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 31 F OCUS ON U.S. -F UNDED I NTERNATIONAL B ROADCASTING A MERICA C ALLING : A 21 ST -C ENTURY M ODEL ntil about the 1990s, U.S. government-funded international broadcasting — which I will refer to as USIB in this article — was a rel- atively simple matter. The Voice of America and Radio Free Europe transmitted into a country, usually on short- wave, the best way to broadcast over long distances at that time. The target country’s moribund, government- monopoly broadcasting system provided a biased or oth- erwise deficient news service, giving audiences the incentive to tune to foreign stations. In communist and developing countries, there was a demand for news that was more comprehensive and re- liable than that available from state-controlled domestic media. The United States found it advantageous to cater to that demand, as accurate news provided the antidote to communist and other anti-American propaganda. Now USIB faces a much more complex media envi- ronment. Satellite television and the Internet have largely displaced shortwave as the preferred means to send information across national boundaries. Domestic broadcasting in target countries has improved, at least technologically, with several choices of television and FM stations, and growing Internet availability. Emerging in- ternational broadcasters such as Al-Jazeera, in Arabic and in English, add to the competition. USIB is still in the business of providing news to counter misinformation and disinformation from dicta- tors, terrorists and other international miscreants. Ide- ally, the private sector would provide this service, both to avoid any perceptions that government funding affects its credibility and to save taxpayers money. Indeed, there is private, advertiser-funded U.S. international broad- casting in English (CNN International), Spanish (CNN en Español), and a few other languages. On the other hand, in most languages where there is a need for reliable news from an external source (e.g., Bangla, Burmese, Hausa), international broadcasting has little commercial potential. The U.S. government must step in to provide the funding. The BBG Faces Challenges The Broadcasting Board of Governors, a bipartisan agency that has existed since 1995, acts as a “firewall” be- T HE BBG SHOULD MOVE TO CONSOLIDATE U.S. GOVERNMENT - FUNDED INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING INTO ONE MULTIMEDIA ORGANIZATION . B Y K IM A NDREW E LLIOTT U Kim Andrew Elliott, an audience research analyst for the United States International Broadcasting Bureau, has taught communications at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He reports on international broadcasting at www.kimandrewelliott. com. The views expressed here are his own and not neces- sarily those of the International Broadcasting Bureau or the U.S. government.