As a 36-year veteran of the Voice of America (VOA), Alan Heil traveled to more than 40 countries a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, and later as director of News and Current Affairs, deputy director of programs, and deputy director of the nation’s largest publicly-funded overseas multimedia network. Today, VOA reaches more than 275 million people around the world each week via radio, television and online media.
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The Washington Post and New York Times have been joined by the National Press Club and PEN America in requesting newly-appointed U.S. international broadcasting CEO Michael Pack to quickly extend guest visas of non-citizen VOA staff members. These 76 journalists are essential to the Voice, the nation’s largest government-funded global multimedia overseas network that reaches…
Seven Senators wrote to new global media director Michael Pack threatening budget cuts if the United States-supported media are politicized. The group, in an announcement June 2, expressed “deep concern” over what they termed as a purge by the Trump administration of five senior officers of U.S. international multimedia organizations shortly after the resignation of Voice of…
On June 17, Michael Pack, the newly-confirmed director of U.S. international broadcasting, arrived at its headquarters in southwest Washington, D.C, with this pledge: “I am fully committed to honoring the VOA Charter, the missions of the grantee broadcasters (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcasting Network in Arabic and Radio-TV Marti…
The newly-installed CEO of five publicly-funded multimedia overseas networks, Michael Pack, wasted no time during his first day in office June 17 in announcing his dismissal of four civil service heads of the networks. They are: President Jamie Fly of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a recently named specialist in Russia and Eastern Europe President Bay…
After four years and two months of innovative leadership at the Voice of America, Ms. Bennett and her deputy Sandy Sugawara issued a statement on June 15 saying: “It’s time for us to leave. This morning, we sent our resignations to Michael Pack, the newly-arrived CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). In…
By pure coincidence, two new senior executives of the London-based BBC World Service and the Washington-based Voice of America and four other U.S. overseas networks were named on May 4 and 5. Together, those networks reach more than two-thirds of a billion users a week — the largest ever in both the BBC’s and the…
Nearly a quarter of a century ago, an international accord agreed to by Britain and the Peoples Republic of China guaranteed a unique status for Hong Kong. A British Crown Colony for 156 years, Hong Kong was formally re-established in 1997 as part of the PRC while retaining its status as a key free trade…
The New York Times edition of Sunday, May 24 was an eye-catching tribute to nearly 100,000 American fatalities of the coronavirus pandemic. The entire front page of that unprecedented issue of the Times consisted of victims’ names in small type, top to bottom. Page 1’s listing of six columns continued for 10 columns more on…
Mohammed Ghuneim, former director of the VOA Arabic Service and frontline Middle East correspondent during the last half of the 20th century, died May 16 in West Palm Beach, Florida. He had just celebrated his 90th birthday last December. A funeral service and burial were held on May 18 in West Palm Beach. Born in…
With millions in residential confinement globally, it’s tempting to turn to past generations for a sample of wisdom from sagas of old as we deal with covid-19, and hopes for an easing of the crisis: “Do not expect to make headway with a frail sail width.” —the Eyrbyggja Saga, Chapter 20 “Nothing ventured, nothing…
