BBG Watch Media
Government Executive has a report by Charles S. Clark, a GovExec.com reporter who follows federal international media agency developments, on John Lansing being named CEO and director of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).
“John is a proven executive and a remarkable, transformative leader in multiplatform content strategies, development and distribution,” Government Executive report quotes BBG Chairman Jeff Shell. “With his journalistic sensibilities and success in leading media companies through periods of challenges and growth, John is the ideal person to lead the BBG as we accelerate efforts to shape a global, world-leading media organization that is up to the challenges of the 21st century,” Jeff Shell is quoted in the Government Executive report.
In his own statement, Lansing said, “As one of the world’s largest media enterprises, the BBG provides balanced, reliable and authoritative news in the face of partisan media and heavy propaganda from repressive nations and extremist groups. I am honored to enter into public service and to join a team of world-class journalists and media professionals who are dedicated to expanding freedom of information and expression worldwide.”
GovExec.com report notes that the news of John Lansing’s selection was broken last week by Ted Lipien, a former Voice of America acting associate director and one of co-founders of BBG Watch. Lipien has been a frequent critic of the BBG’s federal bureaucracy while working as a co-director of the independent NGO Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB – cusib.org) to prevent program cuts and to strengthen multimedia outreach by BBG entities, particularly to countries without free press.
Government Executive quoted Ted Lipien as saying: John Lansing “faces a truly monumental challenge of not just managing but transforming an ailing agency, hiring new managers, carrying out structural reforms and leading a strategic redirection. He will need full support from the administration, the Congress and American taxpayers who pay for what should be America’s best tool in peacefully countering hostile propaganda with accurate and objective news and alternative opinions in support of freedom and human rights.”
READ MORE: Broadcasting Board Names Ex-Scripps Networks Chief as CEO, By Charles S. Clark, Government Executive, August 17, 2015.
Comments are closed.