The Foreign Service Journal, January 2004

civilian U.S. international broad- casting, including our sister sta- tions Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Sawa, Radio Farda, and the new Middle East Television Network. In those cases where VOA and one of its sister stations can be heard in the same region, VOA’s unique mission — to pre- sent and explain U.S. policy, and to explain Americans and what we believe in — ensures that our mes- sages are both different yet complementary. The Voice of America today is a remarkable and remarkably complex organization. In English and 55 other languages, VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of radio and television each week to most regions of the world except Western Europe and the United States. Every one of its language services maintains a Web site at VOANews.com, in order to reach the grow- ing number of people around the world who go online to get news and information. Combined, VOA’s various broadcasting efforts reach more than 90 million people, according to media surveys. At the heart of our operation is news coverage. VOA’s Central Newsroom prepares more than 150 news reports every day in English; these are then shared with all of VOA’s language services and programs. In addi- tion to the newsroom’s staff of writers and editors in Washington, VOA has 10 domestic and 21 overseas full- time correspondents, plus a worldwide stringer net- work. In addition to our standard English core, VOA offers Special English, a program which uses slow-paced delivery and simplified vocabulary to help listeners learn American English, and an English to Africa ser- vice, which features programming from the Central Newsroom. Every one of VOA’s 55 language services has its own staff of journalists who produce stories about particular regions and about American developments that have particular relevance to those regions. Many of those stories are then shared across VOA to ensure that all broadcasts are accurate, balanced, and broadly informed. To support the more than 1,100 journalists, man- agers, and support personnel who work full-time for America’s Voice, VOA’s Washington headquarters has more than 40 radio studios and three television studios, as well as a digital master control and two cen- ters to record reports from corre- spondents around the world. Our colleagues at the International Broadcasting Bureau help us main- tain some 22 transmitting stations around the world. Moving Beyond Radio When VOA began in 1942, the only channel for U.S. international broadcasting was short-wave radio. Since then, we have moved into all of the media that the world uses. First, we put our programs on FM and (medium- wave) AM radio via cable and more than 1,300 affiliate stations. As anyone who has listened to short-wave and FM knows, it’s far easier to hear the latter than the for- mer. And in most places in the world, VOA is wel- comed as an affiliate partner. But where it isn’t, or where we’re uncertain about the future, we’ve main- tained a short-wave presence, a strategy that enables us to be heard now while also serving as an insurance pol- icy for the future. Second, VOA has moved aggressively into the world of television. Even in less developed countries, the device many people now turn to for their news is a tele- vision set, not a radio. So VOA is there for them, too. We currently produce regular television programs in 10 languages, special programs in many others, and rebroadcast a variety of acquired U.S.-produced pro- grams as well. We broadcast via satellite, through affil- iates, and even online. As for the future, we believe it’s only a matter of time before direct-to-home satellite television will be one of our most effective delivery mechanisms. Finally, VOA is an active participant in the rapidly expanding world of the Internet. VOANews.com fea- tures streamed audio and video of VOA programs, story texts, and Web-based materials in support of our radio and television programs. Many of our language ser- vices view the Internet as their future: our Web-based products for China are especially effective in reaching audiences, and in one case, Arabic, VOA has shifted F O C U S J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 27 Many of our language services view the Internet as their future: our Web-based products for China are especially effective.