[Swprograms] Tomlinson vs VOA Journalism

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

** U S A. VOICE OF AMERICA IN 21ST CENTURY
   Letter to the Editor March 1, 2006

I APPRECIATE Boston University College of Communications dean John Schulz?s
concern in his Feb. 24 op-ed on the Voice of America. There is a great deal of
nostalgia from those who worked here during the Cold War for the days of
banging typewriters and shortwave radio. To fight the war on terror, however,
requires the latest in satellite television technology, FM radio, and the
Internet.

Since Schulz left us to join academia, a family of broadcasting entities has
joined VOA to produce broadcasts for each region of the world under the
direction of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent agency. In the
Middle East, Radio Sawa and Alhurra reach an audience of more than 35 million,
compared with 1.6 million for the pre-9/11 service Schulz describes. Far from
just a ``teen pop`` station, Radio Sawa is widely acknowledged as one of the
most reliable sources of news in the Middle East.

The Bush administration and Congress have had a consistent vision to utilize
21st-century technologies to send America`s message to where it will do the
most good in the war on terror. That`s why the broadcasting budget has been
increased by 45 percent since 9/11, wiping out a 40 percent cut in funding
during the 1990s.

KENNETH Y. TOMLINSON, Washington, D.C.  The writer is chairman of the
Broadcasting Board of Governor [sic] (Boston Globe via DXLD)

RESPONSE TO TOMLINSON RESPONSE TO BOSTON GLOBE COMMENTARY BY FORMER VOA
JOURNALIST

Ken Tomlinson's reply to the commentary by former VOA journalist John Schulz
merely confirms what so many at Voice of America now understand
about his intentions, and apparently those of the BBG.

Think about it -- NOWHERE in the VOA Charter, or in the VOA Journalistic Code,
does it state that the mission of the Voice of America is to help fight the
"War on Terrorism."

Yet, since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the BBG -- with Tomlinson at its helm in
recent years ? has accelerated the dismantling of VOA,
whose journalists and broadcasters labored for decades to establish a
reputation for fair and accurate journalism.

VOA, in the view of Tomlinson, deserves to be nothing more than a cog in the
propaganda machine built up under the BBG, what Tomlinson tries to disguise
with the description "family of broadcasting entities."

Tomlinson we should recall was bounced out of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting for attempting to bend it like a pretzel to reflect his and the
Bush administration's view of the meaning of fair and balanced. He and the BBG
have been the focus of ongoing
investigations by the State Department Inspector General and GAO.
 
Nobody should be fooled by the shameful subterfuges employed by Tomlinson and
like-minded members of the secretive BBG, which has always held its meetings
out of public sight based on national security grounds.

His dismissive and disrespectful characterization of those who worked in the
trenches for decades as nothing more than people "[longing]
for the days of banging typewriters and shortwave radio" is insulting, but to
be expected from someone infected with the same kind of hubris that has
afflicted the Bush administration since its inception.

What then is the message Tomlinson and the BBG deliver to those labeled
troublesome anti-progress malcontents in this brave new world -- you know, the
one where all Public Diplomacy is helpful to the great cause, as Donald
Rumsfeld and Karen Hughes would have it?

As BBG members huddle in secret locations to plot the new shape of this perfect
world; as Tomlinson presses ahead with his vision thing to send the right
messages to where they will "do the most good"; and as the credibility VOA
built up over the decades drains away, sacrificed to this complex thing we're
calling the "War on Terrorism"
the message is this:

"Thank you for your efforts, but now be on your way."

Shame (Concerned VOA Journalists, March 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST)


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