Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty Archives

Cold War, Congress, Featured, Highlights, History, International Broadcasting, Iran, Poland, Radio, RFE, RL, Russia, Ukraine, VOA

Why are US-funded USAGM journalists defending Russia, Iran over the Hamas massacre? – Ted Lipien Op-Ed in The Hill

By Ted Lipien October 13, 2023

My new op-ed in The Hill includes comments on the latest barbaric attacks by Hamas terrorists on Israeli civilians—defenseless Jewish women, children, and the elderly. I discuss the hard-to-understand and explain defense of propaganda and disinformation from Iran and Russia by U.S. government-managed and funded U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) journalists, including federal employees working for the Voice of America (VOA). They went…

Cold War, Congress, Featured, Glos Ameryki, Highlights, History, OWI, Poland, Russia, VOA

Polish Radio Host Who Resigned from Voice of America to Avoid Broadcasting Soviet Propaganda Lies About Katyn Massacre

By Ted Lipien February 28, 2023

Cold War Radio Museum By Ted Lipien We know of only one Voice of America (VOA) journalist, Konstanty Broel Plater, who resigned from his job at the U.S. government radio station during World War II in protest against the orders from the VOA management and the editors in the Office of War Information (OWI) in New York and Washington to…

Cold War, Featured, Glos Ameryki, Highlights, History, International Broadcasting, Poland, RFE, VOA

From Risking Life As A Young Anti-Nazi Scout In Poland To A Cold War Broadcasting Career At Radio Free Europe and Voice of America

By Ted Lipien February 11, 2023

By Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum Marek Walicki, the former journalist of the Polish Service of Radio Free Europe and the Polish section of the Voice of America, is the author of Z Polski Ludowej do Wolnej Europy (From People’s Poland to Free Europe), Bellona, Warsaw, 2018, a memoir of his life and radio career. During World…

“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…

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn and his wife Natalia Dmitriyevna Solzhenitsyn exiting from Alaska Airlines plane upon their arrival on May 27, 1994 in Vladivostok as they returned from exile in the United States. Photo by Ted Lipien.

China, Cold War, Featured, Highlights, International Broadcasting, Iran, Media, Radio, RFE, RL, Russia

Protecting Communists from Embarrassment: A History of Censorship at the Voice of America

By Ted Lipien November 22, 2022

There is a long history of censorship at the Voice of America, which shows how easily some VOA leaders, editors, and journalists were duped by propaganda from communist and other authoritarian regimes. During World War II and in some periods of the Cold War, the VOA management protected Stalin. Today’s VOA leaders protected from embarrassment Vietnam’s communist Prime Minister Pham…

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…

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty Building in Prague. Photo by Ted Lipien. January 17, 2021.

Featured, International Broadcasting, Radio, RFE, RL, Russia

Putin is blackmailing US taxpayer-funded Radio Liberty | Washington Examiner

By Ted Lipien June 30, 2021

by Ted Lipien in The Washington Examiner May 03, 2021 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, where I served briefly as president and CEO until earlier this year, is under assault by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Through his agencies and obedient courts, he is blackmailing the media organization funded by U.S. taxpayers, issuing fines and threats of criminal prosecutions unless Radio Liberty agrees…

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…

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…

Martial law prisoners in Poland praised Reagan, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe

By Ted Lipien December 4, 2013

Originally posted on December 4, 2013 Today’s political prisoners who are fighting for democracy and human rights are still being held in China, Iran and in many other countries. While much of Central and Eastern Europe, previously under Soviet domination is now free, Belarus and Russia are still ruled by autocratic leaders, and pro-democracy forces in Ukraine are struggling to…

Digital Journal Op-Ed: VOA and U.S. public diplomacy failed on Obama-Malala meeting

By Ted Lipien October 14, 2013

By Ted Lipien Published October 14, 2013 by Digital Journal Washington – Voice of America (VOA) and U.S. public diplomacy failed to take full advantage of President Obama’s meeting Friday with teenage Pakistani campaigner for girls’ education Malala Yousafzai. But Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) did a good job. If web users around the world went to the Voice of America…

Interweaving of Public Diplomacy and U.S. International Broadcasting

By Ted Lipien September 17, 2013

Interweaving of Public Diplomacy and U.S. International Broadcasting A Historical Analysis by Ted Lipien Published in American Diplomacy, December 2011 Summary U.S. policy makers have used traditional diplomacy, public diplomacy and government-sponsored journalism to promote America’s interests and to influence public opinion abroad. On the journalistic side, the so-called surrogate radios: Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty – more…

Poland, Religion

Ted Lipien’s book published in Poland, reviewed in Polityka

By Ted Lipien September 16, 2013

Ted Lipien’s book about Pope John Paul II and feminism, “Wojtyła’s Women: How They Shaped the Life of Pope John Paul II and Changed the Catholic Church, O-Books, UK, 2008,” was translated into Polish and published in Poland. Adam Szostkiewicz, a reviewer for the Polish news magazine Polityka, wrote that “Lipien is an American journalist with Polish roots who speaks…

Digital Journal Op-Ed: America could learn from rappers’ tribute to Radio Free Europe

By Ted Lipien September 15, 2013

by Ted Lipien Published April 7, 2013 by Digital Journal Truckee – Led by Peja of the Polish rap group Slums Attack, Europe’s rappers recorded a multilingual tribute to political and cultural freedom message of the American-funded station Radio Free Europe. Using historical film footage of Radio Free Europe broadcasters, rappers from several European countries make statements similar to dissident voices…

Public Diplomacy

Unique Role of U.S.-Funded Surrogate Broadcasters

By Ted Lipien February 13, 2013

BBG Watch Commentary Unique Role of U.S.-Funded Surrogate Broadcasters by Ted Lipien U.S. Government-funded surrogate broadcasting, which started with the formation of Radio Free Europe in the early 1950s, was one of the most successful American inventions of the Cold War. Its effectiveness was undeniable in helping to weaken communist regimes over a period of several decades. Most journalists and…

Tag: Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty