BBG Watch Commentary
In yet another news reporting failure, U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA), which is charged with informing foreign audiences about international and U.S. news and U.S. policies, did not report on a second phone call in two days between U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. In the phone call on Friday, February 28, which followed a phone call on Thursday, February 27, Vice President Biden “reaffirm[ed] the United States’ strong support for the new government and our commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic future of Ukraine.”
The second phone call and the new language reaffirming U.S. “commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic future of Ukraine” were not reported on the VOA English news website as of 2:30 AM EST, Saturday, March 1, even though the White House released a readout of the Vice President’s Friday call with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk five hours earlier.
The White House Friday statement said that the “Vice President further commended the [Ukrainian] government for its continued restraint.”
The second Biden-Yatsenyuk phone call and the reaffirmation by Biden of U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty in the Friday phone call were also not reported online by VOA’s Ukrainian and Russian websites.
It appears that no VOA language service reported on the Friday phone call. Some VOA services reported on the Biden-Yatsenyuk phone call on Thursday.
While ignoring Vice President Biden’s phone call Friday with Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Voice of America also did very little reporting on President Obama’s three-minute statement Friday on Ukraine. In his statement, Obama warned Russia against intervening in Ukraine’s internal affairs.
VOA did not have a correspondent at the White House when the President walked into the press briefing room and made his statement. VOA called his statement “brief,” did not offer a separate report, and devoted to it less than 100 words.
VOA was also behind BBC and Deutsche Welle (DW) in reporting on President Obama’s statement and did not post any video from the White House. Both BBC and Deutsche Welle posted video of President Obama’s remarks about Ukraine and his warning to Russia.
VOA also did not include President Obama’s audio actuality from his Ukraine statement in its radio newscast.
VOA’s online radio newscast at 11:00 PM EST did not lead with Obama’s statement and did not include an audio actuality of President Obama speaking about Ukraine. The newscast lead instead with news from Ukraine that was many hours old.
While there was no audio actuality from President Obama in the newscast or a separate correspondent report about his statement on Ukraine, the newscast ended with a long correspondent report about Oscar preparations in Hollywood.
Listen to 11PM EST VOA English Radio Newscast
Vice President Biden’s Friday phone call with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was reported by Chinese news agency Xinhua.
The White House
Office of the Press SecretaryFor Immediate Release
February 27, 2014
Readout of the Vice President’s Call with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk
Vice President Biden called Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk today to welcome the formation of a new government in Ukraine. The Vice President emphasized that this is an important opportunity not only to bring peace, stability, and unity to Ukraine, but also to restore the faith of all of the Ukrainian people in their country’s democratic institutions as they prepare for new elections in May. The Vice President reassured the Prime Minister that the United States will offer its full support as Ukraine undertakes the reforms necessary to return to economic health, pursue reconciliation, uphold its international obligations, and seek open and constructive relationships with all its neighbors.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Vice PresidentFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2014
Readout of the Vice President’s Call with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk
Vice President Biden spoke with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk earlier today to reaffirm the United States’ strong support for the new government and our commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic future of Ukraine. The Vice President further commended the government for its continued restraint. The Prime Minister emphasized to the Vice President that the new government would uphold its international obligations and serve all the people of Ukraine.