BBG Watch Commentary

BBC U.S. LandmarksBBC has reported that U.S. tourist sites including the Grand Canyon and Statue of Liberty are reopening after state officials reached deals with the federal government.

US shutdown: US reopens landmark tourist sites, BBC News, 12 October 2013 Last updated at 08:15 ET

As of 11:15AM Saturday, October 12, 2013, there is no report on this from the Voice of America (VOA), a U.S. taxpayer-funded media outlet for international audiences.

The VOA website only had these two sentences near the bottom of another report “Obama: US Must Avoid Economic Consequences of Default“: “Meanwhile, three of the most famous U.S. national parks – the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore – have announced they will reopen in the coming days after state governors reached deals with the federal government, despite the ongoing government shutdown. The states have agreed to provide the money needed to operate the parks.”

The VOA report had only one Facebook “Like.”

Despite the federal government shutdown, VOA continues to operate as an essential government function. Yet VOA, under its current management, often misses major news stories, is late in reporting on them or offers perfunctory news coverage even on major stories involving the United States.

Even though this is a new BBC news story, it already had over 200 Facebook “Likes.” Most VOA news stories don’t get this number of Facebook “Likes” even days after being posted. BBC news stories often get thousands and tens of thousands of Facebook “Likes.”

Also READ: Where Voice of America failed on Malala news story, Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty did not, BBG Watch.

VOA Shutdown Story