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THE FUTURE OF AMERICA’S GLOBAL VOICE: THE DEBATE SURROUNDING THE NEW VOA BUDGET
MAR 16, 2006 - 9:08PM PST
by Amelia H. Arsenault

Iskra Kirova also provided invaluable research support for this report. Download this report [PDF] On February 6, 2006, a Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) press release made clear that the proposed 2007 budget will result in dramatic changes at the Voice of America (VOA). In particular, the budget will mean the elimination of VOA’s main English transmission, VOA News Now Radio while retaining funding for VOA English to Africa, Special English, and VOA's English website. Other language broadcasts set for elimination include: all VOA television and radio broadcasts in Croatian, Turkish, Thai, Greek and Georgian; and VOA radio broadcasts in Albanian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Serbian, Russian and Hindi. These changes, particularly the demise of VOA English, have instigated a flurry of speculation about the direction of American international broadcasting and the future of all VOA programming. Domestically the affair has widened the already considerable gap between those who feel that America should revive and expand the VOA broadcasts and believe that a news and information driven international broadcasting service model will best serve US public diplomacy goals, and those who see the VOA model as increasingly anachronistic in the face of rapid changes in communication technologies and the increasingly global presence of private news organizations such as CNN and Fox News. The latter believe that a more commercially oriented model of international broadcasting as represented by the recently launched FM station Radio Sawa and the television station AlHurra, represent the best way forward. Climbing audience shares and credibility ratings as documented by an unreleased 2004 AC Nielsen survey of the Middle East are offered as key support of the Sawa/AlHurra formula. According to the survey 21.5 million people in the Middle East now regularly tune into AlHurra and find the station credible or somewhat credible. However, others question the implications of Nielsen results particularly in light of a 2005 poll conducted by Zogby International and public opinion scholar, Shibley Telhami, which found that only 1% of Middle Easterners surveyed cited AlHurra as their first choice for credible international news. VOA supporters cite VOA’s long-standing credibility throughout the Middle East and around the world, and caution that just because audiences may be tuning in to Radio Sawa and AlHurra they may not necessarily be buying the message. They also caution that while the Internet provides a critical medium to engage foreign audiences, much of the world remains reliant on radio as its main source of news and information, and thus truncating VOA broadcasts is premature. Many pundits not clearly affiliated with either side of the debate have greeted the closure of VOA English with ambivalence, questioning whether it is prudent to cut English broadcasting services at the same time that China Radio Broadcasting and Al-Jazeera are launching their own English stations. Internationally, however, there has been very little discussion about the closure of VOA English, rather coverage has tended to focus on the BBG decision to cut other VOA specialized language services such as the Russian and Thai broadcasts and the strategic…... FULL TEXT

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Raid Mohammad on March 31, 2006 @ 8:10 am:
http://www.publicdiplomacy.org/60.htm
My eulogy for Voice of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy retreats, Mr. Harb wins by Raid Mohammad

I was first introduced to VOA by my father sometime between late 1968 and early 1969. These were very turbulent years for my family and countless many other Iraqi families. The Baath party had just taken over the government. I had just finished elementary school.

It was always my dream to attend Baghdad College (a Jesuit 7th through 12th secondary school). BC was a stone’s throw from my home. It was by far the most prestigious school in Iraq. I couldn’t wait to finish elementary school so I could enroll in BC. I still vividly remember playing for hours on the lush soccer fields and the many other sports fields. And I also can vividly remember how pleased I was when my father informed me that I had passed the admission test and that I was accepted at BC.

However, this joy was very short lived. By July 17, 1968, there was a new regime and my father had just lost his job. I was old enough to figure out that my mother’s teaching salary was not enough to support us and also pay my tuition at BC. But my parents assured me that they would do whatever it takes to keep me in the school of my dream. And a dream it still is. Because not all the money on this earth was going to make it happen. Before the school year had even started, the Baath government decided to take the school over. The new government ordered that the Jesuits were to be deported from Iraq.

In contrast, my father was ordered not to leave Iraq; he was put under house arrest. My father had always enjoyed traveling. As a journalist, he also traveled for living. He was always in the air traveling to cover events and to interview kings and presidents. Now, in a cage, his short-wave radio became his only window to the world. With more time to spend with me, he introduced me to VOA. I literally used to stay up until dawn listening to VOA broadcasting in English. The broadcast in Arabic from Beirut concluded at around midnight and then immediately the English broadcast out of D.C. began.

Although my father was a night person, very often I outlasted him listing to VOA into the early hours of the morning. Through VOA, I came to know America better than my native-born American wife before I even stepped foot on American soil. I was the youngest person who traveled in many European countries in 1972 at the age of 14 and by myself. People used to think that I was an American tourist when I conversed with them in English.

As I was growing up in the midst of the Baath indoctrination of the seventies, one question always nagged at me; why do I think differently than the majority of my peers? Was there something wrong with me, or is it the other way around? I have no doubt that my father played a major role in influencing the way I think. I have no doubt that my extensive travel abroad also played a big role in shaping me. I also strongly believe that VOA played a big role in shaping me too. VOA was the only antidote to Baath indoctrination available to me during my growing years in Iraq.

The closure of BC had a big impact on me. But my new find had no less of an impact on me. Voice of America became my father’s solace just as it became mine. VOA's Arabic broadcast is only just another radio station in a very crowded spectrum. I believe that nothing echoes like the sound of "This is the Voice of America."

Twenty-five years ago I was only able to say God bless your soul, Dad, while eight thousand miles separated us. Tonight I found my self sobbing just the same for the loss of another mentor that I left behind twenty-five years ago in Iraq. God bless your soul, VOA.

Sincerely,
Raid Mohammad
1417 Rosewood Ave
Austin, TX 78702
512-334-9547
512-785-6729
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)



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