VOA faces net cuts totaling $17 million, several times more than any other broadcaster managed and funded by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, VOA’s parent agency. VOA would lose 170 professional front line broadcasters and producers in the proposed budget if it is passed by Congress.

In an article published in the Department of State’s Bulletin on November 7, 1948, entitled simply “The Voice of America,” Allen stated the purpose of the Department’s information activities, including VOA, the Congress had authorized earlier in the year with the passage of the Smith-Mundt Act

Millions of Iranians hunger not only for news, but for democracy. For the U.S. government’s international broadcasting complex, Iran is a place where a good communication strategy is a necessity; Tragically, America’s principal instrument, Voice of America’s Persian News Network (PNN), has simply not been up to the task.

Deep cuts in broadcasting are projected... President Obama’s proposed budget comports badly with the aspiration stated in the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ (BBG) 2012–2016 Strategic Plan to become the “world’s leading international news agency” by 2016.

You might think that the Broadcasting Board of Governors would highlight this NPR report about the effectiveness and the need for the VOA Tibetan radio broadcasts in Tibet, perhaps even issue a special press release. But you would be wrong.

When the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) recently unveiled a new Strategic Plan, it set a brazenly ambitious goal: “To become the world’s leading international news agency by 2016.”To achieve its goal, the BBG...first plans to gut its existing news operations...

The president’s 2013 budget proposal this week was big news in Washington, but for those who care about public diplomacy and international broadcasting, the most interesting parts involved the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio & TV Marti, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks of Radio Sawa and Alhurra TV.

Many VOA assets are being reprogrammed to enhance the rapid pursuit of new media formats. The only encouraging aspect of the budget is the notion that VOA Central News, although greatly reduced in size, will become the site of a global news network incorporating the best reporting of all five publicly-funded overseas broadcasting entities.