Author page: Tadeusz Lipien

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The Obama Administration Has No Need for Private U.S. Propaganda Radio and TV

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, December 16, 2008, San Francisco — In The Huffington Post article, “Alhurra TV: Uncle Sam’s Boondoggle” Dr.  Nancy Snow has pointed out a number of serious problems with the  U.S. government-funded Alhurra Arabic-language television program for the Middle East and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which manages Alhurra. Dr. Snow, an Associate Professor of Public Diplomacy…

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Transition

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog  The Federalist Commentary, December 9, 2008, San Francisco — One of our regular contributors offers a unique perspective on the bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors and its policies that led to the outsourcing of U.S. international broadcasting to scandal-ridden private entities. One of them, Alhurra Television for the Middle East,  was described in an independent study, which…

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ProPublica.org: Report Calls Alhurra a Failure

ProPublica.org, a nonprofit investigative journalism website, reported that a study commissioned by the U.S. government concludes that Alhurra, Arab-language television to the Middle East managed by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) fails to meet basic journalistic standards and is seen by few. The BBG was refusing to make public the highly critical study but made it available today on its website after a copy of…

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International Broadcasting, VOA

Failure of Privatizing U.S. Image Abroad: White House Publishes Self-Serving But Questionable Claims from the Broadcasting Board of Governors

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, December 11, 2008, San Francisco — The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which manages U.S. government-funded broadcasts for overseas audiences, has launched a campaign to defend its strategy of privatizing and outsourcing public diplomacy efforts, which it claims is designed to improve America’s image abroad using advertising and other private sector solutions. Nearly everyone…

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Protests Against Plans to Terminate Radio France Internationale Russian Radio

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, December 4, 2008, San Francisco — Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky,  the poet Natalia Gorbanevskaia, Andrei Sakharov’s widow Elena Bonner, French philosopher André Glucksmann, and other French writers, including Thierry Wolton, Alain Besançon, Michel Aucouturier, Stéphane Courtois and Marie Mendras,  signed a petition along with  more than 500 others (as of Dec. 4, 2008) against the planned termination of the Russian program of…

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Prior to Mumbai Terrorist Attacks, U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors Ignored Many Appeals for Keeping Voice of America Hindi Radio on the Air

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, December 4, 2008, San Francisco — Commenting on the recent terrorist attacks in India, a union representing the Voice of America (VOA) employees said on its website that the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a bipartisan body which manages VOA and other U.S. government-funded broadcasts for audiences overseas, has made “at least a half dozen mistakes in the past…

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Voice of America Hindi Radio Silent in India during Terrorist Attacks

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, November 28, 2008, San Francisco — Voice of America, a U.S. taxpayer-funded international broadcaster, was off the air with shortwave Hindi radio broadcasts to India during the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The decision to silence these radio broadcasts was made earlier this year by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a U.S. Government agency. The BBG…

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A Thanksgiving Present and Reality Check — Ted Kaufman’s Appointment to the U.S. Senate Seat from Delaware

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, November 26, 2008, San Francisco — Voice of America journalists and other employees who broadcast American news to the world are thankful for the pre-Thanksgiving Day news that Ted Kaufman (Edward E. Kaufman) was appointed to the U.S. Senate seat from Delaware vacated by his former boss, Vice President elect Joe Biden. As concerned as these employees are…

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International Broadcasting

BBG Insists Congress Approved Its Decision to Terminate Voice of America Radio to Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Other Countries

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, November 23, 2008, San Francisco — In a letter that takes exception to the scathing criticism from the Public Diplomacy Council, a Washington, D.C-based nonprofit NGO, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which manages U.S. government-funded international broadcasts, insists that Congress had approved BBG’s decision to terminate Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to several countries, including Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, and India. On orders…

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A Thanksgiving Message to President Elect Barack Obama About the Voice of America

 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog  QuoVadis Commentary, November 19, 2008, San Francisco — Free Media Online Blog is publishing an open letter to President Elect Barack Obama drafted  on behalf of current and former Voice of America employees who are concerned about the mismanagement of U.S. international broadcasting by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).  The BBG, which had been responsible for eliminating…

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