The Foreign Service Journal, January 2004

46 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 4 orty years ago, then-VOA direc- tor Henry Loomis was quoted as saying that running the Voice of America was somewhat akin to manning the bridge of an aircraft carrier: just operating the ship was a huge and complex task, and it was impossible to maneu- ver or change course very quickly. Of course, there was no pressing need to alter the ves- sel’s direction back then, for the life of a U.S. internation- al broadcasting executive was relatively simple in the 1960s. The skipper on the bridge could coordinate his programming and technical operations and his budgetary and personnel functions, and set long- range goals for a one-medium delivery sys- tem. And the consistency of policy and resources helped VOA to blossom as the nation’s largest government-funded global broadcaster, expanding its primarily short- wave radio operations from Europe and Asia into the rest of the world. That halcyon state of affairs continued more or less intact until the early 1990s. U.S. international broadcasters such as VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty helped pro- vide the intellectual stimulus for the reformers who top- pled the Soviet empire and, in the Voice’s case, fueled the expansion of democratic governments in Asia, Africa and Latin America. But with the end of the ColdWar and the apparent vic- tory of capitalism and democracy around the world, critics began to question the need for America to maintain a strong official presence overseas, either diplomatically or on the airwaves. Those doubts led to a wave of massive funding cuts, increased congressional micromanagement and, eventually, the dissolution of USIA and the creation of a new bureaucratic structure for U.S. official overseas broadcasting operations. Then came the 9/11 attacks. Terrible as they were, they did serve to demonstrate that over- seas broadcasting is essential to our nation’s long-range security. After all, high-quality, thought-provoking program- ming can inspire a new generation of reformers all over the globe: the Mandelas, Sakharovs and Walesas of the Arab and Islamic worlds and beyond. And there is a real hunger for accurate, objective, in- depth news and information among over- seas listeners, viewers, and Internet users. Nations began broadcasting across borders to other nations 75 years ago. Over the years, they have employed three principal styles of international radio: 1) Propaganda or policy-laden radio. This style was U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING IS EXPANDING THE ESSENTIAL MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS IN AN INCREASINGLY DIGITAL WORLD . B Y A LAN L. H EIL J R . F O C U S O N U . S . B R O A D C A S T I N G F IBB E MBRACES THE D IGITAL A GE