The BBC's criticism comes as millions of Iranians are preparing to vote in the Friday poll. Six candidates are vying for the job, with momentum recently building around moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani. But he faces a tough challenge from hardline candidates like top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

Olympic sports will lose young fans and viewers unless the IOC sets up a television channel to broadcast events in the years between the games, IOC presidential candidate Thomas Bach said Friday. “Many Olympic sports do not appear enough across the world on TV,” Bach said. “If you do not see enough sports on TV and the internet, then these sports will lose more and more the kids and young athletes.”

The concept of a regional broadcasting service has long been mooted. In a 2011 report on the state of affairs of the regional integration, published by the University of the West Indies Institute of International Relations, one of the recommendations for the movement’s revival read “Effective communication must come to the centre of everything that regional institutions do, along with the establishment of a Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation with the kind of public service remit – and comprehensive coverage across the internet, radio and airwaves – that characterizes the BBC.”

Al-Makura said that government was intensifying efforts to reposition the Nasarawa Publishing Company Limited and the State Government Printing Press to complement the services of the NBS. He said government had resolved to improve its media organisations by approving payment of weighing allowances to workers in the state media outfits.

Both parties like to insist that “soft power” matters, that the “war of ideas” is still a critical element in American statecraft, and that “getting the truth out” is important for the success of defending freedom around the world. But if the continuing dysfunctionalism of the BBG is any indication, that can hardly be the case.

Broadcasting Board of Governors leader Michael Lynton has informed the White House that he is leaving the BBG effective today. “It has been an honor to serve our country by taking part in the work of this board, which was established to oversee an agency with a complex and vital calling,” Lynton wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama about his decision.

The Office of Cuba Broadcasting has released a new smartphone application that makes accessing accurate news and information easier for Cubans, who live in one of the least free press environments in the world...Additionally, the free app will be useful in getting information off the island.