The Foreign Service Journal, October 2006

Washington Times and opinion magazines. At present, only seven of the nine seats on the bipartisan board are filled. Complicating matters, the board’s bylaws do not allow for a chief operating officer. For decades, the United States has sponsored a two- pronged approach to broadcasting: the Voice of America, giving news and information as a U.S. media outlet for the rest of the world; and “surrogate broadcasters” like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and, later, Radio-TV Marti. The surrogates acted as if they were indigenous broadcasters, focusing on news in their target regions and employing exiles and local correspondents. In a reorganization act of 1998, Congress aggregated VOA and most television assets along with RFE/RL under the Broadcasting Board of Governors. To invigo- rate programs, reach new audiences and attract younger viewers, the board added new, regionally-focused stations to the mix: Radio Free Asia; Radio Sawa and Alhurra Television in Arabic; and Radio Farda for Iran. Like RFE/RL, the new stations are grantee organizations funded entirely by the government but accountable only to the BBG. The administration’s FY 07 request for the BBG comes to $672 million. That is larger than the line items for either PD operations or educational and cultur- al affairs. In terms of measuring success, the broadcasters have an advantage over public diplomacy: clear metrics. Using Neilson and other professional rating services, they regu- larly publish listener statistics. Overall, more than 100 million people access U.S. international broadcasting programs in some form every week. (You can read about these numbers as well as other performance goals in the BBG’s annual report at www.bbg.gov. ) On that basis, the OMB judges that the programs are demonstrating per- formance. Critics and commentators, however, offer more sub- jective judgments about whether the listener numbers are making any difference with hearts and minds. Each critique tends to reflect the politics of the observer. A review by an organizational consultant is said to exist in F O C U S O C T O B E R 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 47