By Ted Lipien For whatever reason, articles tend to disappear from the Internet. It happened recently to my October 20, 2009 article in Digital Journal “Biden’s advisor: think less of what U.S. can do for Central Europe, get over history.” The original article can still be viewed on Blogger News Network. I wonder whose advice it was to President Biden…
Photo of Vice U.S. President George H. W. Bush, Barbara Bush, and Polish Solidarity trade union leader Lech Wałęsa in Warsaw, Poland at the tomb of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko with the slain priest’s parents, Marianna and Władysław Popiełuszko and other family members, September 28, 1987. Photos and audio recordings from Warsaw by Ted Lipien, then Voice of America (VOA) Polish…
By Ted Lipien Published May 8, 2016 by Digital Journal Arguing that the United States has so far failed to invest seriously in understanding or pushing back against the problem of Russian propaganda and disinformation, Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Washington Post columnist, and Edward Lucas, a senior editor at the Economist, are launching this week a counter-disinformation initiative at the Center for European Policy…
By Ted Lipien in Digital Journal Published April 24, 2016 by Digital Journal The Voice of America (VOA), a U.S. taxpayer-funded international media outlet made famous by pro-human rights Cold War programming as well as cultural diplomacy programs of its late jazz producer and music broadcaster Willis Conover, failed to report on the recent White House snub of Cuba’s legendary jazz…
By Ted Lipien Published April 20, 2016 by Digital Journal John Kerry is wrong and what Hillary Clinton had said three years ago about U.S. government media outreach abroad is still true. She called the effort “practically defunct.” According to Secretary Kerry when he spoke on April 19, 2016, “Today’s Broadcasting Board of Governors is not the BBG of a few years ago.” The BBG…
By Ted Lipien Published March 28, 2016 by Digital Journal Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the independent federal agency in Washington, DC, wrote in an introduction to its Facebook post on March 25, 2016 that there is “wholesale racism” in Israel. [Emphasis added.] This stunning and, in my view, false and irresponsible message from a…
By Ted Lipien Published February 17, 2016 in Digital Journal British newspaper The Telegraph‘s sensationalist headline read: “Did Pope John Paul II fall in love with married American academic? BBC to investigate.” The headline referred to the BBC program “Panorama,” which aired on Monday, February 15, 2015. The program, which is now difficult to view online outside of the UK, was described…
By Ted Lipien Published January 2, 2016 in Digital Journal The recent U.S. News & World Report article about American journalist turned government propagandist Edward R. Murrow and the perennial problem of not enough money in the U.S. budget for “soft power” propaganda is accurate only to a point. (Warren, James. “The Struggle to Propagate the Truth: Edward R. Murrow wouldn’t be…
By Ted Lipien Published December 7, 2015 by Digital Journal U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) falsely told its international audiences in a homepage headline and in a confusing article that because of mass shootings and terrorist attacks Americans live in a “State of Fear.” Anyone who has seen American city streets, brightly decorated shopping malls, churches, synagogues and mosques this 2015…
By Ted Lipien Published November 30, 2015 by Digital Journal U.S. overseas broadcasting in support of freedom has a long and distinguished history. People who know it well, including Kevin Klose, a former Washington Post foreign correspondent, former National Public Radio (NPR) president and, most importantly, someone who successfully ran Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and worked briefly for the…