The Foreign Service Journal, October 2010

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 27 pert at the Middle East Institute. The vehemence of government jamming efforts against VOA and RFE/RL is one indication of the sta- tions’ popularity. Both organizations continue to receive a high flow of messages and other feedback from Iranians in exile and in the country. Yet despite such traffic, U.S. broad- casting officials say it is difficult to gauge how much of their news and programming is getting through the censors. An additional challenge is determining the valid- ity of Iranian-based tips and “crowd-sourced” information. The struggle for Iran’s information space suggests that even more resources are needed, including more staff to handle surging social media traffic and counter the regime’s efforts to both block and distort new media con- tent. To date, Iran’s government has proven skillful in its own use of social media to spread fear and uncertainty. “While dissidents love new media, authoritarian govern- ments love new media, too,” says Jeffrey Gedmin, presi- dent of RFE/RL, which broadcasts Radio Farda. Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institu- tion, writes in the July edition of the Journal of Democracy of a growing competition worldwide between democrats and autocrats over mastery of what has been called “liber- ation technology.” “Not just technology but political or- ganization and strategy and deep-rooted normative, social, and economic forces will determine who ‘wins’ the race,” he writes. The Mission and the Media The Broadcasting Board of Governors, the agency re- sponsible for overseeing all U.S.-funded civilian interna- tional broadcasting, regularly stresses its role in protecting the editorial independence of its broadcasters from any government meddling. But its media services are also ac- knowledged to be an important tool in U.S. soft power ef- forts, countering authoritarian governments’ media blockades and projecting U.S. and Western values — and objectives such as democracy promotion — through a steady diet of news reporting and cultural and feature pro- gramming. Following the 9/11 attacks, U.S. government broad- casters received a surge in funding aimed at reachingMus- lim audiences. Broadcasts to Iran were part of this wave, attracting special interest from the George W. Bush administration as the country’s strategic importance soared in the wake of two military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and new revelations emerged about its uranium enrichment program. Congress approved new funding for VOA to start Persian-language television programming in 2003, and the Persian News Network was launched in 2007. During that pe- riod, the newly created Radio Farda also received a boost for online efforts, in particular. VOA today receives about $10million to run PNNwith 83 fulltime staff; Radio Farda’s budget is around $6.3 million with 63 fulltime staff. U.S. officials have been careful to stress that the new efforts are aimed at informing an Iranian population seen as keen to embrace democratic changes. Executives at both organizations underscore their mission to provide news and information. Yet they have at times faced criti- cism about their programming. Most recently, PNN has had to confront allegations by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., that it permits anti-American views to be broadcast on the network. It has also heard charges from other critics that it gives too much air time to Iranian monarchists in exile. VOA Executive Editor Steve Redisch says the network has been scrupulous in providing equal time to competing voices. “There are people who believe we should be in the business of regime change; there are those who believe we should restore the monarchy,” says Redisch, a former ex- ecutive editor for CNN in Washington. “Our charter says we have to be a reliable and accurate source of news and information. We are supposed to report it straight.” RFE/RL’s Gedmin also stresses that Radio Farda is not intended to be the broadcast arm of the Green opposition movement. But he says Farda’s mission remains to reach Iranians excluded or persecuted by the regime. “At the end of the day, we’re after a kind of sympathetic even- handedness,” he says. “The [reporting] itself should be ac- curate and reliable, but it does have a compass. Those parts of Iranian society that feel voiceless are natural allies and a basis for an audience.” The human rights issue receives regular attention from Radio Farda, a reflection of RFE/RL’s longstanding focus on this topic. Radio Farda, for instance, was credited this past summer with helping to expose the case of Sakin- F O C U S Tehran has mounted one of the world’s most intense censorship efforts: jamming broadcasts, blocking Web sites and infiltrating Facebook accounts.