AMERICA MUTED
By AlphaEcho35 Posted in User Blogs — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
From the Diaries - Krempasky
At the swearing-in ceremony for Karen Hughes to lead the State Department's public diplomacy efforts last September, President Bush made clear that defeating terrorism means winning hearts and minds around the globe.
"We're in a war on terror. We are still at war. And to succeed in this war, we must effectively explain our policies and fundamental values to people around the world. This is an incredibly important mission."
The President should have told his bean-counters at OMB. His 2007 budget contains a proposal that would mute the Voice of America's global service, and surrender the airwaves to our enemies.Most people in the U.S. don't know VOA still exists, but the rest of the world sure does. Tens of millions, from Vietnam to Pakistan to Nigeria and everywhere in between get their news from VOA. And for many of those millions, the VOA speaks America's voice: English.
However the President's 2007 budget - with an assist from Kenneth Tomlinson late of the CPB and still chair of the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees international broadcasts - proposes to completely eliminate the VOA global English service.
Except for a very limited English broadcast targeting Zimbabwe and a E-n-g-l-i-s-h s-p-o-k-e-n s-l-o-w-l-y program, there will never again be one word of English heard on the VOA, and all English-speaking VOA-TV programs will disappear forever.
What's even more baffling is how this decision stands in contrast to broadcasters not known for their fair handling of America. The al-Jazeera network has recently launched a 24-hour global English satellite channel, while Radio China International and the Voice of Russia, to name just a few,
are beefing up their English broadcasts to 24 hours throughout the world.
Even Iran will broadcast more "news" in English than the VOA.
And what does all this save? Estimates suggest about 10 million dollars.
In a budget of 2.7 trillion, the United States could fund news and feature programs in English broadcast 365 days a year on radio and television for a whopping 10 million dollars. CNN spends considerably less just making commercials to sell Anderson Cooper.
Oh the Irony. al Jazerra is expanding its English language outreach along with Voice of Russia and Radio China. Soon there will be more English on the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran broadcasts than VoA.
Aside from a few well-noted events in the Reagan administration, my general impression was one of late-term institutional leftism.
The Voice of America has been in the enemy forces column of our order of battle for a couple of decades.
Even during the Cold War it was Radio Free Europe that did the heavy lifting.
The fact is that VOA managment and board are more concerned about the approval of the CJR than they are about telling our story... that is, anything but the downside of American society and policy.
Long overdue, IMHO.
It's easy to rag on VOA for past failures, but the world changed on 9/11, and English VOA broadcasts ought to be part of our effort to win the war on terror.
Look, if it's broken, fix it. But just handing the airwaves over to Al Jazeera and CNN isn't the right answer.
that the VOA will still be on the air, just not in English. Is this conclusion correct? If so, I don't see the big deal.
Most of the world does not speak English as a first language. If VOA's aim is to spread America's message to that world, it is better to do that in the vernacular than in a language that is at best secondary to the population.
Meanwhile, Iran, Russia, and al Jazeera are doing the same thing, broadcasting their message to the English speaking world in our vernacular.
It loks to me like VOA isn't abandoning the battlefield to our enemies, rather it is joining them on it.
The arabic language, spanish, farsi, and Chinese versions will still be around. It's just the English language ones that are dying.,
At the swearing-in ceremony for Karen Hughes to lead the State Department's public diplomacy efforts last September, President Bush made clear that defeating terrorism means winning hearts and minds around the globe.
This is where he is so wrong. Defeating terrorism means "Peace Through Superior Firepower" Defeating terrorism means victory for us and defeat for them. Propaganda is only one part of war. Bush and his neocon buddies just don't get it. Plus, they aren't even carrying through on what they claim they need to do. They are nuts.
The real irony is that even when VOA was on, it was frequently no more objective than your local PBS affiliate -- the broadcasters tried desperately to be objective journalists and not be seen as propogandists for the United States. So, they went out of there way to make sure they reported lots of the negative with the positive.