Broadcasting Board of Governors 1997
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U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING Working Together to Further U.S. Strategic Interes t s 1997 Annual Report On Cover (from top): First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at VOA headquarters to inaugurate VO A NEWS NOW. Se c re t a r y of State Madeleine Albright addresses the people of Cuba via Radio Martí . Wei Jingsheng speaks at Radio Free Asia headquarte r s . Health and Human Services Secret a r y Donna Shalala takes part in WORLDNET ‘Dialogue’ with host Diane Butts. Fo r mer Ambassador Richard Holbrooke speaks to an RFE/RL Forum on Bosnia. TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary i Our Impact on the Wor l d ii Su m m a r y of the 1997 Annual Report ii i I. A Signal That Makes a Diffe re n c e 1 Mission and Audience 1 Making a Diffe r ence in Tar get Regions 3 Measuring Effe c t i v e n e s s 5 II . New Leadership, New Ideas 7 A New Senior Management Tea m 7 Engaging the American People 8 Training and Partn e r s h i p s 9 II I . New Technologies, New Delivery Systems 11 St r engthening Our Technical Competitiveness 11 Af filiates Expand the Audience 14 Television as an Alterna t i v e 15 Use of the Interne t 16 IV . Looking Ahead 17 Appendices 19 Biographies of Members, Broadcasting Board of Governors 19 Voice of America 20 Of fice of Cuba Broa d c a s t i n g 21 WO R L D N E T 22 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 23 Radio Free Asia 24 To the President of the United States and the Congress of the United States ON BE H A L F OF TH E BRO A D C A S T I N G BOA R D OF GOV E R N O R S , I AM PL E A S E D TO SU B M I T Br oadcasting Board of Governo r s this rep o r t of the accomplishments of our U.S.-funded international broa d c a s t i n g se r vices—the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty , Radio Free David W. Burke Asia, Radio and TV Martí, and WORLDNET Tel e v i s i o n . Ma s s a c h u s e t t s Th r oughout 1997, we continued to receive strong affi r mation about the neces- Tom C. Korol o g o s sity of our broadcasts from people in the former Yugoslavia, Central Africa, Virg i n i a Cuba, Iraq, and other countries. They told us that U.S. international broa d c a s t i n g Ed w a r d E. Kaufman pr ovides them with objective and accurate news about events around them. De l a w a r e Indeed, the proliferation of new media notwithstanding, our programs are often among the few ways they can receive this essential informa t i o n . Bette Bao Lord New Yor k Of note in 1997, a new leadership team was appointed in three of our five ser- vices, as well as at the head of the International Broadcasting Bureau. These Carl Spielvogel di r ectors have brought new energy and vision to our operations. Among the New Yor k achievements of the past year: enhanced programming to areas of strategic Ma r c B. Nathanson im p o r tance to the United States; expanded service in Arabic, Burme s e , Ca l i f o rn i a Mandarin, and other vernacular languages; increased capabilities in our techni- Al b e r to Mora cal operations; and a strengthened audience res e a r ch eff o rt . Fl o r i d a The rep o r t is submitted in accordance with the req u i r ement of Section 305 (a)(9) of Public Law 103-236, the U.S. International Broadcasting Act. Beyond this Ch e r yl Halpern New Jersey legal req u i r ement, we have looked upon the creation of this rep o r t as an excellent op p o r tunity to summarize our activities and anticipate new challenges. The Honorable Joseph Duffe y With world events and technology changing continually, the Board and the Di re c t o r United States Information Agency en t i r e U.S. international broadcasting community are committed to seeking ways to improve our content and technical dissemination in 1998 and beyond. We deeply appreciate the support of the President and the Congress in this endeavor and look forwa r d to working with you to further democracy, human rights, and other fundamental freedoms around the world. Respectfully submitted, David W. Burke EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INA PE R F E C T WO R L D , PE O P L E WO U L D tune in their own local radio and televi- sion stations to learn the latest regional, national, and interna t i o n a l ne w s . But reality is far diffe r ent. Only about 20 percent of the almost 6 billion people in the world live in countries with a free press. That means that almost 4 billion people hear news that is totally or partially censored by their go v e r nments. The list includes coun- tries in which the United States has a di r ect political, economic, and humani- tarian stake: Bosnia, China, and Iraq, to name but a few. A restricted local press obstruc t s the free flow of objective, accurate in f o r mation. People know only what their government wants them to know— unless they have alterna t e media sources that provide a fuller pi c t u r e of domestic and interna t i o n a l events. Providing that fuller picture is the essential service that U.S. interna - Pr esident Clinton discussed U.S.-China tional broadcasting offers the world. relations at VOA in October 1997, introd u c e d by VOA Di r ector Evelyn S. Lieberma n . As people hear credible and compre- hensive news about their own and “I arrived from Cuba on other countries, they become more May 26, 1996, and I aw a r e of the freedoms enjoyed in the listeners in Eastern Europe and the United States and elsewhere. Among fo r mer Soviet Union. Through both can tell you that the audiences who rely on U.S. inter- content and technological innovations, thanks to Radio Martí , national broadcasting are people living we maximized the opportunities to in the Balkans, Central Africa, the reach our audiences at the rel e v a n t the Cuban people keep countries of the former Soviet Union, times, with a relevant message, and on themselves informe d , and other areas where prog re s s the relevant media. The feedback we to w a r ds democracy, freedom, and eco- receive from listeners confirms that fr om all points of view, nomic security is vital to U.S. strategic U.S. international broadcasting contin- about news, art, in t e re s t s . ues to occupy a unique niche in To target our res o u r ces where they sustaining their dreams of democracy, cu l t u r e, and music.” we r e most needed in 1997, we st r uggles for basic rights, and quests in c r eased our programming to Asia, for free societies and economies. –Letter to the editor, Diario Las Americas the Middle East, and Africa. Our pro- gramming also continued to evolve to respond to events affecting the lives of i U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING • 1997 ANNUAL REPORT “When the Iron Curtain fell, the Information Curtain did not fall with it....Those who do not know this risk repeating his- to r y....This radio station [RFE/RL] is still needed after the fall of communism because the experience now under way, dur- ing the transition to a market economy, is unique in the hi s t o r y of humanity.” —Romanian President Emil Constantinescu Africa 2000 Symposium panelists included Jo u r nalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka • As tensions with Iraq grew , VOA in c r eased its Arabic prog r a m m i n g to reach Iraqis during prime time so that they had access to news fr om sources other than throu g h Saddam Hussein. Left to right: Latvian Pres i d e n t Guntis Ulmanis, Lithuanian • Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng Pr esident Algirdas Brazauskas, talked with RFA and VOA Estonian President Lennart Meri, Our Impact on the Wor l d rep o r ters, knowing that only and RFE/RL Pr esident Tom Dine th r ough international broa d c a s t i n g at reception for the signing of the se r vices would the Chinese people U.S. Baltic Charte r Th r ough news rep o r ts, audience le a r n of his release from prison and call-in programs, and issue-oriented his and other dissidents’ continued fe a t u r es, the five services that make st r uggles for democracy in China. “It is a powerfu l up U.S. international broa d c a s t i n g — so u r ce of strength for Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free • When the authorities closed down us to know that a Eu r ope/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), “Svoboda,” Belarus ’ s last indepen- Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio and TV dent newspaper, RFE/RL stepped in radio station like Ma r tí, and WORLDNET—made key by reading the newspaper’s arti c l e s Radio Free Asia has contributions to U.S.