By Ted Lipien Published December 11, 2014 by Digital Journal Tahoe Vista – Community campaign to protect iconic Lake Tahoe skyline from development needs state, national and international support.As one of the signs of the times of declining appreciation for public good, Lake Tahoe and other natural landmarks are being targeted for development that threatens to destroy their environmental health and…
Digital Journal, Public Diplomacy, RFE, RL, Russia, VOA
Op-Ed: Putin’s Russian victimhood on Voice of America | Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published October 20, 2014 by Digital Journal Western media both expose, but often just report, Putin’s Russian victimhood propaganda claims, while poor management at Voice of America and insufficient funding from Congress prevent U.S. broadcaster from effectively countering Kremlin’s disinformation. Two recent Washington Post op-eds did more to expose both the duplicity and the success of Putin’s disinformation and…
Digital Journal, Featured, Highlights, International Broadcasting, Russia, VOA
Op-Ed: Propaganda war in which Voice of America helps Putin | Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published September 9, 2014 by Digital Journal Because of gullibility of officials in charge of U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA), the Obama Administration helps President Putin win disinformation and propaganda war over Ukraine with some of VOA’s reports and programs. U.S. taxpayers are helping Russia’s President Putin win his propaganda and disinformation war over Ukraine by…
Government Executive, govexec.com website, has published a profile of journalist and author Ted Lipien READ: The Man Behind the Anonymous Critiques of U.S. International Broadcasting, Charles S. Clark, Government Executive, govexec.com, July 8, 2014.
Cold War, Glos Ameryki, History, Media, Poland, Video, VOA
Tomlinson on Voice of America coverage of Pope John Paul II
Former Voice of America (VOA) director and former Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Chairman Ken Tomlinson, who died recently, told Voice of America two years ago that his most memorable moment at VOA was to visit the Polish Service and help arrange extensive news coverage of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Poland when the country was still under communist rule during the Cold War. The Pope’s visit to Poland helped the suppressed Solidarity trade union to intensify its peaceful struggle for democracy and eventually resulted in the fall of communism. Father Stefan Filipowicz, a Chicago-based Jesuit priest and former director of the Polish Service at Vatican Radio, provided religious commentary from a VOA studio in Washington during the coverage of the papal visit. Live audio transmission from Poland was provided to VOA by Vatican Radio.
Ken Tomlinson and his wife Rebecca later traveled to Rome with VOA Polish Service director Ted Lipien to meet Pope John Paul II who thanked the Voice of America for broadcasting news to his countrymen in Poland under communism.
Thanks to Ken Tomlinson’s support, funding from the Reagan administration and full bipartisan backing in the U.S. Congress, the Polish Service became one of the most successful language services in the history of VOA, with over 70% weekly audience reach in Poland in the late 1980s.
Ted Lipien remembers Ken Tomlinson
I met Ken Tomlinson for the first time in 1982 when he became Voice of America director and I was in charge of VOA broadcasts to Poland. Ken asked me what the Polish Service needed to expand its news coverage and later made sure we got everything we wanted: more employees in Washington and reporters in the U.S., more overseas correspondents and stringers, more money to cover Solidarity-related news stories in the U.S. and in Europe.
Ken Tomlinson understood that the Polish Service was at that moment in VOA’s history the key to the success of its mission. Our audience grew to over 70 percent of the population and at the end communism in Poland collapsed and democracy was peacefully restored. There is no doubt that Ken Tomlinson, the Voice of America, and especially Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, helped Ronald Reagan bring down “the evil empire” faster than it would have happened otherwise.
Still during the martial law in Poland in the 1980s, I traveled with Ken and his wife Rebecca to Rome to meet Pope John Paul II. It was a brief meeting at a general audience, but the Pope showed a lot of interest in our work and asked a few questions. He thanked us for VOA news broadcasts to his beloved country.
Congress, Digital Journal, International Broadcasting, Public Diplomacy, VOA
Op-Ed: No propaganda, Voice of America need not fear reform bill | Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published May 2, 2014 by Digital Journal Washington – Mismanagement by senior executives threatens journalistic independence of Voice of America (VOA) much more than the bipartisan bill in Congress designed to reform U.S. international media outreach. There will be no government propaganda from VOA. One advantage of being my age (60) is that I have a longer view…
Congress, Digital Journal, International Broadcasting, Russia, Ukraine, VOA
Op-Ed: Ukraine gets short shrift from mismanaged Voice of America | Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published January 29, 2014 by Digital Journal Washington – Mismanaged and underfunded Voice of America failed to highlight in English and most other languages Obama’s State of the Union remark on Ukraine. Its oversight board needs to reform the taxpayer-funded media outlet and get more money from Congress. As a former Voice of America (VOA) journalist and acting associate director,…
Digital Journal, International Broadcasting, RFE, RL, Russia
American journalist rejects Russia’s claims for visa denial | Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published January 14, 2014 by Digital Journal David Satter, an American journalist and advisor at U.S. taxpayer-funded Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), has posted a statement on his website rejecting official Russian explanations for the denial of his journalist’s visa to work in Russia. Satter said that he had complied completely with all instructions from the…
Digital Journal, International Broadcasting, Media, Public Diplomacy, VOA
Op-Ed: RFI explaining French ways to global audience, even love and sex | Digital Journal
By Ted Lipien Published January 14, 2014 by Digital Journal Unlike some Voice of America (VOA) executives in the U.S. who seem to think that cultural differences can be ignored, (everybody wants to be like Americans after all), Radio France Internationale (RFI) reporters generally do an excellent job of explaining France to international audiences. My congratulations today go to RFI’s Angela Diffley who gave…