America has five taxpayer-funded multimedia overseas broadcasters. Practically unknown, however, is fact that 18 field reporters of those networks have been killed or missing in the last seven decades because of their service in covering events in war-torn or totalitarian countries across four continents. On May 3, the chief executive of the five networks, John…
Here is the first of a series of factual updates about United States public diplomacy and broadcasting. A link to each will be posted on our Advocacy page. GUTS: USG Broadcasting Fiscal Year 2018 spending level: $793,808,000 including capital improvements 2018 audience: 278,000,000 unduplicated users a week (TV, radio and internet) Since the end of…
“A lie can travel halfway around the world,” Mark Twain once wrote, “while the truth is putting its shoes on.” In this new media age, one wonders what the famed author might have thought about the truth’s instantaneous global, multimedia reach during the recent ten-day eruption of anti-government protests in Iran. The latest…
How is informational power that states employ in today’s turbulent world making an impression on increasing billions of people in this multimedia age? DEFINITIONS OF POWER AND HOW IT IS USED Hard power, or sheer military might: applied internationally in times of crisis. Soft power, or public diplomacy: designed to persuade and listen to those…
VOA’s alleged mishandling of a Chinese insider’s interview shouldn’t overshadow the important work done by it and the other U.S. government-sponsored broadcasters. See my latest commentary in The American Interest: The Voice of America (VOA) celebrated its 75th anniversary in March, but it didn’t have much time to savor its diamond jubilee. Just a month later,…