The Broadcasting Board of Governors is presently working toward updating its organization and strategy to meet America’s 21st Century needs. Whether you agree with the suggestions or not, most of the proposed changes remain just that: proposed as they await approval for many of the key changes.

For Western broadcasters collectively, 2011 was the most potentially devastating year in more than eight decades on the air. Now, because of fiscal uncertainties in their host countries and rapidly evolving competition from both traditional and new media, they face huge cuts in airtime and operations. Can America step up to help fill the gap?

Since 1994, a total of 1,201 American and German journalists have participated in RIAS’s unique transatlantic professional exchanges. In addition, the RIAS Berlin Commission annually presents awards for radio, TV and Internet productions...

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 broadcasting since World War II – remained under greater control of the U.S. foreign policy establishment.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) announced its intention to restructure U.S. international broadcasting... In addition, the Board called for a plan to consolidate the agency’s three non-federal broadcast networks: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

“We shouldn’t be afraid to speak out, to say what we believe in. There are enough people who support us and they want to hear it from us. We shouldn’t be apologetic all the time. We should be strong and right, and that’s the message we’re sending from the Knesset.”

The new Washington operation will be a hub of CCTV's global news-gathering operations to compete with international broadcasters such as CNN, the BBC and al-Jazeera. To use news reporting and cultural programming, China aims to advance its “soft power,” or cultural influence, making it commensurate with the nation’s growing economic might.

Al Jazeera's English-language news channel reaches an estimated 220 million households worldwide. Currently celebrating its fifth anniversary, even its fiercest critics have come to acknowledge both its increasing global impact and, more recently, its indispensable role in covering the wave of revolutionary ferment sweeping the Middle East.