international broadcaster, was off the air with shortwave Hindi radio broadcasts to India during the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The decision to silence these radio broadcasts was made earlier this year by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a U.S. Government agency. The BBG…
International Broadcasting
BBG Insists Congress Approved Its Decision to Terminate Voice of America Radio to Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Other Countries
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, November 23, 2008, San Francisco — In a letter that takes exception to the scathing criticism from the Public Diplomacy Council, a Washington, D.C-based nonprofit NGO, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which manages U.S. government-funded international broadcasts, insists that Congress had approved BBG’s decision to terminate Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to several countries, including Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, and India. On orders…