Undermining the ‘voice’ that helps win over hearts and minds

February 9, 2006

Under Bush’s “leadership,” the Voice of America broadcasts haven’t had it easy. The White House tapped Ken Tomlinson, a hopelessly incompetent hack, to oversee the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent government commission that oversees the Voice of America (VOA), where he proceeded to “purge the bureaucracy of political enemies, zealously root out perceived ‘liberal bias,’ and generally politicize institutions that have resisted ideological intrusions for decades.”

Voice of America broadcasts are, of course, our chance to make America’s case to the world. Over the last few years, it’s instead been turned into an outlet to make Bush, his agenda, and his party look good.

And in case matters couldn’t get worse for the VOA, now the administration wants to gut its funding.

This just in: According to a little-noticed line in its 2007 budget, the Bush administration has proposed pulling the plug on just about all of the Voice of America’s English-language broadcasting and telecasting. Unless smarter heads in Congress intervene, this means the United States will be taking a giant step in the wrong direction — at the worst possible time.

A world of listeners will be losing a group of English-language programs that provide them with a chance to hear for themselves perhaps the best example of what American-style democracy is all about.

As Martin Schram explained, “At a time when al Jazeera and China Radio International are adding English programming, the United States is going the other way.”

The Bush administration has a knack for timing. It’s not like we’re in a time in which the United States’ diplomatic standing in the world is suffering, is it? Oh wait….

Yes, this promotes strong national security and defense.

I just don’t know how.

  • Just like NPR. It’s an assault on the media. Goehring would be proud.

    CB,

    I’ve been travelling as of late and haven’t gotten a chance to check in very often. Did you happen to mention the W’s budget also funds drilling in ANWAR? Even though it has not (yet) been opened up to drilling interests?

  • “Did you happen to mention the W’s budget also funds drilling in ANWAR? Even though it has not (yet) been opened up to drilling interests?” — Gridlock

    Why in the world are WE funding drilling in ANWAR? Don’t the oil companies want to do that?

    Is this more corporate welfare?

    Or did you mean the budget includes selling leases in ANWAR?

  • Lance,

    I misspoke. Looks like W is looking to collect from the drilling in ANWAR.

    Bush’s budget also projects receiving $4 billion over the next five years for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, something Congress has repeatedly refused to allow.

  • Why is it that anything that makes any sense at all, the Bushies do just the opposite. I have really tried to understand their thinking, their rationale, but it is beyond me.

    The only thing that comes to mind to understand their thinking is “1984,” where war is peace and hate is love.

  • We don’t need no stinkin’ ‘Voice,’ all that talking is for sissy liberals. We don’t have their hearts and minds? Fine, we’ll just beat their hearts and minds into submission. Why would I need some fancy-schmancy radio network to make my statement? I already have the 101st Airborne on the payroll and they send my message just fine. They don’t have to like us as long as we can make ’em fear us. That’s what real men do, Texas and Wyoming men. My dozen carrier battle groups, stealth bombers, “shock and awe”-inspiring B-52s and “smart” JDAMs can beat up your pnasy-assed little radio stations anyday!

    (you know that’s what Bush would tell you if his advisors would ever just let him speak. and Cheney or Rummy may actually say it at some backwoods joint meeting of the local Rethug Central Committee and Posse Comitatus.)

  • Like everything else touched by the Regal Moron, the long-established “Voice of America” is about to be trashed. And just when it is about to receive some serious competition.

    In the wide, expensive swath of destruction which This Fool hath wrought, has he ever constructed one thing? One?

  • This morning, I heard Yahoo aided the Chinese government to find and jail a protester. Shutting down all opposing voices makes sense to this New World Order. Look at what media isn’t covering, anything that matters.
    Enron? Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling’s trial? No
    Internet and phone spying? No.
    The entire Iraq boondoggle? No.
    The numbers of dead and wounded? None
    The fact we are losing money by the billions every day? No.
    The fact our standard of living is dropping as less people can afford education and the good jobs are being offshored at a rate of over a million a year? No.
    The inflation devil that is coming alive once again because of huge debt? No.
    They will have a few “hearings” and that will be the end of it. Most will be broadcast during the day when most people are working, or on C-Span. No, the leading story today was how the Bush Assholes “saved” LA from a terrorist attack. Complete bull, but they fill the airwaves with fear, lies and more fear.
    People need to wake up, but I don’t see that happening. In case you haven’t noticed, we have lost our republic and our civil rights.

  • I hate to admit it but this sounds like it might make sense. At least, I’m not ready to jump down their throats on this without more information.

    But what parts of the English-speaking world need the VOA? Isn’t the VOA meant to make our case in those countries with political repression, little or no freedom of speech or the press? What predominantly English-speaking country remains like that? Is there really a need to broadcast to them?

    I could be missing someone, but what English-speaking country remains like that? I can only think of a few places where English is the dominant language (US, UK, Australia, New Zealand,) so I know I must be missing a few.

    It seems reasonable at first glance, just so long as they don’t gut Arabic, Urdu, Chinese, Spanish, and all those other languages we need to broadcast to those that VOA is meant to broadcast to- the oppressed in undemocratic lands in the Middle East, central Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, China, etc that don’t enjoy freedom of speech or a free press.

  • Oh yeah, I realize I’m completely discounting the value of our diplomatic standing. I figure, if even the Brits almost universally hate us now for our recent foreign relations, and they have a free press and free speech, there’s nothing VOA is going to be able to do about that.

  • Rian

    Many citizens of “non English speaking nations” speak English very well and quite often they are the folks who will end up planting the seeds of change in those nations. In addition, it may surprise most Americans at least, that many additional citizens of these nations do speak a fair amount of English and comprehend a bit more. My personal experience has often been one of surprise, when visiting such countries, regarding the number of people who speak English well. And it is not just the “elites.”

  • Sure, but what do we need any English programming for in, say, Venezuela, when Spanish programming will reach everyone? Although I don’t know if the issue is just translations of the same programming into different languages.

    After reading the linked article, I’m even more skeptical that this represents any sort of political hackery or shenanigans at all.

    The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees all U.S. international broadcasting agencies, announced increases of 13 percent for funds for Middle East broadcasting networks and 5.3 percent for the overall VOA. Then, “faced with the increased costs of expanding critically needed television and radio programming to the Arab and non-Arab Muslim world, the Board has had to make some painful choices,” the broadcasting board’s announcement went on to say.

    VOA is actually getting MORE money overall, and the total proportion going to the Middle East is increasing as well, which seems quite reasonable given how poor our relations with the Muslim world is. I can see this budget as being completely justified by making hard sacrifices with scarce resources to respond to a changing public relations situation, specifically, less need among English-speakers and greater need among Middle Eastern Muslims.

  • It seems like the benefit of English being used in Voice of America broadcasts derives from the unique sound it would produce coming out of a radio or T.V. in some non-English speaking place. It’s the voice of America and broadcasting in nothing but the local language just makes it one more similar sounding station.

    How many times over would the asinine bridge to nowhere in Alaska pay for this cut? That f’n bridge would pay for this and the proposed cut to NPR with $$ leftover. These reductions aren’t near as necessary as a complete rethinking of the screwed up priorities in this disoriented country.

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