Tag Archives: VOA

CS Monitor: Don’t let Voice of America broadcasts go static

Voice of America (VOA), the jewel in America’s public diplomacy effort abroad, is set to be streamlined. Some programs can be downsized. But VOA is in the national interest, especially as Russia, China, and Iran expand state-supported media. Cuts should be handled with care.

[…]An earlier BBG decision to shut down VOA’s Mandarin and Cantonese services to China, in favor of TV and social media, produced a firestorm not only among VOA staffers but also with members of Congress who support VOA and preside over its budget (and who temporarily blocked the move). Though shortwave radio may be in eclipse, there are still remote areas of the world dependent on it.

This article is authoritative in that it’s author, John Hughes was once director of VOA during the Reagan administration.

We’ve echoed so many times on this website what Mr. Hughes puts forth in his argument, that any downsizing should be handled with care. There are still many communities on this planet where shortwave radio is literally a lifeline of information.

BBG: Radio audience far exceeds that of TV, internet

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(Source: BBG)

(WASHINGTON, D.C.—November 15, 2011) U.S. government funded international broadcasters reached an estimated 187 million people every week in 2011, an increase of 22 million from last year’s figure, according to new audience data being made public by the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

[…]The record numbers, released in the BBG Performance and Accountability Report (PAR), measure the combined audience of the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio and TV Martí, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa). The report details impact on audiences around the globe including people in the world’s most repressive media and political environments.

[R]adio remains the BBG’s number one media platform, reaching 106 million people per week, [while] television’s growth puts it at 97 million people. The Internet audience was approximately 10 million, with the largest online audiences measured in Iraq, Russia, Indonesia, Egypt and Iran.

In summary, BBG’s stats show that radio has fully 10 times the audience of the internet/SMS, and radio listeners surpass television viewers by 9 million. Clearly, radio leads the way because it is a basic technology that has been in place for decades, building a lasting infrastructure and audience. We’ve posted numerous articles proving that radio–specifically, shortwave radio–is still a viable and dynamic information medium, with no regard for borders, for the party in power, or for the economic status of the listener.

Indeed, radio is perhaps the only information medium–other than word-of-mouth–that informs both some of the most wealthiest and some of the most impoverished people on our planet.

Let’s keep it alive: remind your broadcasters that radio is a lifeline for many listeners across the planet.

Read the full BBG report here (PDF).

US Christian Broadcaster Still Believes in Shortwave

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(Source: VOA News)

With the rise of the Internet, some news broadcasters, including the Voice of America, are moving away from shortwave radio.

But some religious broadcasters in America still believe in the medium.

“Our view is that there is a great future for shortwave,” says Charles Caudil, president of World Christian Broadcasting, which runs KNLS. He says its long-range signal is ideal for reaching rural areas in the developing world.

“Very few people there have the Internet available to them, or satellites. But they do have shortwave receivers. There are about three billion shortwave receivers in the world,” he said.

I think VOA could learn from their own report. While VOA believes that China (cited in this report) is well-equipped for the internet world, have they thought about internet surveillance (see previous post) in their on-line distribution model?

Looks like some broadcasters still do. Again, shortwave radio = anonymity.

Read full VOA report and watch video.

NPR: Voice Of America’s Role In Internet Age

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(Source: NPR)

Host Scott Simon speaks with David Ensor, who took over directorship of Voice of America last month. A longtime journalist for NPR, CNN and ABC News, his most recent post was in Afghanistan, where he was director for communications and public diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Click here to listen to full story on NPR’s website.

North Carolina Public Television features VOA Greenville

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This is an excellent video about the VOA Greenville transmitter site produced by North Carolina Public Television. What I love most is the time they took to explain the importance of shortwave radio across our globe, how it is an existing technology that governments and regimes cannot easily block or track. We certainly repeat this theme often, here on the SWLing Post.

Please enjoy and share.

Scrambling to keep VOA China on the air

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(Source: Fox News)

Congressional lawmakers are scrambling to prevent America’s international media arm from going off-air in China, arguing that a plan to shift much of its reporting to the Internet won’t do much good in a country notorious for its web censors.

[…]The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees Voice of America, argues that it only makes sense to go digital in a country with the largest Internet-using population in the world. Board officials claim the existing shortwave radio broadcasts don’t have the audience they used to and that the Chinese government is jamming them anyway. In changing platforms, the board projects it will save $8 million and eliminate about 45 positions.

But critics of the move, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., say the United States is setting itself up to cede vital territory in the battle of information abroad.

The article goes on to mention that the BBG would like to fuel internet services, citing, “one-tenth of 1 percent of Chinese listen to VOA in Mandarin, with radio ownership on the decline…[a]nother survey showed computer and Internet usage on a steep upswing.”

Internet usage is up everywhere, but even if VOA succeeds in creating proxy servers that would allow Chinese guests to punch through internet censorship in China, there will still be a risk that Chinese authorities could monitor this circumvention and take action against the listener/web guest. With shortwave radio, this is a non-issue. Shortwave radio listeners cannot be traced. In fact, ironically, this strength makes it difficult for the BBG and other international broadcasters to justify shortwave service. They can’t identify who is listening!

VOA China services could receive up to 14 million dollars if lawmakers are successful in their push. The hope would be that the BBG would then allow continued services into China.

One can hope.

Read the full article here.

Public Diplomacy Magazine features array of articles on the state of international broadcasting

It is a rare occurrence when so much attention is given to the topic of international broadcasting. Financial hardship combined with a rapidly changing media landscape set a stage where broadcasters are being forced to a precipice of change. How well they quickly evaluate restructuring their message and the medium they use to deliver it could very well determine the future of broadcasting on the shortwaves.

This issue of Public Diplomacy Magazine covers the scope.

(From: RNW Media Network)

PD Magazine, Summer 2011 of the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy, is devoted to international broadcasting. Its contents include: