BBG Watch Commentary
Former Broadcasting Board of Governor (BBG) member and CUSIB member Victor Ashe welcomed the selection of Andy Lack to be the BBG’s CEO, but warned that Bloomberg Media Group’s current Chairman will face the entrenched bureaucracy at the federal agency in charge of U.S. international media outreach.
Victor Ashe who had served on the BBG board from June 30, 2010 until August 1, 2013, said, “It is good to have a real CEO for BBG.”
But Ashe warned that Andy Lack “has a mountain to climb and a bureaucracy against even the most modest changes.”
“Andy Lack has a good background and he will need every inch of it in his new position. He will find the federal government different from the private sector. We all need to pull together to help him as long as he is a change agent,” Ashe added.
While serving on the BBG Board, Ambassador Ashe publicly identified numerous management problems within the agency and worked hard to have them resolved. With the help of former BBG member Susan McCue and current member Michael Meehan, Ambassador Ashe succeeded in saving Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) from a crippling management crisis which had developed in 2012. RFE/RL has successfully restored its effectiveness under a new management, which Ashe and other BBG members helped to install.
Ambassador Ashe’s reform efforts at the BBG were recognized with the Glasnost Award given to him by human rights activists in Russia and by the AFGE Local 1812 employee union with the planting of a living memorial tree in the Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville, TN, his hometown.
While every one of his warnings about management abuses turned out to be true, Ashe and other reform-minded BBG members were opposed every step of the way by the entrenched federal bureaucracy of the BBG’s International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB). Senior IBB officials reportedly tried to undermine reform efforts and reputation of BBG members they could not control. Former BBG boards were unable to carry out management reforms at the federal level which includes, in addition to the IBB, the Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB).
Ambassador Ashe said at a panel discussion in Warsaw, Poland in June 2014 that “to think American taxpayers are funding such an incompetent operation at a time of Putin’s resurgence is stunning and sad.” “Voice of America has demonstrated its weaknesses and failures in the current Ukrainian crisis, as well as in reporting on issues involving Europe and the United States,” Ashe said at that time.
“VOA should accurately report what American leaders are saying and it is failing that simple test,” Ashe added.
Ambassador Ashe holds the distinction of being the longest serving mayor of Knoxville. During his time in office, from 1988 to 2003, he was the President to the U.S. Conference of Mayors from 1994 to 1995 and received their Distinguished Service Award for Leadership in 2003. Ashe served as the United States Ambassador to Poland from June 2004 to October 2009. In 2004, he was a Fellow at Harvard University’s JFK Institute of Politics. Ambassador Ashe serves on the Advisory Board of the independent pro-U.S. international media outreach NGO, the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB – cusib.org).
AMBASSADOR VICTOR ASHE (RETIRED): “It is good to have a real CEO for BBG. He has a mountain to climb and a bureaucracy against even the most modest changes. I wish him the best and his relationship with Jeff Shell should help when the guaranteed battles with the entrenched government bureaucracy come,” Ambassador Ashe said.
“His challenge is to improve morale and to treat working men and women fairly. He must get out and about the work place. He cannot isolate himself on the third floor of the Cohen Bldg.,” Ashe added.
“He should look closely at Radio Free Asia, Middle Eastern Broadcasting Networks and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty to see how these organizations succeed and the Voice of America still struggles. They are models for progress,” Ashe said.
“It took the Board to end the lawsuit involving wrongly fired Office of Cuba Broadcasting journalists. If it were not for the Board, International Broadcasting Bureau staff would still be litigating. Andy Lack has a tough job ahead of him,” Ashe noted.
“Andy Lack has a good background and he will need every inch of it in his new position. He will find the federal government different from the private sector. We all need to pull together to help him as long as he is a change agent,” Ashe added.