Tag Archives: Radio Free Europe

Sweeping cuts to VOA, RFE and RFA shortwave services

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Voice_of_America_Headquarters

Unfortunate news from the Voice of America: Congress has approved major cuts to US international broadcasting over shortwave. Thanks to Dan Robinson for sharing this significant news.

Dan writes:

This news emerging from VOA late Friday:

VOA to end shortwave broadcasts in English and several language services Monday.

Received this late Friday afternoon:

voa logo“FAREWELL TO SHORTWAVE

We were informed late Friday that BBG’s proposed shortwave cuts for FY2014 have been approved by Congress.

As of the end of the day on Monday, June 30th, all shortwave frequencies for English News programs to Asia will be eliminated. We will no longer be heard via shortwave in the morning (12-16 utc), and the evening (22-02utc)…mostly in Asia.

Shortwave frequencies for the following services will also be eliminated: Azerbaijani, Bangla, English (Learning), Khmer, Kurdish, Lao and Uzbek. Shortwave being used by services at RFE/RL and RFA are also being cut.

Because shortwave has been a cheap and effective way to receive communications in countries with poor infrastructure or repressive regimes, it was a good way to deliver information. But broadcasting via shortwave is expensive, and its use by listeners has been on the decline for years. At the BBG, the cost vs. impact equation no longer favors broadcasts via this medium to most of the world.

Important for us is that we will continue to be heard on shortwave frequencies during those hours we broadcast to Africa. Also, we know through our listener surveys that about half of our audience in Asia and the rest of the world listens to us via the web and podcast – so all is not lost.

Let’s break the news about this change to our audiences starting Sunday night. I doubt specific frequencies are critical to announce. The important point to make for our listeners is that we encourage their continued listening through local affiliates, and on the web at voanews.com.”

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BBG tries to improve employee morale

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BBG-LogoIn December 2012, we posted a survey from the 2012 edition of The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government by The Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte. The survey indicated that the Broadcasting Board of Governers (BBG) had been ranked in the bottom five places to work in the federal government.

According to the Washington Post, the agency is now working on a plan to boost employee morale. Some of their initiatives include:

“Agency directors and senior staff hold[ing] face-time sessions in the cafeteria for informal talks with employees, a “Civility Campaign” addresses labor-management issues, and a Workplace Engagement Initiative takes a deeper dive into the agency’s low morale ratings.

Some of the morale-boosting events are meant to be fun, such as the raffle during the fitness-center open house, a chocolate bake-off in time for Valentine’s Day, and ?after-work gatherings — a bingo night, happy hour, checkers and chess.

It’s going to take all that and some sustained work to improve the agency’s failing report cards.”

Read the full article on The Washington Post…

Many thanks to Richard Cuff for the tip!

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Radio Liberty President Steve Korn has resigned in wake of closure

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RFE-RadioLiberty(Source: The Washington Post)

American-financed Radio Liberty, which penetrated the Iron Curtain with news of the outside world during the Cold War, has been trying to join today’s information revolution — and the static crackling around its efforts has been loud enough to reach Washington.

The radio station, funded by Congress but independent of it, has embraced a digital future, dismissing 37 journalists as it downsized just before it lost its only local broadcasting license here in November, when a 2011 law preventing foreign ownership came into effect.

[H]ere in the Russia of Vladimir Putin, where news is highly political and controlled, a small but loyal radio audience that treasures unbiased reporting has declared itself betrayed. Even Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, has complained. The name Radio Liberty — Svoboda in Russian — carries memories of overcoming Soviet oppression, freighted with disappointment over failed democracy, and its transformation is mourned.

On New Year’s Eve, after weeks of growing controversy, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty President and Chief Executive Officer Steven Korn resigned, effective Jan. 25. […]

The forced closure of Radio Liberty is hypocritical–especially since the Voice of Russia’s own strategy is to pull out of shortwave radio broadcasting into North America and invest in local radio/television stations within major US markets (like Washington DC) where they, of course, receive no resistance.

Korn has been heavily criticized for how he handled the “re-organization” of Radio Liberty in Moscow. He certainly disposed of a lot of talented journalists, many of whom could have been instrumental in gathering and reporting news into Russia via Internet.

Kim Elliott has done an excellent job following the Radio Liberty story as it appears in the media.

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BBG (Voice of America) ranks in bottom five places to work

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This just out: the Broadcasting Board of Governers has been ranked in the bottom five places to work in the 2012 edition of The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government by The Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte. Specifically, the BBG consists of the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, Radio and TV Marti, the Middle East Broadcasting Network and the International Broadcasting Bureau (see org chart here). [Kim Elliott points out, however, that the survey only covers the VOA and the IBB.]

BBG’s leadership lacking

Upon closer examination of the rankings and score composite, you can see BBG employees scored their agency worst in categories of Effective Leadership. Indeed, the BBG ranked in the bottom five of the 290 mid-sized federal agencies in the survey in all of the effective leadership sub-categories of the survery. Here a breakdown:

No plan for the future

Another area where the agency received a low score was in the category of Strategic Management: BBG employees rankings came in at 289 of 290, with only the Office of Chief Information Officer (HUD) ranking lower.

This, no doubt, shows that BBG employees feel there is no direction nor goals for the organization’s future.

I know quite a few employees in the Voice of America and the IBB. When I talk with these friends, I hear true passion for their jobs. They love what they do, whether it’s reporting or electronics engineering. When you read the results of this survey, it’s clear that these competent employees simply lack faith in their governing board and their management. The results suggest that they feel there is no plan for their future, and have concerns about their job security–especially with rumors of agency functions being merged and with jobs (like those at Radio Liberty) being cut without warning.  They also feel there is no chance for performance-based rewards and/or advancement.

A sad state of affairs, indeed, for the worthy and still highly relevant role of radio in international diplomacy.

Read the full report of the BBG (Voice of America) in The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government.

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RFE: Radio Farda Families A Target In Iran

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One of the points I often make is that repressive regimes can track and take action against citizens who read online content from banned/blocked media sources. Here is a case in point:

(Source: Radio Free Europe)

In an escalation of ongoing efforts to thwart Radio Farda, RFE/RL’s Persian-language Service, Iranian authorities are interrogating journalists’ family members in Iran.

Employees of Radio Farda believe that their journalism, which attracts over 10 million page views monthly on Radio Farda’s website, is the motive behind at least 20 incidents this year involving the interrogation and intimidation of their family members in Iran by officials of the country’s Intelligence Ministry.

In sessions that sometimes lasted for several hours, agents denounced the work of Radio Farda journalists and warned family members against having further contact with them. In several cases they instructed family members to tell their relatives to resign from their jobs and return to Iran; in one instance they demanded that a specific series of reports be discontinued. During questioning, family members were also asked about their foreign contacts and trips abroad.

The interrogations have targeted family members, who in some cases have been repeatedly summoned, in Tehran and at least six other Iranian towns and cities.

“This is a proxy war against Radio Farda. It shows the extremes to which the regime will go to prevent the exchange of information it doesn’t control,” said Steven W. Korn, RFE/RL president. “Our journalists make enormous sacrifices for the work they do and will not submit to this pressure on them and their families.”

Radio Farda, produced in and broadcast from Prague, is a leading source of uncensored information in Iran. Each month 1.5 million users inside the country defy the government by employing proxies to access Radio Farda’s website, which is blocked. Radio Farda and “Pasfarda,” its signature satire program, are active on social media, with a combined 300,000 Facebook fans. Iranians actively participate in Radio Farda’s weekly call-in shows, connect with it daily through hundreds of email and SMS messages, and despite government jamming, tune in to satellite radio and shortwave to hear its programs.

In media freedom surveys this year, Freedom House ranked Iran 192 among 197 countries surveyed and Reporters Without Borders ranked it 175 of 179.

Yet one more reason why shortwave radio is safer than the internet as a reliable source of news and information and one more reason why countries like Canada should not abandon this vital resource.

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