{"id":1565,"date":"2011-08-05T19:12:29","date_gmt":"2011-08-06T00:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=1565"},"modified":"2011-08-05T19:12:29","modified_gmt":"2011-08-06T00:12:29","slug":"scrambling-to-keep-voa-china-on-the-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/scrambling-to-keep-voa-china-on-the-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrambling to keep VOA China on the air"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>(Source: Fox News<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

[…]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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article<\/a> 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.”<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0With 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!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

One can hope.<\/p>\n

Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,81,3],"tags":[146,10,521,402],"class_list":["post-1565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadcasters","category-current-events","category-news","tag-china","tag-voa","tag-voa-china","tag-voa-cuts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-pf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59385,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/04\/taiwan-breaking-through-censorship-via-shortwave\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":0},"title":"Taiwan: Breaking through censorship via shortwave","author":"Thomas","date":"April 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following story: How Taiwan breaches censors' barriers (VOA News) Breaking the barriers of censorship in China, Myanmar and North Korea is a daunting task, as these countries have built almost impenetrable firewalls against outside news and information. But Radio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/XHDATA-D109-WB-002-001-scaled-e1706022455779.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/XHDATA-D109-WB-002-001-scaled-e1706022455779.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/XHDATA-D109-WB-002-001-scaled-e1706022455779.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/XHDATA-D109-WB-002-001-scaled-e1706022455779.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/XHDATA-D109-WB-002-001-scaled-e1706022455779.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1137,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/voa-criticized-for-dropping-mandarin-service-to-china\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":1},"title":"VOA criticized for dropping Mandarin service to China","author":"Thomas","date":"May 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I just noticed this article from the VOA website regarding criticism it recently received from the Heritage Foundation for shutting down VOA's Mandarin language shortwave radio service to China. It's may be once in a blue moon when I agree with a Washington think tank, but in this case, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/a999voalogo_2050081722-26491.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5809,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/voa-protests-jamming-of-english-service-to-china\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":2},"title":"VOA protests jamming of English service to China","author":"Thomas","date":"February 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: VOA) The Voice of America is protesting new jamming of its English broadcasts in China. VOA Director David Ensor condemned the new interference and said the U.S. government broadcaster is working with experts to determine the precise origin of the jamming. He said \"the free flow of information is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"voa logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/a999voalogo_2050081722-26491.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10987,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/voa-reduced-tv-to-china-during-hong-kong-protests\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":3},"title":"VOA Reduced TV to China during Hong Kong protests","author":"Thomas","date":"October 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The website BBG Watch recently posted a guest commentary from an anonymous VOA reporter regarding the loss of VOA Weishi TV during the Hong Kong protests. Here is an excerpt from BBG Watch: \"On Monday, September 29, the loyal viewers of Voice of America (VOA) \u201cWeishi,\u201d the VOA Mandarin TV\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"VOA-Weishi-TV","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/VOA-Weishi-TV.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/VOA-Weishi-TV.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/VOA-Weishi-TV.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12145,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/daniels-qsls-from-voa-and-cri\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":4},"title":"Daniels’ QSLs from VOA and CRI","author":"Thomas","date":"February 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Daniel Amoroso, for sharing the following QSL cards from the Voice of America and China Radio International:","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"VOA-Front","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/VOA-Front-1024x732.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/VOA-Front-1024x732.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/VOA-Front-1024x732.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8872,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-shortwave-russia-blocks-web-pages-linked-to-ukraine-protests\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":5},"title":"Why shortwave? Russia blocks web pages linked to Ukraine protests","author":"Thomas","date":"March 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to the BBG's request for comments on the relevancy of shortwave radio, SWLing Post reader, Rick, writes: \"Here is the reason why VOA needs to keep broadcasting on shortwave. Russia (or China or Angola or Zimbabwe or Iraq or Afghanistan or Syria) can easily block Internet access --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Photo: VOA News)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/UkraineRiots.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}