When the U.S. officials in charge of persuading foreign audiences must themselves be persuaded by the Dalai Lama not to end Voice of America radio programs to Tibet, it is apparent there is something rotten in the management of U.S. international broadcasting.
READ Washington Examiner Op-Ed: Bureaucrats grasp for power at Broadcasting Board of Governors by Ted Lipien
“…it took relentless efforts by the BBG’s senior Republican, former Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe, to persuade his colleagues that the executive staff is taking the agency in the wrong direction.
Ashe was supported on Tibet and China by two Democratic members of the BBG — Michael Meehan and Susan McCue, who even suggested that broadcasts to Tibet should be paid for from cuts in management expenses. Eventually, all the BBG members voted to restore funding for Tibetan and Cantonese broadcasts.
The struggle for public control of taxpayer-funded U.S. international broadcasting is, however, far from over. The BBG staff, with the support of some board members, is still pushing forward with the proposal to merge the independent surrogate broadcasters — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks — under a single administration headed by a new CEO who would not be directly answerable to Congress.”
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