Author page: Tadeusz Lipien

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Surrogate Broadcasting 101 — Why BBG and RFE/RL Are Failing in Russia

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog,  Commentary by Ted Lipien, September 8, 2008, San Francisco — A country like Russia either needs surrogate broadcasting or it doesn’t. Many countries, however, need balanced and objective news from the Voice of America that surrogate broadcasters living overseas are not trained to provide.  If a country also needs a genuine surrogate broadcaster — as it is the case now with…

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Public Diplomacy, Radio, VOA

U.S. Jamming Its Own Radio Broadcasts In A Crisis With Russia

Bureaucratic Jamming Of U.S. Broadcasts To Russia, Georgia And Ukraine FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 7, 2008, San Francisco — Political jamming originating in Washington rather than Soviet-style electronic jamming of radio signals made it impossible for the Russian speakers in the war zone in Georgia and in Russia itself to hear Voice of America (VOA) news broadcasts during the recent crisis in the…

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The World Still Needs the Voice of America by Helle Dale, The Heritage Foundation

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 5, 2008, San Francisco — Helle Dale, the director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation, wrote a convincing article warning that the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is dangerously weakening the U.S. ability to communicate with countries like Russia, Georgia, and Ukraine. The BBG had shut down…

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U.S. Broadcasting Board Plans to Cut American News Radio to Ukraine Where Vice President Cheney Visits Today

FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, September 5, 2008, San Francisco — Even as Vice President Cheney visits Ukraine to show U.S. support for that country in the face of pressure from Russia, the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), has not given up on its plan to cut the Voice of America (VOA) Ukrainian radio news broadcasts from Washington, D.C.…

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U.S. Broadcasting Board Out of Sync with White House on Georgia and Russia

FreeMediaOnline.orgCommentary by Ted Lipien, September 4, 2008, San Francisco — While the White House mobilized in just a few days to put together a $1 billion aid package for Georgia, and President Bush sent Vice President Dick Cheney on a trip to the region, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees all civilian U.S. international broadcasts,  is still in the mode of defending the shutting down…

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More Than A Small Tempest In A Small A Teapot

FreeMediaOnline.org, September 3, 2008, San Francisco — The Broadcasting Board of Governors’ decision to stop Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Russia may seem like “a bit of a small tempest in a small teapot,” as Monroe Price, director of the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, described it in his article “South Ossetia, Georgia and Information…

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U.S. Taxpayers Pay for Spreading Racist Views on Radio Liberty in Russia

What Would Barack Obama Say If He Knew… Commentary by Ted Lipien FreeMediaOnline.org, San Francisco, August 29, 2008 — Why would U.S. taxpayers want to help a nationalist Russian politician spread his racist and anti-immigrant views on a radio station, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)?  Radio Liberty is based in Moscow and Prague but is managed by the bipartisan broadcasting Board of…

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Senator Biden Played Politics with U.S. International Broadcasting

 FreeMediaOnline.org, San Francisco, August 27, 2008 — Senator  Biden’s record of playing politics with U.S. international broadcasting gives credence to recent news reports that his Senate staff had a key role in stopping the Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Russia shortly before the Russian attack on Georgia.  Despite strong opposition in Congress, the bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors, which manages U.S. government-funded broadcasting…

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Health Inspectors Did Not Close Down Radio Liberty Affiliates in Russia, The Secret Police Did

FreeMediaOnline.org, August 25, 2008, San Francisco — Let me preface this post by saying that I’ve heard good things about Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Jeffrey Gedmin. According to my sources, he tries to ignore some of the more questionable directives from the Broadcasting Board of Governors and move the emphasis from the BBG-driven marketing focus back to content. But he has been doing this quietly and does not…

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Religion

A New Book About Pope John Paul II and Feminism Also Deals with Cold War Spying at the Vatican and Attempts to Influence Reporting by RFE/RL and VOA

I included here more information about “Wojtyla’s Women,” my book on Pope John Paul II and feminism. In the book, I discuss at some length the attempts of the Polish communist secret police and the KGB to recruit agents among Pope John Paul II’s friends, as well as their attempts to influence the reporting of journalists working at Radio Free…

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