Filipinos in the United States can now listen to radio broadcasts from the Philippines on their mobile phones with the launching of the second phase of a public diplomacy initiative to connect them with the motherland. The availability in the US of broadcasts from six leading Filipino radio stations, including the Catholic-run Radio Veritas, was announced by the Philippine Embassy and AudioNow, the world’s leading call-to-listen platform, on the occasion of the 116th anniversary of Philippine independence.

While our foes are working 24/7 to demonize the United States, the management of our international broadcasting meets once a month. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton rightfully called U.S. international broadcasting “practically defunct.”

Deutsche Welle, BBC, France 24 and Voice of America are amongst numerous members of the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) who are angered by Ethiopian authorities’ intentional jam of satellite programs, and claim the action is a violation of international agreements. 

As authoritarian states such as Russia and China ramp up well-funded and sophisticated global propaganda operations, U.S. officials and members of Congress fret that the U.S. government’s information operations are lagging behind. There is some reason for concern. The five international broadcasters funded by the federal government have long suffered from poor organization, bad management and confused missions. 

The State Department is financing a new 24-hour satellite television channel in the turbulent northern region of Nigeria that U.S. officials say is crucial to countering the extremism of radical groups such as Boko Haram. The move signals a ramping up of U.S. counterinsurgency efforts to directly challenge the terrorist group, which abducted nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls in April.

Amid efforts to discredit negative foreign press coverage and counter with their own English-language take on the news, Turkish politicians found support in an advertorial from HSBC Holdings Plc. 

In 1999 Congress abolished the United States Information Agency, which had the responsibility of telling America's story during the Cold War.  This was a terrible mistake that can now be set right, at least in part, by creating the U.S. International Communications Agency.