Architects of BBG’s failed China plan rewarded with new positions

  • January 11, 2012
Two Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) officials described by BBG Watch sources as chief architects of the failed BBG plan to end Voice of America (VOA) radio and TV broadcasts to China have been rewarded with new positions. The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) Director Richard Lobo named Bruce Sherman as director of a newly-formed Office of Strategy and Development. Lobo also named Jeff Trimble as IBB deputy director.

FedSmith.com links to Lobo-bonuses story, offers salary search

  • January 2, 2012
FedSmith.com, an information portal for sources of information impacting the federal community, has posted a summary of the BBG Watch report, “Leader of federal agency with lowest leadership ratings justifies cash awards for executives,” giving the article about the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) Director Richard Lobo’s faulty logic hundreds of views on BBGWatch.com.

Leader of federal agency with lowest leadership ratings justifies cash awards for executives

  • January 2, 2012
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) employees are both annoyed and amused by the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) Director Richard Lobo’s memo in which he justifies bonuses paid to BBG executives as being in line with awards received by executives employed by other federal agencies. As some employees point out, there is a problem with the logic of Lobo’s line of reasoning.
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  • 1 minute read

Broadcasting Board Governor Victor Ashe praised for listening to employee concerns

  • January 2, 2012
The American Federation of Government Employees Local 1812 (AFGE Local 1812) published a report on the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member Victor Ashe’s recent visit to the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station in Greenville, North Carolina, praising him for reaching out to BBG employees and openly discussing their concerns. It is highly unusual for BBG members to regularly meet with groups of employees and for the union representing the BBG workforce to praise a BBG member.
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  • 1 minute read

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on 70 years of VOA broadcasting to China

  • December 22, 2011
BBG Watch is releasing a full transcript of Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s special video statement on the 70th anniversary of Voice of America (VOA) broadcasting to China. While her statement did appear on the VOA Chinese website, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Public Affairs Office refused employee requests to issue a press release on the 70th anniversary reception hosted on Capitol Hill by Congressman Dana Rohrabaher on December 6, 2011 and on the statement by the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

CNNization of USG broadcasting leads to waste and abuse, Voice of America employees report

  • December 16, 2011
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has not yet received permission from Congress to de-federalize the Voice of America and Radio and TV Marti (read privatize but keep being funded by taxpayers – not likely Congress will grant it), but the process of fleecing American taxpayers and placing former CNN employees on the government payroll is well underway, concerned BBG employees have reported to BBG Watch. The BBG has already hired a number of former CNN employees to fill federal jobs and more such hires can be expected if the proposed privatization and the merger of the surrogate broadcasters: Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Sawa, and Alhurra TV — also proposed by the BBG — will be allowed to go forward

Voice of America during the martial law in Poland

  • December 16, 2011
Radio of the Martial Law republished from TedLipien.com Thirty years ago, on December 13, 1981, General Wojciech Jaruzelski had declared martial law in Poland, imprisoning Lech Walesa and other Solidarity Trade Union leaders. The Polish communist rulers placed the country under a complete information blockout, but thanks to radio programs in Polish from the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe (RFE) — both stations funded by the United States — people in Poland had immediate access to uncensored news and commentary

BBG PR team ignores Rep. Ros-Lehtinen message in support of Voice of America, refuses to issue press release

  • December 16, 2011
Sources have told BBG Watch that the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) public affairs office had refused numerous requests to issue a press release about the Capitol Hill reception, hosted by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Voice of America (VOA) broadcasting to China. BBG public affairs experts also ignored an unprecendented video statement in support of VOA broadcasting to China recorded by the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Rep
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  • 7 minute read

The Broadcasting Board of Governors – Cold Hard Cash

  • December 9, 2011
by The Federalist Once again, senior agency officials stirred up a hornets nest with revelations of cash awards handed out in FY2010, especially to themselves. Cash awards are not uncommon in the Federal Government
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  • 1 minute read

Capitol Hill Reception brings together supporters of Voice of America broadcasts to China – BBG Watch

  • December 9, 2011
The video from the Capitol Hill reception to mark the 70th anniversary of Voice of America broadcasts to China includes statements from the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who hosted the reception and introduced an amendment to save these broadcasts from being cut by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), Congressman Chris Smith, and others. Link to video.
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  • 3 minute read

Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs says Chinese people need Voice of America broadcasts – BBG Watch

  • December 9, 2011
In a special video message, the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, congratulated the Voice of America (VOA) on the 70th anniversary of VOA broadcasting to China. The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a federal agency which manages VOA, tried to end all VOA radio and television broadcasts in Mandarin and Cantonese on Oct.
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  • 9 minute read

US International Broadcasting and the BBG: The Numbers Game

  • November 18, 2011
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has announced that its own surveys (These are not completely independent surveys. They are produced by a contractor, InterMedia, for whom the BBG has been for years the only major client.

BBG Discussion of the 1.3 Million Dollar Deloitte Contract

  • November 11, 2011
As observed by Dr. Helle Dale of the Heritage Foundation, “despite having adopted a new strategic plan, the board then spent a good 10 minutes of its October 13 meeting discussing contracting an independent firm to perform a feasibility study of consolidation.” If consolidation of services is part of a plan already adopted—and to some degree already underway—” Dr
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  • 1 minute read

Putin goes after Radio Svoboda on Russian TV — CUSIB and BBG Watch

  • October 21, 2011
In a prime-time interview aired on October 17 with the heads of Russia’s three largest television stations, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that during the Cold War, his former employer — the KGB — viewed Radio Svoboda as a branch of the CIA engaged in spying in the former Soviet Union, the Committee for U.S.
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  • 2 minute read

Employees are expendable collateral — The Federalist — BBG Watch

  • October 18, 2011
More on the BBG Employee Survey by The Federalist In the October 2011 meeting of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the open session was made notable by remarks from Ambassador Victor Ashe, a member of the board. Ambassador Ashe commented at some length about the recent employee survey. He noted some slight improvements in the survey results and other observations on employee-related subjects (both career staff and contractors).
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  • 6 minute read

The “New” BBG Strategic Plan — The Federalist — BBG Watch

  • October 18, 2011
by The Federalist     On Friday, October 14, the Broadcasting Board of Governors put out a press release heralding its “new” alleged “strategic plan.”   Well, really, this isn’t something “new.”  It’s more a case of something being recycled and repackaged.  The goals are the same: the destruction of effective US international broadcasting.  Someone inside the Cohen Building must think they are being clever.
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  • 2 minute read

BBG’s Victor Ashe raises employee morale issues

  • October 15, 2011
In a rare move for a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a struggling federal agency which oversees U.S. government-funded news and information broadcasts for foreign audiences, BBG Governor Ambassador Victor Ashe raised the issue of employee morale at the Voice of America (VOA), one of the broadcasting entities managed by the BBG. Speaking at an open BBG meeting on October 13, 2011, Ambassador Ashe acknowledged that despite a minor improvement in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey results for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, BBG remains near the very bottom among all federal agencies in terms of employee morale.
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  • 2 minute read

NGOs defend media freedom against Kim Jong-Il's regime

  • October 10, 2011
Free media NGOs and shortwave radio stations help to bring uncensored news to North Korea. One of them is Voice of America. VOA and its parent agency, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, however, are also criticized for promoting to what amounts to a North Korean propaganda video.

Newly-formed Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting vows to defend media freedom journalism

  • October 6, 2011
BBG Watch has learned that individuals associated with U.S. human rights, labor, and media freedom organizations have formed the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) with the aim of working with the Administration, Congress and media to promote free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries in which journalists are threatened or lack sufficient resources.

The Long Slow Crawl Up The Mountain — BBG Watch

  • October 3, 2011
The numbers are in for the 2011 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (formerly known as the Human Capital Survey). Once again, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) solidly maintains its position as one of the worst work environments in the Federal workplace. Here are some of the “highlights:” • 33rd of 37 in job satisfaction; • 35th of 37 on results-oriented performance culture; • 36th of 37 on talent management; and, • 37th of 37 on leadership and knowledgeable management