By Ted Lipien Published July 27, 2013 by Digital Journal Washington – Federal employees were told to identify U.S. stations but not to make offers of government-funded news to domestic media. With the controversy swirling over media reports that after a recent congressional modification in the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act, U.S. officials may try to target Americans with government propaganda, the federal agency…
DigitalJournal.com – 20 hours ago Would government officials resort to deceptive propaganda to help them get Congress to overturn an old law, the Smith-Mundt Act, which prohibited them from distributing government-funded news to Americans? They most certainly did by telling members of Congress that Americans were somehow denied having any kind of access to Voice of America (VOA) news and that great many Americans were demanding that the…
By Ted Lipien Published July 15, 2013 by Digital Journal Washington – I am not afraid of taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) news in the United States, but I’m afraid of government officials who may interfere with the news and mistreat journalists. I am not afraid of Voice of America news being available on radio, TV and Internet in the United States. As…
DigitalJournal.com – While I welcome the repeal of the Smith-Mundt restriction on the distribution of VOA news in the United States, I am at the same time concerned, however, what those in charge of these programs are doing and might do in the future. … As John Hudson correctly points out in his his post, “U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans,” The Cable, Foreign Policy,…
By Ted Lipien Published July 16, 2013 by Digital Journal Washington – Government officials used deceptive propaganda to get congress to overturn a ban on government news distribution in the U.S. Would government officials resort to deceptive propaganda to help them get the U.S. Congress to overturn an old law, the Smith-Mundt Act, which prohibited them from distributing government-funded news to…
Commentary by Ted Lipien Istanbul, June 8, 2013. Protest signs on Taksim Square in Istanbul say “Coward Media.” The very few acts of vandalism during the initial days of the anti-government protests in Turkey were directed against TV vans of local networks. Protesters in Turkey were especially angry with CNN Turkish and NTV (MSNBC Turkish). Some of these media outlets…
In an op-ed in The Washington Times, former Voice of America manager Ted Lipien warns that bureaucratic infighting mustn’t curtail U.S. news and information outreach to Chechnya and other nations where anti-Americanism and jihadist ideology threaten America’s safety. Lipien, who now is a director of the independent Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB – cusib.org) pointed out that the International…
BBG Watch Commentary Unique Role of U.S.-Funded Surrogate Broadcasters by Ted Lipien U.S. Government-funded surrogate broadcasting, which started with the formation of Radio Free Europe in the early 1950s, was one of the most successful American inventions of the Cold War. Its effectiveness was undeniable in helping to weaken communist regimes over a period of several decades. Most journalists and…
BBG Watch Commentary Kristina Gorelik (Кристина Горелик), fired last September by American taxpayer-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) along with dozens of her colleagues, has received today the Moscow Helsinki Group prize for “journalistic activity aimed at promoting human rights values.” The prize was presented on the International Human Rights Day, December 10. At Radio Liberty, Gorelik specialized in human…
As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, BBG Watch remembers Radio Liberty journalists who were brutally fired without a warning or chose to resign in protest against the actions of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty management. These journalists are facing now an uncertain future in Vladimir Putin’s Russia without any support or protection from their former U.S. taxpayer-funded employer, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and…