Pity those of us who monitor the ups and downs of China’s popular microblog platform, Sina Weibo. For every story its users spread in defiance of local censorship, there follows a clampdown.

Whether it’s the latest strike against rumors, or real name registration, or newly banned keywords, there’s always another restriction in the works as the service struggles to keep a lid on sensitive conversations without driving away its user base. “China tightens grip on social media,” we might report, as the Financial Times did in April. And last October. (The U.K.-based newspaper also noted China’s grip tightening on lawyers in March.) It’s not that these headlines are misleading. They simply show how difficult it is to illustrate the grip that always tightens, but never quite suffocates.

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Blog: Chinese microblog regulates, suspends users–again

Chen as Tank Man - 2011 Christmas Card to Free Blind Chinese Human Rights Activist Chen Guangcheng

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) executives and public relations specialists should be letting everyone know about outstanding reporting by Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the Voice of America (VOA) on the plight of Chinese blind activist Chen Guangcheng, but strangely they have remained silent.

The BBG public relations office issued a few days ago a press release announcing that “VOA Launches English Learning For Vietnamese” and earlier they bragged that OMG! Meiyu, Voice of America’s trendy Chinese-English video blog, is attracting new fans at the iTunes store.

But when it comes to announcing real news-generating coverage and journalistic achievements by VOA and RFA in reporting to China, there has been a total silence.

Perhaps, this may explain why.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors and its International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) executives have just imposed a 17 hours VOA radio news silence in China by replacing two hours of live VOA Mandarin radio broadcasts with repeat programs without live news. Radio listeners in China now have to wait 17 hours between live VOA Mandarin newscasts.

This change was imposed while Chen Guangcheng is still not permitted to leave China. Earlier, the same BBG and IBB executive staffers tried to completely eliminate VOA Mandarin and Cantonese radio and TV broadcasts. They would have succeeded if their plans were not blocked, first in Congress, and later by BBG members themselves.

They still, however, try to downplay the importance of VOA and RFA broadcasts and real news reporting to China, particularly via shortwave radio.

The BBG public relations specialists have ignored Chen’s statement made in a phone interview that he is listening to VOA Mandarin radio program in his hospital room in Beijing. This information was not worth a press release, even though USA Today reported a few that Chen Guangcheng was inspired to become a human rights activist by listening to the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.

In a telephone interview with VOA China Branch reporter Ye Bing on Monday, Chen noted that he had listened to 30 minutes of the Sunday night (Beijing time, Sunday morning EDT) VOA Mandarin live news program which extensively featured information pertaining to his case, then expressed his gratitude to VOA for drawing international attention to his plight. When asked how he managed to access the broadcast, Chen mischievously answered: “There’s always a way.”

Several VOA and RFA employees have provided BBG Watch with information about their extensive coverage of the Chen Guangcheng’s story.

Radio Free Asia (RFA)

All four RFA/China services have provided coverage of the Chen story, with saturation reporting by Mandarin and Cantonese. Mandarin’s interviews with Chen were picked up by Reuters for two days in a row. In addition to intensive coverage of Chen on the current affairs APR programs, Mandarin feature programs “Journey of the Soul” and “Weekend Teahouse” explored in-depth the issues involved in the Chen story. Mandarin call-in program Democracy Salon devoted two entire shows having guest commentators recounting Chen’s work and answering caller questions about Chen. Call-in hosts on Hotline and Voices of the People answered caller questions on the latest on Chen. Mandarin stringers all over the world reported reactions to the story from Berlin to London to Toronto.

Here are the translations of just some of the listeners’ quotes and thoughts from inside China:

RFA Cantonese:

1. Nickname “Little citizen” from Guangzhou: The case of Chen Guangsheng indicates that the more the Communist wants to maintain stability, the more the society becomes instable. The whole system (of the Communist regime) should reflect themselves. The regime would be given up finally.

2. Mr. Zhang from Zhuhai, Guangdong: I heard the news of Chen Guangsheng from RFA programs. Many other overseas radio including a radio program in Russia also comment on Chen. It is a shame for the (Chinese ) government..

3. Mr. Li from Jiangsu: Chen Guangsheng is not against the Communist. He just wants to speak out for the unfairness and injustice. He doesn’t want to stay silent. However, the source of the unfairness and injustice is from the Communist government. Then Chen becomes a thorn in the Communist’s side.

4. Mr. Chen from Shanghai: The most terrible thing is to persecute a blind person, even his whole family. It is comforting that there are some Chinese people who have the consciences such as Guo Yushan and Zengzhu, stand up for him. Wang Lejun and Chen Guangsheng are totally different kind of persons but the same they have no way out so they went to the US Embassy.

5. Mr. Huang from Zhengjiang, Guangdong: It is a failure of the Chinese government to maintain stability. They spend 60 million yuan to surveillance Chen Guangsheng but Chen still could escape. Money is not everything.

6. Mr. She from Guangzhou: I feel very sad as a Chinese. Many people including him really want to see Chen Guangsheng can finally go to the US, not stay in China.

7. Mr. Wang from Guangxi: The case of Chen Guangsheng becomes a very hot topic among the students at Guangxi University. However, we just have very little information about Chen’s case. Many students got rid of the internet firewall to learn the truth. However, some student still do not understand why a blind person can get so much international concern.

RFA Mandarin:

From Hotline 5/8.

Caller from Hebei province: Many Chinese audience would question China’s official media’s report on Chen Guangcheng. They would ask if Chen is an ordinary blind person. Why he can get into the U.S. embassy to China? …Foreign media may not be 100 percent fair and balanced when reporting Chen’s case but they are no doubt more credible than those of Chinese official media on this matter.

Caller from Jiangxi province: Chen’s case could be a test for Sino-U.S. relations. It may test how much they can tolerate each other.

Caller from Tianjin.: It is very important to pay attention to Chen’s case. It is equally important to know how Chen’s case became such a crisis.

From 5/3 Hotline

Caller from Hubei province.: I want to thank those who helped Chen escape to freedom. Chen is a role model of all blind people who stand up for their rights.

Caller from Guangdong province: The name Chen Guangcheng has become sensitive words in China’s government controlled internet. Internet users have to alter the words to avoid their message being blocked.

Caller from Fujian province: I heard the story from RFA’s APR news that Chen Guangcheng has successfully escaped to the U.S. embassy. I am thrilled to learn about it and I want to congratulate him on this.

From 5/8 VOP

Caller from Guangdong province: I wish Chinese government keep its promise to allow Chen Guangcheng to go abroad. But if Chinese government broke its promise, it will ruin its credibility. Rights groups and U.S. congress would blame the Obama administration and Chen Guangcheng will be sent back to his hometown. It would be a disaster for the three parties and Chinese government would be the biggest loser.

Caller from Hubei province: Chen Guangcheng is a good person. He has been mistreated. I hope Chinese government prosecutes the outlaws who involved in Chen’s case. If Chen didn’t seek the U.S. government for help, then who else could help him? Only the western democratic governments can bring justice back to Chen.

From 5/7 VOP

Caller from Shanxi province: It is totally understandable that a decent person as Chen Guangcheng who sacrificed his own well-being for others was eventually helped by other noble people to escape to safety. I wish Chen a better life in the U.S.

From 5/8 Salon

Caller from Shandong province: Chinese official media provide so little information on Chen Guangcheng, only saying that Chen is now in hospital and he can apply for studying abroad via normal channel. I just want to say in regard to Chen’s case that when a gentleman has to deal with a rogue, it is the gentleman that always loses.

Caller from Jiangsu province: We are truly thrilled to learn that Chen Guangcheng has escaped from captivity and we are also puzzled as how can a blind person make such an escape?

RFA/Mandarin is on the air Beijing time:

11:00 pm – 6:00 am 7:00 – 8:00 am 11:00 am – 3:00 pm

Voice of America (VOA)

VOA China Branch has reported extensively on Mr. Chen’s fight against injustices in recent years, especially after he escaped from house arrest and took refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing in late April. To date, reporter Ye Bing has interviewed Mr. Chen four times since last Thursday (03 May). His reports have been cited by the Associated Press and The Washington Post.

03 May: In a ten-minute interview aired on a live China Branch radio broadcast on May 3, Chen Guangcheng told VOA reporter Ye Bing that he was visited by a high-level Chinese official who, in addition to bringing a gift of flowers, issued assurances that justice will be meted out in accordance with the law if Chen’s story of abuses proves true.

07 May: Chen Guangcheng expressed serious concern for the fate of his nephew, Chen Kegui, and called on the outside world to closely follow the case as it developed. Before the line was disconnected, Mr. Chen noted that he had listened to 30 minutes of the previous night’s Mandarin news show.

08 May: Mr. Chen told reporter Ye Bing that he has not been allowed to meet with any of his friends, family members, and supporters attempting to visit him in his Beijing hospital room. Mr. Chen reported that he brought the issue up with a government official, who in turn said that due to the sensitivity of the case, it would be best if he did not see visitors for the time being.

09 May: Mr. Chen refuted media reports that he has finished the process of passport application, saying that he has not been given an opportunity to take any steps in the application process such as filing paperwork or taking a passport photo. Mr. Chen also said that Chinese authorities have charged his sister-in-law with sheltering a criminal and threatened her with imminent detainment. The wife of Chen Guangcheng’s nephew, who has been missing since 26 April, was also sought by authorities and threatened with arrest if she did not appear to sign unknown documents within 24 hours, he said.

“[B]lind activist Chen Guangcheng … the youngest of five brothers, began grade school at age 17. He was inspired to tackle injustice by listening to U.S. broadcasts on Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. Chen took up the cause that would take his freedom: thousands of victims of forced sterilizations and abortions under China’s draconian family planning policies.” — Calum MacLeod and Oren Dorell reporting for USA Today, May 3, 2012.

Chen Guangcheng with his family

There is at least one person in China who does not want to agree with the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) executives. The blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng listens to Voice of America (VOA) Mandarin radio broadcasts in his semi-imprisonment at a government hospital in Beijing.

When the Voice of America Chinese reporter Yibing Feng interviewed Chen Guangcheng on his cell phone Monday, Chen said he just listened to VOA Mandarin live radio news show Sunday night (Beijing time) and thanked the Voice of America Chinese broadcasters for reporting on his plight.

When the reporter asked him how he managed to listen to VOA, he said mysteriously: “There’s always a way.”

How about that?! If Chen can listen to VOA Mandarin in his Beijing hospital, who else can’t?

But according to BBG and IBB officials almost no one in China does listen to VOA radio and these broadcasts should be eliminated. Needless to say, the BBG Public Affairs office did not issue a press release about Chen Guangcheng listening to VOA Mandarin radio broadcast.

Why not?

On the same day Chen was listening to VOA evening radio program, the Broadcasting Board of Governors and International Broadcasting Bureau executives have replaced live VOA Mandarin morning radio broadcasts with repeat programming without even a five minute live newscast. This was done silently, with no press release to announce the change.

When asked about it, the International Broadcasting Bureau Director Richard M. Lobo said that this change will have no impact for radio listeners and does not violate the Congressional directive to maintain VOA radio and television to China, know as the Rohrabacher Amendment.

According to Mr. Lobo, everything is the same despite the fact that there is now a 17 hour VOA Mandarin radio news silence in China. Some BBG members said privately that they were not briefed by Mr. Lobo about this change.

IBB executives tell Congressional staffers that the change they made to VOA Mandarin radio is in any case irrelevant because there is no shortwave radio listening in China. To prove their point, they play recordings that show heavy jamming of VOA radio by the Chinese authorities. And yet, Chen Guangcheng is able to listen to VOA Mandarin broadcast in Beijing where the jamming of VOA shortwave transmissions is presumably the most intense. It is easier to listen to VOA shortwave radio in rural China, where many of Chen Guangcheng’s supporters live and where he was kept under house arrest until his recent escape.

Earlier, the same executives working for Mr. Lobo, who was appointed to his position by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate, have done everything possible to terminate VOA Mandarin and Cantonese broadcasts and to fire several dozen VOA Chinese journalists and broadcasters. They insisted that using only the Internet to deliver VOA news to China is quite sufficient and can be done with low-paid contractors. This, despite the fact that the Chinese authorities effectively censor the Internet and block VOA and other Western news websites.

Meanwhile, these executives gave themselves bonuses, which were approved by Mr. Lobo, created new bureaucratic positions and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for foreign and domestic travels. The elimination of broadcasts to China and the firing of VOA journalists would have allowed them to continue their extravagant spending on themselves.

These IBB bureaucrats nearly succeeded in silencing Voice of America in China. At first BBG members agreed with them. But the Congress did not. Their plan was blocked by bipartisan votes in Congressional committees.

Later, the same executives working for Mr. Lobo tried again to carry out their plan by targeting for elimination VOA radio to Tibet and the VOA Cantonese Service, but this time BBG members changed their mind and decided to keep VOA broadcasts to China and Tibet.

Now, these bureaucrats will pretend that live radio news to China in the morning is not important for a news organization like VOA. They will also pretend that the VOA interview with Chen Guangcheng did not happen. It was not worth issuing a press release. The BBG also did not issue a press release when Radio Free Asia (RFE) interviewed Chen. And these BBG and IBB staffers will definitely try to ignore and hide Chen’s statement that he listens to VOA Mandarin radio.

The BBG did not pick up on the USA Today report that Chen Guangcheng “was inspired to tackle injustice by listening to U.S. broadcasts on Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.” They had also ignored an earlier National Public Radio (NPR) report that Tibetan Buddhist monks secretly listen to VOA Tibetan radio programs on shortwave. The BBG Public Relations Office did not have a press release on this NPR story either. At that time Mr. Lobo’s team was trying hard to silence VOA radio to Tibet and to eliminate the VOA Cantonese Service with all its broadcasts and Internet news.

The problem with BBG and IBB executives is that in addition to trying to expand their bureaucratic control over the Board members and the organization, they believe their own faulty research. According to their research, almost no one in China admits to listening to shortwave radio. They believe it partly because many of them may not know any better and partly because it suits their bureaucratic goals, but the key officials do know that this research is worthless.

Any sensible person can grasp that people in China have a very good reason for not volunteering information about their radio listening habits. But Chen Guangcheng was not afraid to say that he is a listener to the Voice of America Mandarin radio news. At this point he has very little to lose.

Is there much doubt that his supporters and other human rights activists in China also listen to VOA radio? We don’t think there is. They may not want to share this information with local Chinese contractors working for Gallup, but they do listen. Listening to radio is safe. Accessing the VOA Chinese website in China is nearly impossible and carries a risk of being discovered by the Chinese cyber police. But this is what BBG and IBB executives want the people in China to do: to use the Internet.

VOA radio plays a vital role in supporting freedom of expression and democracy in China because it is inexpensive, accessible despite the jamming, and safe. These broadcasts also explain US policies and offer a variety of views and opinions, including those critical of the Obama Administration’s handling of the Chen Guangcheng’s case.

It strikes us as odd that officials working for IBB Director Richard Lobo are doing everything in their power to silence VOA radio news to China. BBG members need to ask Mr. Lobo for answers and the Congress needs to exercise more oversight for as long as the bipartisan, part-time Board is not able to control its own bureaucrats.

Voice of America radio to China – the sounds of news silence from Broadcasting Board of Governors
by Ann Noonan, Executive Director, Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB – www.cusib.org)

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and its International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) management team have finally accomplished their goal of cutting into Voice of America (VOA) Mandarin radio broadcasting into China, sub silentio.

As of May 6th, Voice of America’s 2-hour live Mandarin radio morning (Beijing time) broadcasts have been replaced with repeat programming from the previous day. These repeat broadcasts come without live newscasts. There are no timely, current news reports in the previously-taped taped content — not even a five-minute live news update.

All this is happening as Chinese and Tibetan radio listeners and rest of the world await news of the fate of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng and learn daily about new violations of human rights in China and Tibet.

While the International Broadcasting Bureau Director Richard M. Lobo and his managers may want to quash any inquiry about these VOA Mandarin Service radio broadcasting changes by accusing those expressing concerns of spreading baseless rumors, news silence is in fact what is happening. This report may be the first time that some individual members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors are even hearing about this change with its nuances and implications.

While these broadcasting changes may potentially save the BBG some unknown amount of money to add another hour of satellite television program in Mandarin at some future date and to simulcast it on shortwave radio, activists inside China, who need constant radio news updates especially now during this critical time with the Chen affair and all the repercussions for his family and supporters, understandably may feel abandoned.

Some believe that these Voice of America Mandarin Service broadcasting changes put the BBG in contempt of a Congressional directive. Last year, the Rohrabacher Amendment passed with full bipartisan support to keep VOA China broadcasts on the air and to prevent BBG/IBB executives from eliminating VOA Mandarin and Cantonese radio and TV programs and transferring news reporting to the highly-controlled and blocked Internet, as these managers had proposed.

And then there are those like Director Lobo and his team who might argue that the BBG has not actually jettisoned the radio time and that they haven’t cut anything because they are merely repeating the previous programming.

However smooth that rationalization sounds, without a newscast and with only repeats of often outdated content, there is now a gap of 17 hours in live VOA Mandarin radio news at a critical time with the Chen affair.

It is a well-known fact that if the news, information, and commentary are old, listeners are going to switch elsewhere to get the information they want and need. They could still listen to Radio Free Asia (RFA), but since RFA programs are even more heavily jammed by the Chinese authorities than VOA radio, these listeners may be left with nothing but official regime propaganda.

These repeats of old VOA programs without the news are a far cry from live broadcasts from a studio with up-to-the-minute breaking news. Just a few days ago, the VOA Mandarin Service managed to reach Chen Guangcheng by phone and interviewed him about threats to his family and supporters. With the latest elimination of live programs, radio listeners in China may have to wait almost a full day to hear from VOA about such threats and the US government’s official responses.

With Chen Guangcheng’s future uncertain and the US reputation tarnished by the handling of his case, could there possibly be a worse time to implement such a drastic change?

Ann Noonan has been active in human rights organizations, including those working for religious freedom. She is the former President of the New York Chapter of the Visual Artists Guild. In 1999, Ann founded Free Church for China, an NGO which researches and documents religious persecution in the PRC. Ann was also a Senior Advisor at the Laogai Research Foundation, an NGO founded by another CUSIB member, Harry Wu, to gather information on and raise public awareness of the Laogai system of prison labor camps in China. Ann Noonan has been active in promoting women’s rights and religious freedom worldwide. She serves as the CUSIB’s Executive Director.

Jing Zhang, Women's Rights in China

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) Advisory Board member Jing Zhang published an article in National Review Online on China’s war on baby girls.

She describes reprisals by the Chinese communist authorities against a charity helping Chinese women keep and feed their infants. These reprisals have intensified after the daring escape from house arrest by the blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng who was jailed for exposing forced sterilizations and abortions as part of China’s one-child policy.

On Thursday, Mary 3, Another CUSIB Advisory Board member Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, testified at an emergency Congressional hearing on the dangers faced by Chen Guangcheng and his family. Chen Guangcheng spoke during the hearing by phone.

In a phone call lasting about eight minutes, Chen said he would like to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “thank her face-to-face.”

“He wants to come to the U.S. for some time of rest,” said activist Bob Fu who translated Chen’s remarks during the hearing. “He has not had any rest in the past ten years already.”

Chen also said he was concerned about the safety of his family.

Both Reggie Littlejohn and Jing Zhang have been active supporters of Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to China as an important uncensored news source for women and their families and for human rights activists.

Women’s Rights in China (WRIC) NGO, which Jing Zhang founded, has produced a short video showing that both very young and older persons in China continue to rely on Voice of America radio broadcasts for uncensored news and information. These comments, recorded in China, point to the censorship of the Internet by the Chinese authorities and the fact that hundreds of millions of Chinese cannot use the Internet to access VOA websites, which are being blocked in China, or can’t afford to have Internet access of any kind.

Link to the Women’s Rights in China video on the 70th anniversary of Voice of America broadcasting to China.

Jing Zhang suffered five years in prison for her belief in freedom and democracy. After leaving China, she spent 20 years building a career as a newspaper editor in Hong Kong and the United States. She founded Women’s Rights in China in 2007. She joined the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) Advisory Board in 2011.

Congressman Chris Smith with CUSIB Advisory Board Member Reggie Littlejohn

Supporter of Voice of America broadcasts to China Reggie Littlejohn is testifying at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China emergency hearing on “Recent Developments and History of the Chen Guangcheng Case.” Chen Guangcheng spoke during the hearing by phone. In a phone call lasting about eight minutes, Chen said he would like to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “thank her face-to-face.”

“He wants to come to the U.S. for some time of rest,” said activist Bob Fu who translated Chen’s remarks during the hearing. “He has not had any rest in the past ten years already.”

Chen also said he was concerned about the safety of his family.

Reggie Littlejohn, founder and president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, is a member of the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) Advisory Board. Her advocacy has helped to persuade the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to cancel its plan to end Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Tibet and to shut down the VOA Cantonese Service with its radio, TV, and Internet news delivery to China.

Before the testimony in the U.S. Congress, Reggie Littlejohn posted this article:

Chen Guangcheng to President Obama: “Get Our Whole Family Out.”
Posted on May 3, 2012 by Reggie Littlejohn

The United States should immediately grant asylum to Chen Guangcheng and his family, along with the activist who rescued him, He Peirong. Chen and his wife have both stated that they are in danger.

U.S. officials contend that Chen left the U.S. Embassy yesterday of his own volition to seek medical treatment at a hospital. From the hospital, however, Chen told friends and the media that he was not given full information on which to base his decision. He told Associated Press, moreover, that a U.S. official relayed a threat that if Chen did not leave the Embassy, he wife would be beaten to death. He told CNN, “I am very disappointed at the U.S. government.”

Chen also told CNN that after he escaped, his wife was tied to a chair in their home for two days. Guards carried sticks into their home and threatened to beat her to death. They also moved into their house, eating at their table and using their belongings. They have installed seven surveillance cameras inside their home. These facts convinced Chen that it would not be safe for him or his family to remain in China. He did not learn these facts until he was reunited with his wife in the hospital.

Chen then told CNN, “I would like to say to (President Obama): Please do everything you can to get our whole family out.” He told the Daily Beast, “My fervent hope is that it would be possible for me and my family to leave for the U.S. on Hillary Clinton’s plane.”

After Chen’s miraculous, “mission impossible” escape and the risks he and others took to deliver him safely to the U.S. Embassy, why did the U.S. officials press him to leave and hand this noble man back into the hands of those who have been so fiercely persecuting him and his family?

If so, this action is beyond shameful. Not only have we let Chen down, but we have betrayed those in China that we should most want to support: those who share our values.

Many in China have regarded the U.S. Embassy as the lone island of freedom and justice in a land filled with repression and injustice. Given their trust, how could the U.S. hand over a deserving citizen who had fled there for protection?

Chen is hugely symbolic in China, the conscience of the nation. By challenging the One Child Policy, he has challenged the lynchpin of social control in China. This explains the ferocity of the Chinese Communist Party’s reaction to him.

When Chen Guangcheng fled to the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. had a golden opportunity to do the right thing – give him and his family asylum and bring them to safety in the U.S. This would have erased a generation of anti-American propaganda and inspired gratitude, admiration and trust among the Chinese people. Instead the U.S. expediently dispatched Chen out the door, shattering our moral credibility before the world and losing the hearts and minds of a generation of Chinese people who share our values.

The only way to redeem the situation is as clear as it is urgent: give asylum to Chen and his family – and to He Peirong as well. Bring them to safety in the United States, whatever it takes, on Hillary Clinton’s plane.

###

The hearing and Reggie Littlejohn’s testimony can be watched online. LINK

Representative Christopher Smith, Chairman and Senator Sherrod Brown, Cochairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China announce an emergency hearing on Recent Developments and History of the Chen Guangcheng Case

Thursday, May 3, 2012

2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

2172 Rayburn House Office Building

Streaming Live by Ustream

The recent escape of self-trained legal advocate Chen Guangcheng from illegal house arrest has attracted international attention and concern. On April 22, Chen escaped from his home in Dongshigu village, Linyi city, Shandong province, where he and his family had been detained without charge for 19 months. After escaping from home confinement, Chen met the U.S. Ambassador and Administration officials at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and received medical treatment. Recent reports suggest that U.S. and Chinese officials have negotiated an agreement that would permit Chen and his family to remain in China with assurances from the Chinese government that they can live a normal life. The Commission hearing will address ongoing developments in the Chen Guangcheng case and reported prospects for himself, his family and his supporters. Witnesses will discuss details of the previous detention of Chen and his family under an illegal form of “house arrest,” as well as his escape to seek safety at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. In addition, witnesses will also address Chen’s legal advocacy work.

Chen, a self-trained legal advocate who has represented farmers, the disabled and other groups, is perhaps best known for the attention he drew to population planning abuses, particularly forced abortions and forced sterilizations, in Linyi, in 2005. In deeply flawed legal proceedings, authorities sentenced him in 2006 to four years and three months in prison. Following his release in September 2010, Chen, his wife Yuan Weijing, and their six-year-old daughter were subjected to beatings, home confinement and constant surveillance. Throughout the detention, Chinese authorities undertook forceful measures to prevent and harass journalists and supporters who attempted to visit the family.

Witnesses:

Pastor Bob Fu, Founder and President, ChinaAid Association

Sophie Richardson, Ph.D., China Director, Human Rights Watch

T. Kumar Director, International Advocacy for Amnesty International USA

Wang Xuezhen, human rights advocate

Cao Yaxue , Human Rights Advocate, Blogger

Michael Horowitz, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute

Reggie Littlejohn, President, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

Victor Ashe

The bipartisan effort to stop the closure of the Greenville shortwave radio broadcasting facility was led BBG’s senior Republican member Ambassador Victor Ashe. He was assisted by North Carolina congressmen from both parties: U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., R-N.C., U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., and U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C. They received strong support from numerous human rights and media freedom advocacy groups, including the independent and nonpartisan Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB).

Rep. Walter B. Jones

Other members of Congress from both parties also joined forces last year to prevent the BBG executive staff from ending shortwave radio broadcasts and satellite television transmissions by the Voice of America to China. The Greenville station is not used for transmitting radio programs to Asia but serves mostly Cuba, South America, and Africa. It is, however, the only remaining U.S. government-owned shortwave broadcasting facility on U.S. territory. Other BBG-operated shortwave transmitters are based abroad and leases for these stations may be terminated by foreign governments due to domestic or foreign pressure.

Rep. G.K. Butterfield

Victor Ashe has also led the fight within the nine-member presidentially-appointed bipartisan board to save broadcasts to China and Tibet from the new round of cuts proposed by the same BBG executive staff for the FY 2013 BBG budget. He received strong support from BBG’s Democratic member Michael Meehan. Another Democratic member Susan McCue also voiced strong support for continuing VOA radio broadcasts to Tibet.

Rep. David Price

In the end, even those BBG members who initially sided with the executive staff and supported the cuts voted to restore funding to continue broadcasting to Tibet and China, just as they had agreed earlier to save the Greenville facility. Some BBG members may have been persuaded to change their vote by a powerful plea from Holocaust survivor Mrs. Annette Lantos. She is a highly-respected human rights campaigner and the wife of the late Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos who was one of the strongest voices in Congress in defense of human rights around the world.

The effort to restore the original name of the Greenville station is seen as a symbolic gesture to stress bipartisan support for U.S. international broadcasting and as part of a larger fight to keep U.S. radio and television news flow to countries without free media. President John F. Kennedy dedicated the facility in 1963 and Edward R. Murrow was a member of his administration. Edward R. Murrow’s son, Casey Murrow, attended the rededication ceremony as did Congressman Jones, Victor Ashe, and International Broadcasting Bureau Director Richard Lobo.

A team of BBG/IBB executives has been pushing for ending many direct-to-home radio and TV broadcasts in favor of using the Internet even to countries like China and Cuba which censor and block online news from Western sources and from their own dissidents. Some of the BBG’s strategic planners and their private consultants have been also advocating downplaying of human rights reporting and expanding English lessons and other non-political programming as a way of reaching a larger audience.

While shortwave radio listening has been declining around the world, it is still a vital link for regime opponents in many countries and those who cannot afford the Internet or don’t want to use it to get uncensored news for fear of being monitored by the local authorities. The saving of the U.S. facility in North Carolina is seen as a challenge to some of the strategic planners at the BBG. Critics have accused the BBG and IBB executive team of mismanagement and diverting money from broadcasting to pay for their bonuses, travel, and expensive outside contractors. These executives have been rated in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) employee surveys as being the worst leaders and managers in the federal government. They have proposed in recent years the elimination of hundreds of journalistic and broadcasting positions while expanding their own bureaucratic staff. The BBG has one of the lowest employee morale among all government agencies.

Ashe has been the most outspoken BBG member demanding greater transparency and accountability at the agency. He has come out recently against the staff’s plan to merge the so-called surrogate broadcasters, which include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), and Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN). Critics describe the merger plan as a bureaucratic power grab to limit public and congressional scrutiny. Ashe has asked for public comments and listed his personal email. According to sources, he is also in favor of holding congressional hearings on the proposed merger and other plans developed by the BBG and IBB staff.

Members of Congress from both parties have always been the strongest supporters of U.S. international broadcasting, particularly to countries without free media. In the past, they have often come to the defense of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America against attempts by bureaucrats of both Republican and Democratic administrations to blunt human rights reporting and to close down various language broadcasting services in favor of questionable short-term gains.

Despite the setback on the Greenville station and broadcasts to Tibet and China, BBG/IBB executives still want to drastically reduce Voice of America English and Spanish broadcasts and to limit news to countries like the Russian Federation, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Turkey, Greece, and Georgia. We hope that both Republicans and Democrats in Congress will once again extend their protection to what is one of America’s most effective and least expensive national security and public diplomacy assets. U.S. government-funded international broadcasts are simply too important to be turned over to unaccountable bureaucrats just because they want it and hope that no one will notice. We do.

###

The official BBG announcement:

BBG Rededicates The Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) rededicated its Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station on May 2 during a ceremony in Grimesland, N.C., that honored Murrow, the renowned broadcaster and director of the USIA (1961-1964), and recognized World Press Freedom Day.
Speakers included Congressman Walter Jones; Casey Murrow, son of Edward R. Murrow; BBG Governor Victor Ashe, and International Broadcasting Bureau Director Richard M. Lobo. Speaker Bios

Edward R. Murrow’s legacy as a journalist and his rich understanding of the importance of press freedom as part of the bedrock of democracy along with the key role of U.S. international broadcasting as a model of a free press will be highlighted in the ceremony to be held in the lead-up to World Press Freedom Day, May 3rd.

The transmitting station, a 24/7 broadcast facility, supports the mission of the Broadcasting Board of Governors to “inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy” through about 2,200 hours of transmissions each month.

The Murrow Transmitting Station

The Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station is the largest BBG transmission facility in the United States. It is a 24/7 shortwave facility, broadcasting about 2,200 hours each month. Over 80 percent of these transmissions are Radio Martí Spanish-language broadcasts to Cuba, and the balance is Voice of America programming to Latin America as well as VOA English, Portuguese, and French to Africa.

The station is located on 2,715 acres of land and is equipped with eight high-power shortwave transmitters, including five 500 kW and three 250 kW transmitters. The station has nearly 40 broadcast antennas in an arc around the main building to provide the maximum flexibility in reaching audiences overseas.

President John F. Kennedy formally dedicated the station on February 8, 1963, and in October 1968 it was named the “Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station” in honor of the renowned wartime broadcaster and director of the USIA.

Edward R. Murrow

Edward R. Murrow was a pioneering newsman whose distinctive baritone voice and devotion to the truth forever shaped the field of broadcast journalism. Beginning with his ever-calm reporting of the bombing of London during World War II, Murrow’s career spanned 25 years in both radio and television with CBS, then three years as director of the U.S. Information Agency.

Called the “Father of Broadcast Journalism,” Murrow began his broadcasts during the war with a matter-of-fact statement: “This…is London.” He survived the bombings, flew dozens of combat missions, and was among the first civilians to enter liberated Nazi death camps.

After the war, he hosted news and interview programs at CBS, including a 1954 broadcast that took on, and ultimately undid, the red-scare campaign of Senator Joseph McCarthy. He ended his career at CBS in 1961 when President Kennedy named him to head the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), where he brought his dedication to truth and accuracy to the field of public diplomacy. He died of cancer at 57 in 1965.

Broadcasting Board of Governors

The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal government agency that oversees all U.S. civilian international broadcasting. Our networks—the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio and TV Martí, Radio Free Asia (RFA), and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks’ (MBN) Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa—serve as indispensable sources of news for people who often lack access to independent information.

They inform, engage, and connect with international audiences across television, radio, Internet, and mobile devices in 59 languages in more than 100 countries.

In 2011, the BBG had one of its most successful years ever; our broadcasts reached a record 187 million people every week, up 22 million from 2010. We reach people in their languages of choice; in countries where independent journalism is limited or not available; and where governments jam broadcasts and censor the Internet. The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) provides transmission, marketing, and program placement services for all BBG broadcast organizations.

For more information, please call 202-203-4400 or email pubaff@bbg.gov.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency, supervising all U.S. government-supported, civilian international broadcasting, whose mission is inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy. BBG broadcasts reach an audience of 187 million in 100 countries. BBG networks include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Martí).

CPJ’s new analysis identifies Eritrea, North Korea, Syria, Iran as worst

Originally posted here:
10 Most Censored Countries

News of blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng has been censored for months. International news reports of his escape last week from incarceration in his home in Linyi, Shandong–apparently to U.S. protection, although his whereabouts remain unclear–has only intensified that censorship. That is unlikely to stop discussion among those familiar with Chen’s case.

Visit link:
Blog: Blind lawyer spurs news blackout in China

Go here to see the original:
Guangcheng case highlights ‘clash of ideas’ in US-China relations

Chen Guangcheng with his family

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) Advisory Board member Reggie Littlejohn reported that blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng has escaped house arrest. Reggie Littlejohn, who is president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, has received the news about Chen Guangcheng’s escape from leading Chinese activist He Peirong and other human rights defenders in China.

Blind forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng was reported “disappeared,” by a reliable source who contacted Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, Reggie Littlejohn told CUSIB. Yaxue Cao, a key Chinese human rights activist who has been advocating on behalf of Chen Guangcheng, told WRWF that she spoke with Chen’s nephew, Chen Kegui. Kegui’s mother overheard guards saying that Chen Guangcheng had “disappeared” from his home, where he had been under strict house arrest. Neither villagers nor family members know where he is. Yaxue Cao posted the recording of her conversation with Chen Kegui here. http://www.freecgc.blogspot.com/2012/04/blog-post_27.html

He Peirong just told WRWF that she helped Chen escape to an undisclosed location outside of Shandong. She said that his health is stable, but she fears he is in danger. She also stated that the fate of Chen’s wife, mother, daughter and son may be in jeopardy as well.

A further alarming development is that on the night of Thursday, April 26, Chen’s brother (Kegui’s father) was also seized by a band of thugs, led by Zhang Jian (张健 the head of the township). Kegui defended his parents using kitchen knives and injured the thugs, who ran away. Kegui then walked outside the village to surrender himself to the police. As he was standing outside the village, he told Cao that he fears for the lives of Chen Guangcheng and his family, and for his own life.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said, “We are grateful that Chen is no longer under house arrest, but we are concerned about his safety and that of his family. We call upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton specifically to raise Chen’s case during her visit to Beijing May 3-4. Indeed, we call upon the entire international diplomatic community to make urgent, official interventions on behalf of Chen with the Chinese government. We call upon NGOs and concerned citizens the world over strongly to support this great hero during his hour of need.”

Kegui also told Cao that he has seen Chen Guangcheng only twice since Guangcheng was put under house arrest. When Guangcheng’s other brother died in February of this year, Chen burst out of the house but was forcibly returned by dozens of guards. Also, early in 2011, several relatives were allowed to visit Chen briefly during the Chinese New Year.

View a video and sign a petition to free Chen Guangcheng here. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/

Reggie Littlejohn, Founder and President of Women's Rights Without Frontiers

As a member of CUSIB’s Advisory Board, Reggie Littlejohn has been actively campaigning for saving Voice of America (VOA) broadcasts to China and Tibet from being silenced by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a U.S. federal agency which manages Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and other U.S. government-funded international broadcasters. In response to protests from Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and other human rights groups, the BBG has decided to restore some of the VOA and RFA broadcasts that were to be terminated. Reggie Littlejohn has stated that these radio broadcasts from the United States are vital for human rights activists in China like Chen Guangcheng and his supporters.

Chen as Tank Man - 2011 Christmas Card to Free Blind Chinese Human Rights Activist Chen Guangcheng

Before the news of Chen Guangcheng’s escape from house arrest, Reggie Littlejohn published this op-ed:

The REAL War Against Women –

Forced abortion and Gendercide in China

SAN JOSE, CA. The real war against women has nothing to do with the morning-after pill or insurance coverage. This war transcends the debate between pro-life and pro-choice. It is not even being waged on U.S. soil.

The real war against women is forced abortion and gendercide in China.

As the U.S. debates Obamacare and the contraceptive mandate, Chinese women are being dragged out of their homes, strapped down to tables and forced to abort babies that they want, up to the ninth month of pregnancy. Sometimes the women themselves die, along with their full term babies. Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, no one supports forced abortion, because it’s not a choice. Watch this 4-minute video to learn the brutal truth about forced abortion in China.

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/?nav=stop-forced-abortion

Equally appalling, baby girls are being selected for termination. According to one UN estimate, up to 200 million women are missing in the world today due to gendercide, the sex-selective abortion of baby girls, mostly in China and India. Anyone who cares about women’s rights must be heartbroken and incensed by this massive attack against females.

China’s One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth. It is systematic, institutionalized violence against women:

· Forced abortion is violent. It is official government rape.

· Forced sterilization is often done without anesthesia and may cause infection, which can ruin a woman’s reproductive and general health.

· Infanticide – the killing of newborns – is a human rights atrocity. Read “Best Practices – Infanticide” here. http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=congressional

· Because of gendercide, there are now approximately 37 million more males living in China than women.

· This gender imbalance is driving sexual slavery not only within China, but from the surrounding countries as well.

· China has the highest female suicide rate of any nation in the world. An estimated 500 women a day end their lives in China.

The women of China cannot fight this war, or they risk being imprisoned, tortured and denied medical treatment, like blind forced abortion opponent, Chen Guangcheng.

Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Stand with our sisters in China. Sign a petition to end forced abortion in China.

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=sign_our_petition

Help free Chen Guangcheng.

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=chen-guangcheng

–
Reggie Littlejohn, President
Women’s Rights Without Frontiers
www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org
Stop Forced Abortion – China’s War on Women! Video (4 mins)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjtuBcJUsjY

For the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the federal agency that runs the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and other stations broadcasting news to the world with U.S. taxpayers’ money, the public opinion that matters is mostly abroad.

These stations provide uncensored news to many countries without free media and some, specifically the Voice of America, also represent the United States — the full spectrum of American opinions — as part of VOA’s mission. These stations are not in the public diplomacy business per se, but their news reporting and the image they project adds to the overall U.S. public diplomacy message in various countries.

If you are a foreign national and the news gets out that your U.S. government employer mistreats you and takes advantage of you, it’s not a good thing for America’s reputation abroad. Journalists talk to other journalists who in turn publish what they hear from their colleagues.

If the U.S. government employer claims that its activities reflect American values and help other nations transition to media freedom and democracy, the gap between actions and words becomes even more apparent.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors executive staff has never cared about such things. They have ignored the public impact of their actions for years as they continued to exploit foreign born and U.S. visa status journalists, denied them basic rights and got away with it until now.

But the news about their mistreatment of employees is now leaking out, bad press in many countries intensifies, and court cases pile up, including one at the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg. Even pro-American foreign politicians speak out in defense of journalists mistreated and exploited by the BBG. This is not the kind of public diplomacy the U.S. needs. Yet, the BBG executive staff has remained unmoved.

But the tide may be turning against the BBG managers now working for the director of the International Broadcasting Bureau Richard Lobo. The fact that BBG employees rate their managers as being the worst leaders in the entire U.S. government, as reflected in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) surveys, has caught the attention of BBG member Ambassador Victor Ashe. He started meeting with employees and urged other BBG members to do the same.

Ashe reported at the BBG meeting held last week in Miami that Board members have learned about management practices that were hidden in the closet for many years. He also said that Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine, who represented Secretary of State Clinton at the BBG meeting in Miami, made valuable suggestions on public input into the Agency’s operations. Another BBG member Susan McCue suggested that instead of cutting programs, the management should look for savings in “management.” At the same meeting, the Board reversed their staff’s recommendation to eliminate Voice of America radio broadcasts to Tibet and to close down the VOA Cantonese Service. The decision to reverse the Tibet and China cuts was announced by Governor Michael Meehan.

It appears that BBG members are finally beginning to realize that they themselves have been the victims of their own staff which has been responsible for numerous blunders, such as the proposal to end VOA radio to Tibet, but also for constantly proposing to cut programs, expanding their own bureaucracy at the expense of programming, and exploiting foreign journalists to maintain their positions and power.

The scheme devised by BBG executives involves cutting or reducing broadcasts, firing regular employees and replacing them with contractors who are paid very little, are denied basic employment benefits and can’t defend themselves effectively against abuses by the management.

Thanks to Governor Ashe’s efforts, BBG members and IBB director Richard Lobo have been hearing from some of these contractors at the Voice of America. For the first time, BBG members have met with union representatives. As Governor Ashe said, they have learned things they would rather not hear about, but things they should know. Exploitation and discrimination of foreign-born contractors was one of many topics which were discussed.

But neither employees nor their union are convinced that the current top BBG/IBB managers can be reformed. Most recently, the union representing BBG employees, AFGE Local 1812, posted an item on its website on the continuec Agency’s abuse of its J-1 Visa status journalists. It reads:

“Every so often there is case that so perfectly illustrates the mistreatment of employees committed by the BBG/IBB/VOA management that it needs to be told. The way this management has mistreated people that they brought into this country via the inappropriate use of the J-1 Visa process (known for good reason as the “nanny visa”) is appalling. Unfortunately the example below is not a singular case. There have been others that this management has sent packing in a similar manner. These former employees now have a very low opinion of the United States Government; if not America itself (although it needs to be pointed out that Sumaira has not indicated any ill will towards anyone at this point). I believe that the BBG/IBB/VOA management, by treating their J-1 Visa holders the way they do, turn these once enthusiastic promoters of America and our values into less than enthusiastic admirers of this country. In this way the management under the BBG undermines the Voice of America’s purpose, at least to the extent that we are supposed to promote good will towards this country and our ideals. I cannot vouch for everything she states but I can state that when the head of the H.R. office was asked what would have happened if Sumaira left the country when she was first informed that her visa had expired, she me told that there would not have been a reconsideration appeal because the Agency would not sponsor her to bring her back. In addition, the deciding official who heard Sumaira’s appeal did not sign the decision letter. One has to wonder why. I was a witness to Sumaira’s appeal and believe a third party decision maker would have thrown out the Agency’s allegations completely. Read Sumaira’s account by clicking on the title of this story.” Agency Abuse of J-1 Visa

Snjezana Pelivan is suing RFE/RL and BBG at the European Court of Human Rights

Then there is the longstanding discrimination of foreign-born journalists employed as contractors by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty at their headquarters in Prague, the Czech Republic. The Broadcasting Board of Governors executives devised a scheme of depriving these journalists of the protections they could receive under the current Czech labor law. That way they can fire them at will without any explanation and they can do that — they claim — under the communist-era rules that exempted certain foreign employers (It used to be Soviet companies in communist-run Czechoslovakia.) from some of the local laws and regulations.

This cynical abuse of the Czech legal system by the BBG has been a public diplomacy disaster abroad for the United States, but somehow it escaped the attention of most U.S. media and U.S. public officials.

Anna Karapetian is suing RFE/RL in Czech courts

This scandal has, however, been reported on widely by foreign media in some of the countries where RFE/RL operates. One case of a former RFE/RL employee Snjezana Pelivan has reached the European Court of Human Rights. Another case filed by an Armenian journalist Anna Karapetian is being reviewed by the courts in the Czech Republic. Both plaintiffs are women. They claim they were denied the protections of the Czech labor law because they were foreigners employed and then dismissed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. RFE/RL was merely following personnel policies set by BBG executives.

The husband of one of the women, himself a distinguished former RFE/RL editor and commentator, wrote a letter about the impact of this BBG policy on America’s image abroad. He provided a list of foreign media titles highly negative toward the United States as they reported on these court cases. The letter was addressed to the newly sworn in Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Tara Sonenshine.  The author of the letter Lev Roitman is the husband of Snjezana Pelivan whose case against RFE/RL and the BBG is pending before the European Court of Human Rights.  Roitman is a former RFE/RL senior commentator. He retired in 2005,after thirty years with RFE/RL in New York, Munich, and Prague.

“Please accept my congratulations on your confirmation by Senate as the next Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy. Hopefully, you will achieve better results for the United States than the kaleidoscope of your predecessors in that position.

 

In particular, the Secretary of State serves ex officio as a member of BBG and of RFE/RL’s

Board of Directors. You will represent her in that critical segment of U.S. public diplomacy.

For your predecessors, it was just a ceremonial and burdensome chore. The results of such a “leadership” (to use a politically correct word) are devastating to American image abroad.

 

Enclosed please find an Open Letter

At Broadcasting Board of Governors and Radio Free Europe/Liberty –Public Diplomacy is Public Scandal at Public Expense

It was delivered in hard copies to the listed addresses. On January 24th, the Open Letter was published and widely multiplied by Internet.

 

On January 27th, Mr. Walter Isaacson resigned as the BBG Chairman. Otherwise, nothing changed since then. Just the list of scandalous for the United States international publications (follows) grew longer. It is your task now to stop that cancerous grows of negative publicity.

 

I wish you real achievements in public diplomacy. You may start by confronting the self-serving BBG bureaucracy — for immediate benefit to our country.

 

“Abbreviated List of international publications (in Czech, Serbo-Croatian, English, Russian, Armenian, etc.) condemning RFE/RL discriminative personnel policies practiced in the Czech Republic”:

“At Broadcasting Board of Governors and Radio Free Europe/Liberty –

Public Diplomacy is Public Scandal at Public Expense,” 

“Snjezana Pelivan asks Croatian government to support her legal claim in Strasbourg,” 

“’Prague winter’ for USA’s Radio Free Europe/Liberty,”

“A Spectre (ghost) Haunts ‘Free Europe’ ,”

“A Letter from Prague: Two Women Fighting to Uphold America’s Principles at America’s Radio,”

“Samizdat at Radio Free Europe/ Liberty describes discrimination against foreigners, women,”

“American Radio Free Europe violates equal rights of its foreign employees in Prague,”

“U.S.-Funded Radio Free Europe Invokes Communist Law to Violate the Will of Congress,”

“American RFE/RL Fights in Courts against Armenian Journalist. And Scores Against America,”

“From RFE/RL: Immorality as a Matter of Policy,”

“Czech Court Rules Against RFE/RL in Suit by Dismissed Armenian Employee,”

“In handcuffs of ‘Liberty’,”

“Czech Court to American Radio Free Europe: No Use for U.S. Laws in the Czech Republic.         Hillary Clinton Will Not Be Asked to Testify,”

“Czech Court Rules RFE/RL Cannot Discriminate Against Its Own Foreign Journalists,”

“Radio Liberty Betrays Its Ideals,”

“Czech Supreme Court Rules Against Radio Free Europe. Karapetian’s Case Returned for New Consideration”,

“It’s the Morality, Stupid,”

“Radio Free Europe – Task for Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg,”

“Radio Free Europe – Guantanamo in Prague,”

“Armenian journalist appeals to Obama to Protect Rights of Foreign Journalists at U.S. Government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,”  

“Equality With Precondition. Practice of Free Europe Contradicts Its Ideals,”

“U.S. Attorney General is Asked to Investigate Fraud at RFE/RL,”

“Doomsday of Radio Liberty. From Double Standards to Double Morals?”

“A Sense of Betrayal,”

“Czech Politician Accuses U.S. of Discrimination Against Foreign Journalists,”

“On Air in Legal Vacuum,”

“Czech MP Writes to U.S. Counterparts Over Work Conditions in RFE/RL,”

”New Administration Must Undo RFE/RL Anti-Diplomacy Abroad,”

“BBG, RFE/RL: Bring Public Diplomats Instead of Public Bureaucrats,”

“Don’t Feed Kremlin’s Public Diplomacy With U.S. Public Hypocrisy,”

“Public Disaster Instead of Public Diplomacy,”

“Cases of Karapetian and Pelivan as Morality Check for Obama Administration. Radio Free Europe to Face European Court of Human Rights,”

“Czech MP Questions Pelivan Case,”

“Czech Sovereignty Ends at RFE/RL,”

“At Radio Free Europe/Liberty, Bulk of Discriminated Employees is Muslims. Hillary Clinton Serves on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Board of Directors,”

“Free Europe With Its Own Laws in Colonial Czech Republic?”  

“From Human Rights Show to Human Rights Court,”

“Prague Spring Leads to Strasbourg,”

”News Flashes From Radio Free/Radio Liberty. The Face of America Abroad,”

“Czech senator angry about Croat’s lawsuit”… “

Is it only us, or was Lynne Weil engaging in a bit of passive aggressive behavior at the recent Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) meeting in Miami?

The BBG’s Director of Communications and External Affairs Lynne Weil gave a very professional report on on media and Congressional outreach activities.

Fine and Good. But then something strange happened.

Lynne Weil

Frankly, we were surprised because Lynne Weil is a highly respected and experienced public relations specialist who before joining the BBG was the Press Director and Spokeswoman for the U.S. Agency for International Development, a Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, the Press Secretary for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the Communications Director for the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Victor Ashe

What struck us as very strange was the way Lynne Weil described BBG Governor Victor Ashe’s efforts to restore the Edward R. Murrow name to the BBG shortwave radio transmitting facility in Greenville, NC. Ashe with the help of North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones saved the station from being closed down by the Broadcasting Board of Governors and International Broadcasting Bureau executive staff. These staffers deeply resent Ashe’s active engagement and second guessing of their decisions. Most recently, he convinced other BBG members to discard the staff’s earlier recommendation to end Voice of America shortwave radio broadcasts to Tibet and to close down the VOA Cantonese Service.

It’s not that Lynne Weil was silent about Ashe’s efforts to save the Greenville station and to restore its name. On the contrary, her presentation was so full of accolades that after a while it began to sound farcical, at least to us, and perhaps also to Ashe and other BBG members in the room.

Lynne Weil also volunteered information that the placing of Edward R. Murrow signs near and on the station and the planned rededication ceremony that is to take place on May 2, will cost $10,000. A really strange move by a public relations professional.

Victor Ashe has been know to question extensive foreign travels and other extravagant expenditures like the $50,000,000 audience research contract with Gallup approved by BBG and IBB executives who protect their jobs and perks while proposing to eliminate broadcasts and fire hundreds of journalists and other broadcasting professionals. Ashe refuses to have his public comments cleared by the IBB staff and invites input from BBG rank-and-file employee. To the horror of the executive staff, he made his personal email address public and asked for public comments on important U.S. international broadcasting issues.

Rep. Walter B. Jones

Those viewing or listening to the proceedings of the Miami meeting could have easily concluded from Lynne Weil’s presentation that Ashe and Congressman Jones are only interested in the placing of new signs around the station and the rededication ceremony. In reality, this is an effort by distinguished public servants (Ashe is a former mayor of Knoxville, TN and former U.S. Ambassador to Poland) to ensure that Broadcasting Board of Governors and International Broadcasting Bureau government bureaucrats will have a more difficult time in the future trying to close down this only remaining shortwave radio transmitting facility on U.S. territory, which is operated by American workers and fully controlled by the U.S. government.

Ashe announced at the meeting that in addition to Congressman Jones, Casey Murrow, son of Edward R. Murrow, will participate in the rededication ceremony, which will also honor World Press Freedom Day. Edward R. Murrow, after whom the Greenville station was named, was the renowned broadcaster and director of the United States Information Agency, USIA (1961-1964). The Greenville station was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

It’s a well known fact that BBG/IBB executive staff wants to end shortwave radio broadcasts, especially by the Voice of America, even to countries without free media. Their now rejected recommendation to eliminate VOA radio to Tibet and China is a proof of their bureaucratic vision. They ignore the fact that the Chinese authorities censor and block Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and other Western news websites but they can never fully jam shortwave radio broadcasts.

Did Lynne Weil get carried away by her enthusiasm of being new in this job or was there another agenda? I guess we will never know for sure.

You can check it out yourself by viewing the on-demand video from meeting or listening to a MP3 file HERE. Lynne Weil’s presentation is at the very end of the file.

Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 mahajanr@rfa.org

Radio Free Asia Honored at Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards

Human Trafficking Web Video Series, Cantonese Radio Report Recognized

WASHINGTON – Radio Free Asia won two awards at the 16^th annual Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards sponsored by the Foreign Correspondents Club, Amnesty International, and the Hong Kong Journalists Association. RFA’s video documentary series on human trafficking in Asia won in the contest’s online content category and its Cantonese language story on the humiliation of a Chinese rights advocate garnered a merit award in the radio broadcast category.

“These hard-won awards reflect the commitment to the eye-opening journalism RFA does on a daily basis,” said Libby Liu, Radio Free Asia’s president. “Our reporting brings our audience closer to the truth, no matter how difficult the subject matter or media environment in which RFA language services operate.”

RFA’s online human trafficking series, representing the research and work of videographers spanning a year, documents the advent of child soldier recruitment in Burma, labor abuses in China’s black factories, traffickers targeting refugee camps in Thailand, and North Korean mothers being forcibly wed in China, among other instances of trafficking. Drawing from in-country interviews with victims, NGO representatives, and traffickers themselves, the videos tell the first-person stories of trafficking that affects millions in Asia. Together, the individual videos seek to go beyond the content’s shock value to explore the human subjects and complex factors that underpin trafficking in Asia, namely, population displacement, poverty, ethnic discrimination, cultural pressures, war, and government corruption, among other issues.

RFA Cantonese’s reporter Grace Leung was honored at the event for her radio story on Hebei rights activist Xu Yishun who was jailed for one and a half years in a re-education center for charges related to his plan to visit the wife of then-jailed Shandong blind activist Chen Guangcheng. Xu incurred mistreatment during his imprisonment and public humiliation upon his release in September 2011 when he was discharged without adequate clothing and his relatives were not allowed to pick him up at the prison gates.

Other news organizations recognized at this year’s event included South China Morning Post, National Public Radio, International Herald Tribune, and Time magazine, among other regional Hong Kong-based outlets. The winners were named at an April 21 ceremony held at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong.

# # #

Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media.  RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

Annette Lantos with her husband Congressman Tom Lantos

At the meeting of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) in Miami on April 20, the federal agency in charge of U.S. international broadcasting decided to reverse its earlier decision on Voice of America (VOA) program cuts to China and Tibet. In expressing his full support for restoring funding for these broadcasts, BBG Governor Ambassador Victor Ashe said:

This will make people like Annette Lantos very pleased and happy. She is a special figure in history.

Annette Lantos is the Chairman of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. She and her late husband Congressman Tom Lantos were both Holocaust survivors. Click here for more information about Mrs. Lantos’ pro-human rights activities.

Earlier this month, Annette Lantos had written a letter to the nine members of the bipartisan Board urging them to save U.S. taxpayer-funded news broadcasts to China, Tibet, and Russia. Her letter states:

“I write to you on a personal basis to express dismay that Voice of America radio and television broadcasts to Russia ceased in 2008. I am deeply concerned that although last year’s proposed cuts of VOA Mandarin and Cantonese radio and television programs were halted, this year’s proposal includes the elimination of VOA Cantonese services and VOA Tibetan Radio Services, at a time when there is significant unrest in Tibet. I urge you to continue the Cantonese and Tibetan broadcasts, and to restore them to Russia.”

Victor Ashe spearheaded the effort to overturn the earlier decision on cuts in broadcasting to China and Tibet.

He recalled that as U.S. Ambassador he had the privilege to welcome to Poland Annette Lantos and her late husband Congressman Tom Lantos when they came in 2005 for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp.

“It was a very difficult time for him emotionally to visit the barracks where torture occurred every minute,” said Ashe.

Speaking about the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ decision to restore funding in the next fiscal year for Voice of America radio broadcasts to Tibet and for the VOA Cantonese Service with its radio, television and Internet programming to China, Victor Ashe said that “hopefully, the response of this committee will receive the same attention that her [Annette Lantos'] eloquent letter has received.”

In her letter, Annette Lantos noted the efforts of the independent, nongovernmental Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) in support of the free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries without free media:

“I write in support of the efforts of the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting. The CUSIB works to ensure that U.S. government-funded broadcasts promote respect for human rights and freedom of the press, especially in nations where these basic freedoms are under attack.”

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and member of CUSIB’s Advisory Board, said, “I am deeply grateful to Mrs. Lantos for supporting Voice of America broadcasts into China, as she is a towering presence for human rights all over the globe, including millions who suffer at the hands of the brutal, totalitarian regime in China.  With a wave of self-immolations in Tibet, now is not the time to cut off VOA broadcasting in Tibetan.  The Cantonese broadcasts are essential as well.”

In addition to Ambassador Victor Ashe, other BBG members: Susan McCue, Michael Meehan and Dennis Mulhaupt, also made strong public statements at the meeting in Miami last week in support of continuing U.S. broadcasts to Tibet and China.

To read the entire letter by Annette Lantos click here.

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) is an independent, nongovernmental organization which supports free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries without free media.

For further information, please contact:

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB)
New York, New York

Ann Noonan, co-founder and Executive Director
Tel. 646-251-6069

Ted Lipien, co-founder and Director
Tel. 415-793-1642

Email: contact@cusib.org
www.cusib.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2012

Broadcasting Board of Governors Should Stay True to Their Mandate Not Only in China and Tibet

CUSIB/New York, NY — The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) has been vindicated by the action of Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) who approved a plan to restore funding in the FY 2013 budget request that the BBG proposed to cut earlier this year for U.S. international broadcasting to China and Tibet.

CUSIB applauds efforts by its members to bring this important issue to the attention of the American public. We are also deeply grateful to Mrs. Annette Lantos, a Holocaust survivor and human rights campaigner, who made a powerful plea to the Broadcasting Board of Governors in defense of Voice of America programs to China, Tibet, and Russia. CUSIB also thanks its Advisory Board members Reggie Littlejohn, founder and president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, and Jing Zhang, founder and president of Women’s Rights in China, for their efforts to show how VOA and Radio Free Asia (RFA) radio and television broadcasts help women in China who are victims of human rights abuses.

CUSIB Executive Director Ann Noonan stated: “Although we appreciate today’s decision by the BBG to restore Voice of America (VOA) Tibetan radio broadcasts and the Voice of America Cantonese Service, we remain concerned about how Voice of America English to Asia radio broadcasts and Voice of America Spanish and English radio, television and Internet to Latin America will be affected. We also remain concerned that the BBG executive staff ignored the message sent to them by Congress last year when they attempted to reallocate resources away from Voice of America broadcasting services and cut the jobs of their journalists committed to serving information needs of people living in countries without free media. The U.S. Congress had told the BBG in no uncertain terms that they were on the wrong course. This is not a battle we want to wage each year, and we would like to remain hopeful that the BBG will review its mission statement and use its resources wisely.”

“CUSIB would like to go on the record as opposing the proposed administrative merger of the surrogate broadcasters in its current form as undermining their independence, effectiveness and accountability to Congress and the American people,” stated CUSIB Director and co-founder Ted Lipien. “If the BBG is going to embrace internal administrative reform at its executive level, then CUSIB would strongly support increased funding from Congress for China, Middle East, Russia, Central Asia, Africa, and Latin America. If wisely managed, U.S. international broadcasting represents the best investment for U.S. national security interests. But we are concerned that the same officials who wanted to reduce broadcasts to Tibet and China using faulty research are also in charge of the proposed merger of the surrogate broadcasters and make unfounded claims about its benefits and presumed savings while pushing to limit public ownership and scrutiny over these and other operations,” Lipien said.

CUSIB supports the ongoing efforts of BBG member Ambassador Victor Ashe to protect the pro-media freedom and human rights mission of the Voice of America and the surrogate broadcasters and their journalists, especially his call for a continuation of U.S. radio broadcasting to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

CUSIB also concurs with the remarks by BBG member Michael Meehan as stated in the BBG’s official announcement: “China’s highly competitive media market and its government’s aggressive jamming of BBG content are long-standing challenges. Beijing blocks media of many kinds and aggressively stifles free expression, especially in regions where dissent continues to arise in the open, such as Tibet. While the Board understands the reality of the current budget environment, it also perceives a pressing need for the news and information that we provide to be seen and heard across China and Tibet.”

CUSIB awaits similar action from the BBG about the fate of other broadcasting services that also face unjustified cuts and reductions, including Voice of America Spanish, Georgian, Turkish, and Greek, among others, as well as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) broadcasts to the Russian Federation, and how a careful review of how the BBG and its International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) spend their resources might be able to save those programs and also save money for U.S. taxpayers.

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) is an independent, nongovernmental organization which supports free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries without free media.

For further information, please contact:
The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB)
New York, New York

Ann Noonan, co-founder and Executive Director
Tel. 646-251-6069

Ted Lipien, co-founder and Director
Tel. 415-793-1642
Email: contact@cusib.org
www.cusib.org

The wife of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, with whom she had worked for many years on numerous human rights campaigns around the world, also pleads with the BBG to restore Voice of America broadcasting to Russia, which had been suspended in 2008 and only partially renewed.

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting welcomes Mrs. Lantos’ plea in support of U.S. international broadcasting to nations and groups suffering from human rights abuses. BBG members should pay attention to these words of a Holocaust survivor:

“The VOA broadcasts fanned the fires of resistance in the brave underground fighters who sought to destroy the brutal Nazi totalitarianism from within. To cut off the VOA broadcasts would have been to cut off the very legs of the resistance. The same is true today in nations ruled by totalitarian regimes.”

CUSIB believes that the proposed broadcasting cuts and firing of nearly 300 Voice of America and other BBG journalists and staffers will harm U.S. national security and the cause of human rights and freedom around the world. CUSIB also believes that the Broadcasting Board of Governors is making a mistake in cutting essential programs while maintaining and even increasing non-programming spending and outside contracting.

CUSIB joins Mrs. Lantos in her plea to the Broadcasting Board of Governors and hopes that President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and members of Congress from both parties will ask the BBG to change its course:

“I know that my late husband, Congressman Tom Lantos, would have fought to save the VOA Russian, Tibetan, and Cantonese Broadcast Services — to use all available means to deliver uncensored news, hope and encouragement to those seeking freedom. How could I do any less?”

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) is an independent, nongovernmental organization which supports free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries without free media.

Website: http://www.cusib.org

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com.  For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting

Mrs. Lantos’s April 4, 2012 letter to the BBG begins:

“I write in support of Voice of America radio and television broadcasting, particularly to China, Tibet and Russia. In addition, I write in support of the efforts of the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting. The CUSIB works to ensure that U.S. government-funded broadcasts promote respect for human rights and freedom of the press, especially in nations where these basic freedoms are under attack.”

Annette Lantos is the Chairman of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice.

Her late husband Tom Lantos (February 1, 1928 – February 11, 2008) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 until his death and a powerful champion of human rights around the world. In speaking before the House of Representatives after his death, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that Lantos “devoted his public life to shining a bright light on the dark corners of oppression. . . He used his powerful voice to stir the consciousness of world leaders and the public alike.” U2 lead singer Bono called him a “prizefighter,” whose stamina would make him go “any amount of rounds, with anyone, anywhere, to protect human rights and common decency.”

The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice describes Annette Lantos’ role as her late husband’s partner in the struggle for human rights:

“For almost 30 years, Tom and Annette Lantos worked together in the Congress, fighting for the human rights and dignity of people in every corner of the world. This commitment to human rights was a shared passion, born out of their joint experience as Holocaust survivors. With colleagues on both sides of the aisle, they co-founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and waged many important legislative battles. After his death, Congress permanently established the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which continues the work of The Human Rights Caucus.”

Click here for more information about Mrs. Lantos’ pro-human rights activities.

Annette Lantos

228 Justice Court, NE #B Washington, DC 20002

Members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors

330 Independence Avenue
Washington, DC 20237

To Whom It May Concern:

I write in support of Voice of America radio and television broadcasting, particularly to China, Tibet and Russia. In addition, I write in support of the efforts of the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting. The CUSIB works to ensure that U.S. government-funded broadcasts promote respect for human rights and freedom of the press, especially in nations where these basic freedoms are under attack.

I write to you on a personal basis to express dismay that Voice of America radio and television broadcasts to Russia ceased in 2008. I am deeply concerned that although last year’s proposed cuts of VOA Mandarin and Cantonese radio and television programs were halted, this year’s proposal includes the elimination of VOA Cantonese services and VOA Tibetan Radio Services, at a time when there is significant unrest in Tibet. I urge you to continue the Cantonese and Tibetan broadcasts, and to restore them to Russia.

I well remember as a girl in Nazi-occupied Hungary, how every Sunday afternoon my family would draw the shades, close the curtains, and gather around the shortwave radio, pressing our ears close so that we could catch each precious word of freedom and hope that poured out of that radio receiver like manna from heaven. We had to strain to hear over the static caused by Nazi attempts to block the signal, but we were grateful to do so, because these words of truth were pure gold in the ubiquitous mire of Nazi propaganda. The VOA and BBC broadcasts were our one connection to freedom, our one connection to hope, and our lifeline that gave the resistance the courage to endure to the end. The VOA broadcasts fanned the fires of resistance in the brave underground fighters who sought to destroy the brutal Nazi totalitarianism from within. To cut off the VOA broadcasts would have been to cut off the very legs of the resistance. The same is true today in nations ruled by totalitarian regimes.

Now, the people of China and Tibet are suffering at the hands of a brutal, heartless regime. They also cannot speak openly without fear of punishment. The Chinese Communist Party seeks to maintain complete control over the information available to the people of China and Tibet. The CCP blocks the Internet and controls the flow of information, distorting the truth and promoting distrust of America. VOA has been the voice of freedom and democracy in China for 70 years. It is highly respected, even venerated, in China. Human rights activists like Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and Chinese campaigner for women’s rights Chen Guangcheng languish in prison and under house arrest. VOA broadcasts may be the only link with the free world for their families and supporters.

Millions of Cantonese speaking and Mandarin speaking Chinese people depend on VOA daily as their lifeline to the light of truth, freedom and hope. Millions of Tibetans also depend upon VOA’s Tibetan radio broadcasts. Radio reaches hundreds of millions who are too poor to afford television or the Internet, especially in rural China and Tibet.

Further, VOA radio and satellite television serve to counter anti-American propaganda in the most powerful way, giving a positive view of America, which is so necessary during this time of increasing Chinese militarism and anti-American militancy. Thus, these broadcasts are important to our national security.

I know that my late husband, Congressman Tom Lantos, would have fought to save the VOA Russian, Tibetan, and Cantonese Broadcast Services — to use all available means to deliver uncensored news, hope and encouragement to those seeking freedom. How could I do any less?

Recent pro-democracy protests around the world and attempts to suppress them show that giving up radio and television broadcasting to rely exclusively on the Internet would be a mistake, because the Internet can so easily be monitored and blocked. I commend the CUSIB’s efforts to urge the Broadcasting Board of Governors to maintain broadcasting – especially Voice of America radio and television broadcasting – into China and Tibet, and to restore it to Russia.

Sincerely,

Annette Lantos

To read the entire letter by Annette Lantos click here.

BBG's chief strategist Bruce Sherman at BBG Gallup audience research panel

Why is the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) trying to silence Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Tibet when Tibetan Buddhist monks are self-immolating to shock the conscience of the world and the Chinese government is increasing its repression of the Tibetan people and their culture? Why are the Voice of America Cantonese Service and many other VOA brand-names, including VOA English and VOA Spanish, being put on the chopping block by the BBG when China and even Iran are expanding their radio and television broadcasts around the world, including Latin America?

The answer to these questions was provided recently by the BBG’s chief strategist in an important article posted on one of the BBG’s websites.  Because of its significance, we are providing a link to Mr. Bruce Sherman’s article and reposting it at the end of our commentary. He holds the position of  the Director of  the BBG Office of Strategy and Development.

In a display of unlimited confidence, Mr.  Sherman explained that his federal agency can change brand-names at will. No name or institution is safe.  Even those that have been around for more than 70 years, have Congressional mandates and are closely associated around the world with America and its support for freedom can be erased and silenced overnight.

“Where our brands resonate with audiences, we want to preserve them. Where they don’t, we have the flexibility to invent new ones. Radio Sawa (‘together’ in Arabic) helped us rebrand our efforts in the Middle East and reach millions of new listeners.” — Bruce Sherman —  The BBG: One Organization, Many Brands

This is how the Director of the Broadcasting Board of Governors Office of Strategy and Development described the elimination a few years back of Voice of America (VOA) Arabic broadcasts and the banning of the VOA brand-name from the Middle East by the BBG. Mr. Sherman did not elaborate further that the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ decision to kill these broadcasts and their brand-name was based on audience research showing that words like “America” and “American” were disliked in the region.

Using the same logic,  the United States should not have used the “Voice of America” name to call its radio station established during World War II to broadcast news to Nazi Germany. It should have used a more neutral one. Perhaps a name like “Radio Together with Music” would have been less offensive to most citizens of Hitler’s Germany, who after all overwhelmingly supported their leader and viewed America as an enemy until almost the end of World War II.

In his article, Mr. Sherman overlooks an important fact that the American people and the U.S. Congress have always wanted the Voice of America to provide news and hope to those who are the most silenced and the most oppressed.

These audiences are often condemned to censorship and silence not only by their governments but also by the majority of their countrymen fed on regime propaganda. And yet, these marginalized groups that the BBG wants to abandon in its pursuit of a mass audience often produce the most influential intellectual and political leaders in support of freedom.

Think of Sophia Magdalena Scholl (9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943), a German student active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. She was executed and widely condemned by the vast majority of Germans at the time of her death. The Voice of America brand-name surely did not resonate well with those who cheered her death sentence.

Chen Guangcheng (born November 12, 1971), an illegally detained civil rights activist in the People’s Republic of China, and Liu Xiaobo, an imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate, belong to the same category of officially marginalized activists and intellectual figures for whom the Voice of America was established more than seventy years ago. They are not likely to receive news through the Internet. The VOA Mandarin and Cantonese websites are in any case effectively blocked by the Chinese cyber police, especially in prisons, labor camps and for those kept under house arrest like Chen Guangcheng and his family.

Chen Guangcheng with his family

Yet, the BBG strategists wanted to do away with the VOA Mandarin and Cantonese shortwave radio and satellite television broadcasts and to rely on Internet only. Their great idea for getting a mass online audience is to  promote English lessons with high school juvenile humor, which while being both creative and popular are ignored by the Chinese censors because they are unthreatening to the regime.

Mr. Sherman would no doubt point out that the agency planned to continue Mandarin and Cantonese radio news broadcasts on Radio Free Asia (RFA), also managed by the BBG. RFA is a “surrogate” broadcaster performing a very important function but was not created to represent the United States by providing American viewpoints. It was created to provide internal Chinese dissident viewpoints delivered by independent Chinese journalists. Two different missions, both equally important.

Still, Mr. Sherman’s commissioned research shows that  the RFA’s brand-name resonates even less well with audiences in China. Should it also be killed and replaced with something more neutral, perhaps even more neutral than VOA once the VOA radio and TV brand-name is also eliminated? The U.S. Congress needs to step in and stop this before it goes any further.

Liu Xiaobo

What is then the real reason for killing the best-known American international radio brand-name in China? The real reason — we suspect — is a bureaucratic desire to take control over U.S. international broadcasting away from the American people, the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. foreign policy establishment.

It’s not about saving money when budgets are tight. The BBG and its bureaucratic arm — the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) — are wasting U.S. taxpayers’ money right and left.

It’s not about moving to new Internet platforms, which as everyone knows are inexpensive and often free, and which VOA and other U.S. international broadcasters have already been using and expanding their use for many years. It is about preserving and creating new bureaucratic jobs by eliminating critical international news programs.

It is about firing close to 300 journalists and program support staffers so that the BBG can give a 50 million dollar audience research contract to the Gallup Organization.

Gallup has already reported to the BBG that the majority of people in China think that their media are free. This kind of finding is hardly worth millions of dollars. But the VOA Tibetan radio service and the VOA Cantonese news services are to be eliminated to pay for this kind of research in China.

What’s the point of doing questionable research in support of disappearing programs?

Much of what Mr. Sherman writes in his article are conclusions based on similar research findings consisting of only half-truths. Mr. Sherman claims for example that millions of new listeners were reached in the Middle East with the new Radio Sawa brand-name.

It is true that millions of new listeners came to the station over the years. But what Mr. Sherman fails to explain is that the BBG is now paying millions of dollars each year to put music-heavy Sawa programs on local FM and regional AM transmitters — something it had not done for Voice of America Arabic programs. If the same millions have been spent on the production and especially local FM distribution of the old VOA Arabic broadcasts, millions of new listeners also could have been gained for a much more substantive news and information on an American-brand radio and website.

In fact, the audience research data which Sherman swears by is highly misleading and practically useless for countries like China, where people are too afraid to give honest answers to politically sensitive survey questions. Yet, on the basis of this kind of research in highly repressed nations, which may show that broadcaster “A” has 0.1% weekly rating and broadcaster “B” has only 0.04%, the BBG makes strategic decisions to kill brand-names that have been around for 70 years and represent America, its institutions and its values.

How can any sane person make such decisions on the basis of a fraction of one percent difference when the margin of error in this kind of survey can be 3 to 5 percent and more? How can a survey conducted among Tibetan refugees in Nepal be used to prove that VOA Tibetan satellite TV programs should continue but VOA Tibetan radio programs should be eliminated when everyone knows that the Chinese authorities rigorously control private ownership of satellite dishes?

“Where our brands resonate with audiences, we want to preserve them. Where they don’t, we have the flexibility to invent new ones.”

What it means is the flexibility to decide what brand-names resonate with BBG’s International Broadcasting Bureau’s officials  who want to have greater control of U.S. international broadcasting resources. They want the power to kill brand-names, to show incomplete and unreliable research data to BBG members, and to get them to approve their decisions.

Tibetans, victims of human rights abuses in China will be ignored if it means saving the IBB’s bureaucratic jobs, giving $10,000  bonuses to its top executives, allowing them to travel around the world at taxpayers’ expense, and giving them the power to distribute multi-million-dollar contracts. All this for being rated in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) government-wide employee opinion surveys as being the worst leaders and managers in the federal bureaucracy. Should the U.S. Congress give even more power to this group of bureaucrats held in such low esteem by their own employees who are experts on their own countries and regions?

If that happens, the U.S. Congress, which had created the Voice of America and gave it its Charter and its mandate, will be ignored as well.

The BBG’s own data show that there is little strategic vision in BBG’s strategic planning.  Afghanistan and the Middle East are important, but strategically China represents the greatest  and the fastest growing public diplomacy challenge for the United States. And yet,  the BBG’s per capita spending on China is 39 times less than in Afghanistan, 29 times less than in the Middle East, 18 times less than in Iran, eight times less than in Tajikistan.

A BBG member Michael Meehan pointed out recently that the Chinese spend 6.6 billion dollars a year doing what the BBG is doing. (The BBG’s annual budget is about $750 million.) If there is not enough money, which is clearly the case, the last thing BBG members should be doing is giving more money to their bureaucrats and allowing them to eliminate programs to Tibet and China. This can hardly be based on any kind of strategic thinking.

But perhaps it is be unreasonable to expect BBG and IBB bureaucrats to propose eliminating their own positions to absorb budget cuts. The bureaucrats  will always push for cutting programs and jobs of journalists and broadcasters. That’s why BBG members have a responsibility to protect these important broadcasts. And yet they have failed to exercise this duty. They have given away their powers to Presidentially-appointed IBB Director Richard Lobo, his deputy Jeff Trimble and to Director Sherman.

Among BBG members, Ambassador Victor Ashe seems to be the only one speaking out publicly about the bureaucratic waste and abuse while strategically important broadcasts are silenced for no good reason. Most of the other BBG members approve whatever the IBB executive team puts in front of them, including ending VOA radio to Tibet.

A letter addressed to Congresswoman Kay Granger (R – TX), Chairman of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs of the House Committee on Appropriations and to Ranking Member Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D – NY) criticizes the Broadcasting Board of Governors for expanding their bureaucracy at the expense of critical overseas broadcasts and U.S. strategic interests:

The proposed reductions are driven not by a considered strategic world view, but by bureaucratic expedience and a fundamental misunderstanding of the mission of VOA. If the fiscal year 2013 proposal is enacted, the staff level for VOA will be reduced by 13.2% from the current year. In contrast, only 3.3% of the positions from the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), which provides administrative support to the BBG, will be cut.

If the fiscal year 2013 proposal is enacted the number of full time equivalent (FTE) positions for the IBB will rise from 593.2 in fiscal year 2011 to 678.2. In the same time period VOA will lose 121.2 FTE positions. The general trend of the IBB has been to grow larger while the number of language services they support is being reduced. Broadcasting should be the last thing to be cut. It makes little sense to grow the bureaucracy while cutting that which it is meant to support. The eliminations and reductions in broadcasting to Tibet, China, Laos, and Vietnam alone will cut 28 positions from VOA.

Link to the Letter

Source: Broadcasting Board of Governors FY 2013 Budget Request

BBG’s Strategic Vision and Planning Is Seriously Unbalanced

Mandarin Service

Cantonese Service

Tibetan Service

Burmese Service

Vietnamese Service

NOTE: All data are sourced from BBG 2010 Annual Language Service Review Briefing Book unless otherwise noted.

###

BBG Watch is providing a copy of Mr. Sherman’s article posted on one of the BBG websites:

“One organization, many brands” is integral to the BBG’s new strategy, Impact through Innovation, and Integration. The ability to have multiple brands offers several advantages…

More from the BBG Strategy Blog

By Bruce Sherman
BBG Office of Strategy and Development

The BBG’s major brand names are, of course, the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Alhurra TV, Radio Sawa, Radio Martí and TV Martí. There are also various sub-brands such as Radio Azadi (RFE/RL) in Afghanistan and Deewa Radio (VOA) in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Popular BBG programs — Parazit in Iran, OMG Meiyu in China, and Studio 7 in Zimbabwe — often acquire identities in their own right.

Differential branding is beneficial. It lets us position our products for specific markets and target key audience segments (women, youth, etc.). It helps us stand out in cluttered media environments and deal with challenging political realities, including anti-Americanism. All this helps boost our reach and impact — a BBG priority.

Where our brands resonate with audiences, we want to preserve them. Where they don’t, we have the flexibility to invent new ones. Radio Sawa (“together” in Arabic) helped us rebrand our efforts in the Middle East and reach millions of new listeners.

While the BBG sponsors multiple brands at the agency level, local audiences see only one or perhaps two brands in their particular markets. Research shows they usually know one from the other, and often use one more than the other — which is to say, the brands have unique audiences. Preserving those audiences is decidedly in the BBG’s interests.

Our brands, as symbols of our organizations, also reflect our statutory requirements — to do the news (local and international), represent America, and present U.S. policy. They each are established in law and have supporters in Congress. Preserving the brands thus upholds our congressional mandates.

That said, while supporting the brands, the BBG will become an increasingly unified international media network. Each brand will produce value-added content and retain editorial control. Where two brands coexist, they will complement each other so as to satisfy both audience needs and mission imperatives. The BBG will support them through integrated strategy, budgeting, research, distribution, marketing, and administrative management.

This is the “one organization, many brands” vision. The FY 2013 budget proposals to begin streamlining management and ending language service duplications are steps towards realizing this vision. So, too, is the board’s decision to combine the three grantee organizations (RFE/RL, RFA, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks), into one entity and to seek legislation to achieve definitive agency restructuring.

This word resonates sharply with what has been an ongoing activity by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) in its efforts to decimate U.S. broadcasting to many countries of the world, among them Tibet and China. Anyone who has a modicum of interest or understanding of what it means to live under an oppressive regime would be appalled by the direction in which the BBG is taking the Voice of America.

The explanations given thus far that the Internet is a more useful tool for addressing America’s public diplomacy are lacking in truth and common sense. Everyone knows that totalitarian regimes and their leaders are aggressive players in boycotting and in censorship of any Western influence or talk of freedom, human rights, living and breathing with dignity.

In spite of Congressional budget allotments for specific broadcasting, the BBG has acted in direct opposition to what Congress has dictated that must be done.

It would seem that the Executives leading the BBG do not agree with what Congress stipulates and are actively pursuing their own inexplicable agenda, which is even more worrisome. It appears that advancing the humanitarian goals of American public diplomacy abroad is not required by those in charge of the BBG. They are quite content to throw billions of people under the bus, deny them access to news from America and prevent them from learning that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights also applies to those souls who live under repressive and communist regimes.

With the advent of a new President in 2008, the activity and misdirection by the BBG has multiplied and moved quickly in spite of what Congress has said and done. They are behaving like autocrats themselves and influencing the editorial of direction of the Voice of America. They are exercising judgement that lacks humanity or compassion for the unfortunate people around the world who yearn to listen to VOA.

President Obama has shown his disdain for the relevancy of the three branches of government. The BBG executives are acting in the same manner and obviously are taking lessons from their patron. How disheartening for all those selfless persons who for seventy years made a huge difference in the lives of billions around the world. A bunch of highly paid wonks want to destroy the bedrock of American public diplomacy around the world to people who really need to hear its message of freedom and hope.

A group of Tibetans and human rights community supporters protested Friday in Los Angeles at the Sony Pictures Entertainment office against the planned silencing of the Voice of America (VOA) Tibetan radio programs by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a US federal agency in charge of VOA and other US international broadcasts. Michael Lynton, one of President Obama’s close friends, serves as the BBG’s interim presiding governor. Lynton is the Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Sony Corp. announced that Lynton will be promoted to chief executive of all of Sony’s operations in the U.S.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors wants to end Voice of America (VOA) radio news program to Tibet, Vietnam and Laos — all three nations ruled by repressive communist regimes. The Board also wants to close down the VOA Cantonese Service with its radio, television, and Internet news programs to China. In a move that will please Russia and its President-elect Vladimir Putin, the BBG also plans to end Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) broadcasts in Chechen to Chechnya and Voice of America Georgian radio programs. Foreign policy experts say that the Chinese government will be pleased by the termination of VOA Tibetan and Cantonese broadcasts.

The BBG continues to insist on ending VOA Tibetan radio broadcasts despite this week’s statement from the U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland who told reporters that China is aggravating the situation in the Tibetan region by its attacks on the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader-in-exile.

“We remain deeply concerned about the tensions and the human rights violations in the Tibetan areas. China’s own continuing vilification of the Dalai Lama and repeated accusations with regard to the Dalai Lama, and saying that he is directly involved – as to the Tibetan grievances, it just makes the situation worse. So we continue to call on China to respect the human rights of Tibetans and to – and allow journalists in, etcetera.”

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved a resolution deploring what it calls “the repressive policies targeting Tibetans” and urges Beijing to resume talks with Tibetan Buddhist leaders, including the Dalai Lama. The resolution does not carry the weight of law, but it urges U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to seek a full accounting from Beijing on its ongoing crackdown, particularly at the flashpoint Kirti monastery.

VOA’s Tibetan Service reported Wednesday that a 20-year-old monk named Lobsang Sherab set himself on fire in the main street of Cha township in China’s southwestern Sichuan province. Sherab was a member of the Kirti monastery, where anti-Beijing sentiment runs high.

Sherab was the 20th Tibetan monk or nun who have died by self-immolation this year, with at least 10 others surviving their suicide attempts.

BBG officials say that radio broadcasts to Tibet by Radio Free Asia (RFA), a semi-private broadcaster also funded and managed by the BBG, are sufficient even if there is a political and human rights crisis in Tibet.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors apparently does not believe that the Voice of America serves as a powerful symbol of America’s support for the oppressed people around the world, a media and foreign policy expert told BBG Watch. According to this expert, the Voice of America is one of the few remaining tools for delivering uncensored news to Tibet from the United States. The continued existence of Voice of America Tibetan radio programs also sends public diplomacy messages to the Tibetans that their suffering will not ignored or forgotten by the American people, the expert said.

The BBG cites tight budgets as the reason for the proposed cuts, but critics argue that the BBG’s out-of-control bureaucrats make these programming cuts to save their own jobs and those of big contractors. The BBG has awarded a 50 million dollar five year audience research contract to Gallup despite serious doubts about the value of conducting public opinion surveys on sensitive political and media issues in countries like China where the population is intimidated by a repressive regime.

The BBG plans to drastically reduce other broadcasting programs, including English and Spanish-language Voice of America international news reporting and news from the United States. At the same time the BBG is building up its bureaucratic arm, the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), giving its executives large bonuses despite their official Office Personnel Management (OPM) rating as the worst leaders and managers in the federal government.

Critics charge that the BBG is destroying America’s strategic information outreach to the world to feed its own bureaucracy. The bureaucratic arm of the BBG — the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) — is run by Richard Lobo, also one of President Obama’s close friends and supporters.

###

From the protest organizers:

Tell Michael Lynton to pay attention to the Tibetans who self-immolate to shock the conscience of the world.

Shock Michael Lynton’s conscience by signing our petition.

Tell Michael Lynton to save Voice of America radio broadcasts to Tibet, radio, TV, and Internet programs in Cantonese to China, and other American broadcasts and information programs to the world.

Tell Michael Lynton to stop taxpayers’ wasting money on the International Broadcasting Bureau bureaucracy and their big contractors while people in Tibet, China, Vietnam, Laos and around the world want news, hope and support from America.

What: Protest at Sony Pictures Entertainment Global Communication
When: Friday, March 30, 2012
Time: 11:00 –12:00AM
Where: 10202 West Washington Blvd. Culver City, California 90232

In the past several months, the tragedy of series of self-immolation of Tibetan people happened in Tibet. Because of news blackout, few people know the truth. The cancellation of the Tibetan language radio service of the Voice of America (VOA) will worsen the condition of freedom of information for Tibetans in China.

We hope Mr. Michael Lyton, the CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment Global Communications and the Presiding Interim Chair for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), who supports VOA’s cuts, can change his mind and support the continuing of Tibetan radio service of VOA.

Sponsors:
China Democracy Party
Visual Artists Guild
Local Tibetans from Los Angeles Area

Contacting:
James Zheng 626-227-4575
Minzhu98@yahoo.com

What: Protest at Sony Pictures Entertainment Global Communication
When: Friday, March 30, 2012
Time: 11:00 –12:00AM
Where: 10202 West Washington Blvd. Culver City, California 90232

In the past several months, the tragedy of series of self-immolation of Tibetan people happened in Tibet. Because of news blackout, few people know the truth. The cancellation of the Tibetan language radio service of the Voice of America (VOA) will worsen the condition of freedom of information for Tibetans in China.

We hope Mr. Michael Lyton, the CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment Global Communications and the Presiding Interim Chair for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), who supports VOA’s cuts, can change his mind and support the continuing of Tibetan radio service of VOA.

Sponsors:
China Democracy Party
Visual Artists Guild
Local Tibetans from Los Angeles Area

Contacting:
James Zheng 626-227-4575
Minzhu98@yahoo.com

The BBG plans to drastically reduce other programs, including English and Spanish-language Voice of America international news reporting and news from the United States. At the same time the BBG is building up its bureaucratic arm, the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), giving its executives large bonuses despite their official Office Personnel Management (OPM) rating as the worst leaders and managers in the federal government.

The BBG is destroying America’s strategic information outreach to the world to feed its own bureaucracy. Michael Lynton serves as the BBG’s interim presiding governor.

Tell Michael Lynton to pay attention to the Tibetans who self-immolate to shock the conscience of the world.

Shock Michael Lynton’s conscience by signing our petition.

Tell Michael Lynton to save Voice of America radio broadcasts to Tibet, radio, TV, and Internet programs in Cantonese to China, and other American broadcasts and information programs to the world.

Tell Michael Lynton to stop taxpayers’ wasting money on the International Broadcasting Bureau bureaucracy and their big contractors while people in Tibet, China, Vietnam, Laos and around the world want news, hope and support from America.

Michael Lynton is the Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. He is the former CEO of AOL Europe and Chairman and CEO of Pearson plc’s Penguin Group.

Mr. Lynton is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Rand Corporation.

He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School and is proficient in French, German and Dutch.

Lynton was named the BBG’s interim presiding governor following the departure of Chairman Walter Isaacson in February, 2012. He also serves as a member of the Governance Committee

Lynton was appointed to the board on July 2, 2010 to a term expiring on August 13, 2012. By law, any member whose term has expired may serve until a successor has been appointed and qualified.

The Broadcasting Board Governors (BBG) became the independent entity responsible for all U.S. Government and government-sponsored, non-military, international broadcasting on October 1, 1999.  With enactment of the 1998 Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act (Public Law 105-277), the BBG assumed authority for the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) and its broadcasting services – the Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB).  The Board also oversees three grantee organizations, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN).

Click on the image or here to sign Save Voice of America Radio to Tibet Petition.

When talking to Congressional staffers about shortwave radio reception in China, BBG executives put together about ten random samples of Voice of America Mandarin shortwave transmissions which showed that between the Chinese government’s jamming and co-channel interference about 95% or more of what VOA broadcasts can’t be heard.

These BBG executives could have just as well do a demonstration for Congressional staffers of Internet access in China to Voice of America Mandarin and Cantonese websites. It would have shown that the Chinese government’s blocking and censorship of VOA Chinese websites is about 99% effective unless one is a computer whiz kid who can access proxy servers before the Chinese cyber police discovers and blocks them.

The truth of the matter is that these BBG executives want to eliminate the Voice of America as a U.S. broadcaster in China and to fire dozens of VOA journalists specializing in human rights reporting. Their argument about developing new media program delivery is a hoax, since using new media is by and large free or inexpensive and the Voice of America Chinese Branch already makes a good use of it. What these BBG bureaucrats want is to take money and resources from serious Voice of America journalism and to use them for themselves and their private contractors.

The demonstration put together by these BBG executives for Congressional staffers was purposely incomplete and misleading. Voice of America shortwave radio broadcasts in Mandarin and Cantonese can in fact be heard outside of the main metropolitan areas in China and even in some big cities at certain times. National Public Radio (NPR) correspondent reported recently that Tibetan Buddhist monks in Tibet secretly listen every night to VOA Tibetan shortwave radio programs. BBG executives should be asked how these Tibetan monks manage to listen to these shortwave broadcasts if jamming is 95% effective.

Recently, a group of Voice of America radio listeners in China put together a video to show how important these VOA broadcasts are to them and to many disenfranchised and oppressed political, social, religious, and ethnic groups. The Broadcasting Board of Governors wants to pretend that groups like these do not exist and that VOA would be better off producing noncontroversial programs, such as English lessons, that would appeal to a mass audience and be approved by the Chinese censors.

BBG executives are so obsessed with faulty audience research that they don’t see the big picture. English lessons are designed to attract listeners to substantive news on VOA. They are not an end in themselves. These bureaucrats have no idea why Tibetan monks and others in China want Voice of America radio.

Women’s Rights in China (WRIC) NGO has produced a short video showing that both very young and older persons in China continue to rely on Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts for uncensored news and information. Their comments, recorded in China, point to the censorship of the Internet by the Chinese authorities and the fact that hundreds of millions of Chinese cannot use the Internet to access VOA websites, which are being blocked in China, or can’t afford to have Internet access of any kind because they are too poor.

The Voice of America celebrated last year the 70th anniversary of broadcasting to China. Its supporters in China seen in this video wish VOA happy birthday, which almost could not have been celebrated as the U.S. agency responsible for these broadcasts wanted to stop them shortly before the 70th anniversary date.

Thanks to numerous protests in China and in the United States, members of Congress from both parties prevented the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) from implementing its plan to end VOA radio and TV programs to China on October 1, 2011, which happened to be the anniversary of the founding of communist China. The BBG again wants to end VOA radio and television in Cantonese. BBG executives also want to terminate VOA Tibetan radio programs.

Women’s Rights in China Video was recorded in China by WRIC volunteers. Those appearing in this video have shown a lot of courage by admitting on camera that they are listeners to VOA radio broadcasts, but please note that their names are not used. They know that listening to VOA radio is safer than using the Internet.

Link to the Women’s Rights in China video on the 70th anniversary of Voice of America broadcasting to China.

The BBG staff’s presentation on Capitol Hill was highly misleading. Here are some counter-arguments:

1. Since the samples are all from urban or built-up areas, what about samples from the countryside? What anecdotal evidence do they have regarding jamming from Chinese individuals who have listened to VOA from rural areas that have either escaped or emigrated to the U.S.?

2. What active measures have the IBB taken to overcome jamming? Have they shifted frequencies or bands on a random or radical basis? Have they transmitted from various transmitter sites to change the incoming angle (i.e., North – South, East – West, over the Eural mountains, etc) in order to make jamming more difficult? By not attempting to overcome jamming, isn’t this a form of “surrender” in the War of Ideas? Does the BBG believe we are involved in a War of Ideas with China or that they have a role to play in its prosecution?

3. Have they experimented with “twilight” transmission (within an hour before and an hour after sunrise and sunset) when propagation patterns change and make jamming more difficult?

4. Do they see any potential with digital transmission in the shortwave (DRM)? Have they conducted any experimentation whatsoever with DRM in China?

5. If shortwave transmission to China is so poor, why is the BBG intent on continuing – if not upgrading – RFA shortwave transmission while eliminating VOA transmission?

6. Is the BBG in agreement that VOA and surrogate programming have entirely different purposes and that neither should be “homogenized” nor turned into a hybrid service or not?

7. Have they distributed or proliferated shortwave radio receivers, particularly to individuals in these disenfranchised communities? Do they see any value in giving poor populations more shortwave access?

Finally…

8. Shortwave is the only way to communicate with the economic and politically disenfranchised desparate individuals in China. These are people that suffer the most from human rights abuses and the ones that are most in need of VOA programming. As Dr. Lenczowski so eloquently states, it is VOA programming that helps reduce the “atomization” of politically disenfranchised individuals that are separated from each other by the totalitarian regime and they cannot coalese political power. Most of these individuals continue to live in poor areas where there are no electrical infrastructures in their communities. Therefore, it is impossible to communicate with them on the Internet or via social media since they have no electrical access whatsoever let alone the economic wherewithal to purchase Internet products. Does the BBG still consider this demographic group as a target population for VOA programming or are they only interested in reaching the “movers and shakers” and youth populations that have Internet access in the urban areas?

If the BBG is not interested in continuing an appeal to this particular demographic group, there is a serious disconnect between the BBG leadership and the journalists in the various language services. From my observation, the disenfranchised demographic in our target areas is the one that most of the journalists in most of the language services are most interested in reaching. If this is not the same concern of the BBG then there needs to be a serious re-education of either the BBG leadership or the journalists. If this is the case, this disparity between the preferred target audience of the BBG leadership and the target audience of the majority of the VOA journalists is a contributing factor to the low morale in our building. There is no wonder the BBG ends up at the bottom of the list of Federal government agencies in the Human Capital survey of employees.

This is how Jing Zhang, a former political prisoner in China who now lives in the United States and runs Women’s Rights in China, explained the importance of Voice of America radio broadcasts for the audiences that the Broadcasting Board of Governors wants to forget about:

The Internet offers undeniable advantages. However, it cannot replace radio broadcasting. In today’s China, foreign radio broadcasts in Chinese are still a crucial source of outside information for the majority of the population who lack access to the Internet. Voice of America not only provides indispensable and truthful news reporting, it also upholds the image of the United States and is a valuable antidote to the Great Foreign Propaganda Plan of the Chinese regime. Not only would the elimination of VOA’s Chinese language service be contrary to the spirit and values of America’s Founding Fathers, it would inflict irreparable harm on generations of dissidents and advocates of freedom and democracy, and silence the most vulnerable groups in Chinese society—the women and children.

READ MORE: Former Chinese political prisoner says VOA must not retreat from China of Ms. Zhang’s appeal.

The continued flow of information from people in the know concerning the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and concurrently the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) is cause for grave concern about continued American strategic, public diplomacy and humanitarian interests in various countries in the world especially, countries like Tibet where wanton desecration of its people is the cultural genocidal policy of China as well as China itself, where human rights and freedoms are denied in every part of one’s existence.

For these active efforts on the part of the BBG to decimate the Voice of America (VOA) and its other offshoot broadcasting entities one is reminded of there being something rotten in the state of the BBG. It isn’t just a lack of vital knowledge or even understanding about what the VOA and the BBG’s surrogate broadcasting grantees are all about, it seems more to be a contrived effort to eliminate America’s influence and presence around the world and especially in those countries where it is the sole light in people’s lives.

It is becoming clearer by the day that in spite of the simple fact that the BBG is completely out of touch and worse, has no real interest in knowing what, who, how and why the VOA has operated so successfully for seventy years. Its strange actions would appear to be herded from some other source which has a vested interest in eliminating American influence.

There is considerable evidence provided by the Obama administration that America has many things it should apologize for but rarely mentions those which have provided millions of people with hope , inspiration and a belief in liberty, freedom and justice for all — the bedrock of America’s dreams and accomplishments.

It is of deep concern that Congress has not acted in a more rapid process to stop what the BBG is doing in its tracks, completely, not just for the short term.

Whenever there has been a consolidation of entities such as for instance what the BBG wants to do, place Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) under one umbrella — ostensibly to save money and end duplication, supposedly — it becomes very clear in short order that what was intended is an unwieldy bubble with no direction. Incapable bureaucrats with even less information upon which to make decisions take over and for all intents and purposes the fundamental reason for the whole operation is lost and done away with entirely.

This is the track that the incompetents at the Broadcasting Board of Governors and the International Broadcasting Bureau seem to be on and America will definitely regret the day that these individuals were in a position of authority to exercise such insane judgement in a world where freedom, liberty and human rights are being torn apart.

One only needs look at the horrible attacks on Jews and Christians in many parts of the world and their right to exist being driven off the map of humanity. At no other time in America’s history, except for during the Second World War, has its influence, care, generosity and hope been more necessary than now. So the question remains, and it requires a very solid response. Why is the BBG attempting to tear down what has been operating exceptionally well for over seventy years?

The namby pamby answers from the BBG, such as saving money and eliminating duplication, just don’t answer the question and in no way are even reasonable or sound. While some may believe that the Cold War is over, most know that in a different form it is just heating up in many parts of the world. It is a frightening thought to realize that Christians and Jews are being killed just for the heck of it, without a viable response by radio broadcasts from America.

Now is the time — not later, or sometime in the future, but now — for Congress to act in a direct, concise and patriotic manner to save the agency and the Voice of America from demolition by a group of know nothings, care nothings, who themselves are so self-absorbed they have no idea what is required of America in order to maintain its influence and humanity for millions around the world.

CLICK on this image to send a letter to Congress to save VOA

The International Campaign for Tibet NGO has posted online an easy to use form for sending a letter to members of Congress to urge their support for resolutions calling on the Chinese government to end repression in Tibet and for preserving Voice of America Tibetan radio broadcasting, and sustain funding for other Tibet support programs in the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.

Monday and Tuesday more than a hundred Tibetan-Americans and Tibet-supporters will convene in Washington, DC to raise Tibet with their Senators and Representatives. With a few clicks you can help amplify their message today. Please join us and send a message to Capitol Hill that constituents across the country care about Tibet.

Every message counts! Please send one today—and encourage your friends and family to do so as well by tweeting about #TibetLobbyDay and posting this on Facebook.

To send the letter to your Congressional Representative and your Senators CLICK HERE.

###

SAMPLE LETTER

Members of Congress,

I write to thank you and your colleagues in Congress for a record of leadership on Tibetan issues and a commitment to provide programmatic and political support for Tibetans in exile and in Tibet.

Tibet is in crisis today. The Tibetan people are taking great risks to speak out for freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama. In response, Chinese security forces have imposed virtual martial law in many Tibetan areas, imposed a communications blackout, and blocked foreign journalists from reporting on the situation. It is vital that Congress and the international community help give Tibetans a voice.

Tibetan-Americans and Tibet supporters live in communities across the country. We recognize that the Chinese government has a well-funded and sophisticated lobby operation in Washington, D.C. But we are empowered by the unflinching courage of six million Tibetans who struggle against Chinese oppression every day and by the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama whose life’s work is the advancement of non-violence, human-dignity and a just solution for Tibet.

Congressional leaders from Speaker Boehner to Senator Feinstein have stood next to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and pledged their solidarity with the Tibetan cause, and Presidents Obama and Bush have publicly supported the Dalai Lama’s approach.

At this time of crisis, concerted Congressional action will signal to Tibetans and Chinese that the world is listening.

You can show your support for Tibet by:
1. (Senate) Cosponsor S. Res. 356, calling on the Chinese government to end its crackdown and address the legitimate grievances of the Tibetan people.
>> Bipartisan resolution (Feinstein-McCain-Lieberman) urges Chinese officials to end repressive policies targeting Tibetans and allow unrestricted access to foreign journalists and diplomats to Tibet.

2. Preserve Voice of America Tibetan radio broadcasting, and sustain funding for other Tibet support programs in the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.
>> VOA radio, proposed for elimination, offers perhaps the only uncensored source of world news in Tibet, due to the Chinese government’s severe restrictions on media.
>> The other small but indispensable investments in Tibetan communities support the Dalai Lama’s vision of preserving the Tibetan identity until a political solution is achieved.

3. Update the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 to respond to new developments in Tibet and within the Tibetan exile community.
>> New legislation should (a) articulate a relationship with the democratically-elected Central Tibetan Administration, (b) take a clear position that the reincarnation/succession of the Dalai Lama is up to him and the Tibetan people, not the Chinese government, (c) require the State Department to establish a consulate in Lhasa, Tibet, (d) urge a multi-lateral approach to resolving the Tibet issue and (e) include objection to forced resettlement of Tibetan nomads in “Tibet Project Principles.”

4. Advocate on behalf of Tibetan political prisoners, including Dhondup Wangchen, Lobsang Tenzin, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, Runggye Adak, Norzin Wangmo and Gendun Choekyi Nyima (Panchen Lama).
>> See www.savetibet.org for more information

5. (House) Cosponsor immigration legislation, H.R. 699 to provide 3,000 immigrant visas to qualified Tibetans over a 3-year period.
>> This bill (Sensenbrenner-George Miller), would further the Dalai Lama’s goal of helping preserve Tibetan culture in exile. Immigrants would be easily absorbed by established Tibetan-American communities.

Thank you for your support for Tibet.

Sincerely,

[ NAME ]

Monday and Tuesday more than a hundred Tibetan-Americans and Tibet-supporters will convene in Washington, DC to raise Tibet with their Senators and Representatives. With a few clicks you can help amplify their message today. Please join us and send a message to Capitol Hill that constituents across the country care about Tibet.

Every message counts! Please send one today—and encourage your friends and family to do so as well by tweeting about #TibetLobbyDay and posting this on Facebook.

To send the letter to your Congressional Representative and Your Senators CLICK HERE.

###

SAMPLE LETTER

Members of Congress,

I write to thank you and your colleagues in Congress for a record of leadership on Tibetan issues and a commitment to provide programmatic and political support for Tibetans in exile and in Tibet.

Tibet is in crisis today. The Tibetan people are taking great risks to speak out for freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama. In response, Chinese security forces have imposed virtual martial law in many Tibetan areas, imposed a communications blackout, and blocked foreign journalists from reporting on the situation. It is vital that Congress and the international community help give Tibetans a voice.

Tibetan-Americans and Tibet supporters live in communities across the country. We recognize that the Chinese government has a well-funded and sophisticated lobby operation in Washington, D.C. But we are empowered by the unflinching courage of six million Tibetans who struggle against Chinese oppression every day and by the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama whose life’s work is the advancement of non-violence, human-dignity and a just solution for Tibet.

Congressional leaders from Speaker Boehner to Senator Feinstein have stood next to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and pledged their solidarity with the Tibetan cause, and Presidents Obama and Bush have publicly supported the Dalai Lama’s approach.

At this time of crisis, concerted Congressional action will signal to Tibetans and Chinese that the world is listening.

You can show your support for Tibet by:
1. (Senate) Cosponsor S. Res. 356, calling on the Chinese government to end its crackdown and address the legitimate grievances of the Tibetan people.
>> Bipartisan resolution (Feinstein-McCain-Lieberman) urges Chinese officials to end repressive policies targeting Tibetans and allow unrestricted access to foreign journalists and diplomats to Tibet.

2. Preserve Voice of America Tibetan radio broadcasting, and sustain funding for other Tibet support programs in the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.
>> VOA radio, proposed for elimination, offers perhaps the only uncensored source of world news in Tibet, due to the Chinese government’s severe restrictions on media.
>> The other small but indispensable investments in Tibetan communities support the Dalai Lama’s vision of preserving the Tibetan identity until a political solution is achieved.

3. Update the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 to respond to new developments in Tibet and within the Tibetan exile community.
>> New legislation should (a) articulate a relationship with the democratically-elected Central Tibetan Administration, (b) take a clear position that the reincarnation/succession of the Dalai Lama is up to him and the Tibetan people, not the Chinese government, (c) require the State Department to establish a consulate in Lhasa, Tibet, (d) urge a multi-lateral approach to resolving the Tibet issue and (e) include objection to forced resettlement of Tibetan nomads in “Tibet Project Principles.”

4. Advocate on behalf of Tibetan political prisoners, including Dhondup Wangchen, Lobsang Tenzin, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, Runggye Adak, Norzin Wangmo and Gendun Choekyi Nyima (Panchen Lama).
>> See www.savetibet.org for more information

5. (House) Cosponsor immigration legislation, H.R. 699 to provide 3,000 immigrant visas to qualified Tibetans over a 3-year period.
>> This bill (Sensenbrenner-George Miller), would further the Dalai Lama’s goal of helping preserve Tibetan culture in exile. Immigrants would be easily absorbed by established Tibetan-American communities.

Thank you for your support for Tibet.

Sincerely,

[ NAME ]

Governor Ashe with VOA reporting team in Phnom Penh

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) senior Republican member Ambassador Victor Ashe is visiting Asia where the BBG is planning major reductions in Voice of America broadcasts. Ashe is believed to be opposed to some of these cuts and reductions already approved by the majority of BBG members in their FY2013 budget plan. These plans also face a stiff bipartisan opposition in Congress and among human rights organizations and media freedom groups.

Ashe is visiting Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. The Communist Party in Laos has been in power since 1975 and tightly controls the local media. The BBG wants to reduce the Voice of America Lao Service to two staffers by cutting four broadcasting positions and eliminating shortwave radio programs.

During his current trip to Asia, Ashe is not visiting Vietnam, where the BBG plans to eliminate 17 and a half hours of weekly VOA Vietnamese radio broadcasts, leaving only Internet VOA news service to a country where all the media are controlled by the Communist Party. The VOA Vietnamese Service will lose 10 broadcasting positions under the BBG proposal.

At the last BBG open meeting, Ashe questioned the wisdom of the most controversial among recent BBG proposals which calls for the elimination of all Voice of America Tibetan radio broadcasts at the time when more and more Tibetan monks are setting themselves on fire to protest increasing repression of the Tibetans by the communist regime in Beijing. The BBG wants to eliminate seven VOA Tibetan broadcasting positions. It also wants to eliminate one broadcasting position in the VOA Burmese Service and six positions in the VOA Bangla Service.

The BBG is also proposing halving Voice of America radio broadcasts to Afghanistan from 12 to 6 hours daily and eliminating 10 broadcasting positions. The same BBG budget proposal also calls for completely abolishing the Voice of America Cantonese Service, which has seven full time broadcasters and serves Cantonese speakers in China where they face increasing Chinese Communist Party restrictions on their language and culture.

The Voice of America English Newsroom and VOA English radio broadcasts which are heard in Asia are set to lose 71 journalistic and broadcast support positions. VOA English radio broadcasts on shortwave, AM and FM would be silenced to all areas of the world except Africa. That includes strategically important broadcasts to China and Tibet where VOA English is the only USG broadcast service that is not jammed.

It is not clear to what extent Ashe’s Asian trip and his opposition to some of the BBG proposed cuts in broadcasting services to Asia may influence further discussions among BBG members about these controversial reductions. He faces an uphill battle against an alliance of BBG and IBB bureaucrats and several BBG members, including some of Ashe’s Republican colleagues

Critics of this plan accuse the BBG, and particularly the International Broadcasting Bureau executive staff under the leadership of IBB director Richard Lobo of ignoring strategic US interests in the region and cutting critical programs while expanding the IBB bureaucracy. There is a bipartisan effort in Congress to stop at least some of the proposed BBG program cuts in Asia.

A letter addressed to Congresswoman Kay Granger (R – TX), Chairman of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs of the House Committee on Appropriations and to Ranking Member Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D – NY) criticizes the Broadcasting Board of Governors for expanding their bureaucracy at the expense of critical overseas broadcasts and U.S. strategic interests:

The proposed reductions are driven not by a considered strategic world view, but by bureaucratic expedience and a fundamental misunderstanding of the mission of VOA. If the fiscal year 2013 proposal is enacted, the staff level for VOA will be reduced by 13.2% from the current year. In contrast, only 3.3% of the positions from the International Broadcasting Board (IBB), which provides administrative support to the BBG, will be cut. If the fiscal year 2013 proposal is enacted the number of full time equivalent (FTE) positions for the IBB will rise from 593.2 in fiscal year 2011 to 678.2. In the same time period VOA will lose 121.2 FTE positions. The general trend of the IBB has been to grow larger while the number of language services they support is being reduced. Broadcasting should be the last thing to be cut. It makes little sense to grow the bureaucracy while cutting that which it is meant to support. The eliminations and reductions in broadcasting to Tibet, China, Laos, and Vietnam alone will cut 28 positions from VOA.

Link to the Letter

###

The following press release is from the official BBG website.

For BBG Gov. Ashe, A Busy SE Asia Agenda

BBG Governor Victor Ashe is in Southeast Asia, visiting BBG facilities, meeting with agency staff and holding talks with U.S. embassy officials and local authorities in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.

In the Udon Thani province of northeast Thailand, Ashe toured a BBG transmission facility and presented 30-year and 20-year service awards to staff members.

He spoke about the BBG’s mission and praised staff for its work in support of U.S. international broadcasting.

Ashe, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland, took particular interest in the activities undertaken by BBG officials to build and maintain relationships with local communities.

Ashe also met with Michael Honnold, acting public affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok.

At Voice of America offices in Phnom Penh, Ashe met toured the facilities and met with staff, including Poly Sam, director of the RFA’s Cambodian Service.

He heads now to Laos for further consultations on RFA and VOA operations.

The Dalai Lama said that Voice of America Tibetan radio is “vital medicine” for Tibetans, and the Tibetan people consider it as one of the most valuable and priceless gifts from the people and government of the United States to them.

Sign a Petition Save Voice of America Radio to Tibet

The Broadcasting Board of Governors Chief Financial Officer Maryjean Buhler pointed out at last week’s public board meeting that the BBG proposes in its fiscal year 2013 budget a reduction rather than an elimination of the Voice of America Tibetan Service.

The BBG proposal means, however, an elimination of the entire VOA Tibetan radio broadcasting service, leaving only a VOA Tibetan website and a VOA Tibetan television program. Neither of these can be viewed easily in Tibet due to the Chinese regime’s draconian restrictions on private ownership of satellite dishes and its effective blocking of VOA websites. This means that the VOA Tibetan Service would be reduced to providing news only to Tibetans living in exile rather than to Tibetans in Tibet, where the Voice of America is most needed and its radio programs are secretly listen to as reported recently by National Public Radio.

This video from last Thursday’s BBG board meeting includes comments by CFO Maryjean Buhler and BBG Governor Victor Ashe who is said to oppose cutting Voice of America radio broadcasts to Tibet. Ashe said that he received numerous protests and indicated that BBG members are taking another look at this matter.

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This document is reposted from savevoatibetanradio.com website.

Stop the Voice of America’s Tibetan Language Radio from going silent for the Tibetan people

In the FY2013 budget proposal, the Broadcasting Board of Governors plans on eliminating the Voice of America’s Tibetan language radio to Tibet.

The Tibetan People are burning with anguish and pain at this moment

This comes at a period when Tibet is literally burning, and China’s repression and crackdowns on the Tibetan people are at their harshest and most violent. Twenty five young people, mostly monks and  nuns, have self-immolated to draw attention to the attacks  on Tibetan religion and culture. China’s response has been to crackdown harder, conduct beatings and detentions and inflict painful and humiliating ‘re-education’ programs at Tibetan religious institutions.

Wrong political message to the Chinese Communist Party

Cutting this lifeline for Tibetans in their hour of need sends a wrong message to China. China will understand it to mean that decimation of Tibetan religion and culture, and indeed their very identity, will now be overlooked by America. And to the Tibetan people, it will be a heartbreaking blow from a nation that Tibetans love, respect, and consider a friend in stormy weather.

        VOA Tibetan language radio is a unique source of information for Tibetans

A recent NPR report on the Tibetan self-immolations in Tibet said, “The monks listen secretly to Voice of America’s Tibetan service news every night, despite feeling almost physical pain at the bleak news.” That’s because ever since 1991, when the Voice of America was mandated by an act of Congress to start its Tibetan language service, it has been the only international broadcast into Tibet that provides world news, US news, the activities and efforts of the Dalai Lama for his people, and information and analysis on the workings of the free world to Tibet. And today, VOA Tibetan radio is still the only one that gives all of that to the Tibetan people.

Shortwave radio is still a powerful medium in Tibet

Shortwave radio remains a cheap, easily concealed, and thus the safest mode of getting news and information in Tibet. Radio signals are jammed by the Chinese in town centers, but in the rural areas where the vast majority of Tibetans live, Voice of America’s radio is loud and clear.

The Dalai Lama said that Voice of America Tibetan radio is “vital medicine” for Tibetans, and the Tibetan people consider it as one of the most valuable and priceless gifts from the people and government of the United States to them.

Save VOA Tibetan radio on behalf of the millions of Tibetans living under extreme oppression, and the American people who have supported the plight of the Tibetans for over 50 years.

 

March 12, 2011
For Immediate Release

CUSIB Joins Efforts to Free Gao Zhisheng

On Sunday, March 11, 2011 the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) Executive Director Ann Noonan attended the “Global Mission to Free Gao Zhisheng” sponsored by Chinese dissident Tang Baiqiao held at the Democracy University Chamber in Flushing, New York.

This event, broadcast live over the internet, demonstrated concern for the perilous situation faced by Gao Zhisheng, a prisoner of conscience in China who has had no contact with the outside world since February, 2009.

Ms. Noonan’s presentation focused on Mr. Gao’s fight to seek social justice through legal means: ”His disappearance represents a grave denial of rights to a Chinese citizen who has dared to speak up about injustice.”

She also stressed CUSIB’s adamant opposition to proposals by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a U.S. federal government agency, to eliminate Voice of America (VOA) Tibetan Radio (in Tibet) and to eliminate Voice of America’s Cantonese Service: “Now is not the time to cut any communication to people in China and Tibet who seek basic human rights and religious freedom and rely upon the United States to show that their plight has not been ignored and to encourage them to speak up and advocate despite the oppression.”

Other noteworthy speakers included Dr. Li Dayong, Party Vice-Chairman of the Global Service Center; John Kusimi, China Support Network; Cao Jintao, Chinese Coalition for Citizens’ Rights; artist and PEN author Huang Xiang, poetRichard “Zhisheng” Yang.

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB), www.cusib.org, is a nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization working to strengthen free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries with restricted media environments.

For further information contact CUSIB co-founder Ted Lipien (415) 793-1642.

Read the full text of Ann Noonan’s presentation Free Gao Zhisheng:

Gao Zhisheng

Free Gao Zhisheng

By Ann Noonan

Sunday, March 11, 2011

Gao Zhisheng has been missing for 1131 Days.

On behalf of Free Church for China, I am here to call upon China’s government to release Chinese Christian human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng immediately.

Mr. Gao has fought against the violence of China’s Communist Party through legal means. He has fought to “restore human rights in China”.  In 2001, even the PRC’s Justice Ministry recognized him as one of the “Ten Outstanding Lawyers in China”. Mr. Gao has been preeminent as one seeking social justice through legal means.
In the legal community, Mr. Gao has been known for the free legal service he provided to people in China. He was born poor, and sympathized with the needs of the poor. In his first two years as a lawyer, Mr. Gao compiled a lengthy dossier about the PRC’s persecution of house church Christians in China: Protestants arrested and accused of terrorism, elderly believers tortured in prison, and so on. Mr. Gao was so moved by their testimonies that he embraced the Christian faith.

Mr. Gao provided legal defense for marginalized groups in China, including religious practitioners, rural workers and human rights activists.

Mr. Gao has endured some of the most brutal conditions imaginable in China’s prisons.  Reports about Mr. Gao’s arrests and detentions detail violent beatings, electrical shocks applied to his body, and having his eyes burnt by lit cigarettes. This pattern of torture and abuse by PRC officials cause great concern by all since his most recent arrest and disappearance.

We remain alarmed by the lack of access to him by diplomats, concerned citizens, and his family.  We continue to raises serious questions about his health and safety.

His disappearance represents a grave denial of rights to a Chinese citizen who has dared to speak up about injustice.

As a Catholic, I pray for Mr. Gao.  I pray for his wife and his children who now live in the US and applaud their love and their courage as to continue to pursue justice for their loved one.

I urge all to check the FreeGao.org website and get involved.

I also urge all to contact Members of Congress, in particular the Members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs to enact and support an amendment to save Voice of America’s Tibetan Radio Service and Cantonese Service.

As you may know the Broadcasting Board of Governors has proposed cuts to eliminate these services from Voice of America.

Now is not the time to cut any communication to people in China and Tibet who seek basic human rights and religious freedom and rely upon the United States to show that their plight has not been ignored and to encourage them to speak up and advocate despite the oppression.

As the Executive Director for the Committee for US International Broadcasting, I invite you all to please visit CUSIB.org website and sign our petition.

Thank you again for welcoming me to speak here today.

It is beyond comprehension that these Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) conduits of bad news can perform like consummate actors when required. It is shocking, abhorrent and despicable that these kinds of individuals can even sleep at night. Where is honor! Where is duty! Where is patriotism? Where is the humanity? Where is the love of freedom and democracy for the disadvantaged? Where is the truth?

“When one knows the truth, it is not difficult to discern what is false”. While there are a few Congressmen and Senators who are showing concern, there should be a much larger brouhaha about what is transpiring with the BBG and ultimately that guardian of freedom and dignity displayed by the Voice of America (VOA) around the world.

Wake up and smell the coffee BBG members. You have a duty to perform that involves the lives of millions of people. When are you going to get serious about your mandate and protect the VOA and those millions the world over who need to hear what America has to say about freedom and religion and a free market economy?

Have you fallen ill and vaulted into President Obama’s deep cellar of iniquity? So far, his talk has been cheap and not worthy of acceptance. Do you view yourselves any better? The disgust and deep worry for those who live under horrific conditions without hope creates a distinct distaste for what you Board members are doing and how you are doing it!

American citizens deserve better from those who are receiving large amounts of tax-payer dollars and get nothing in return………not them or the people for whom you are commissioned to act and make viable VOA broadcasts around the world to those in need.

Shame on you! For your incredible hypocrisy and role-playing and for what you are inclined to do to millions who need our help to enjoy some dignity and light in their lives, whether it is interesting information or beautiful music. The medicine you choose for others, you should be able to take yourselves.

March 10 demonstration for free Tibet, New York City, USA (Raw photo via Annie Kohl)

BBG Watch joins in the protests against repression in Tibet and renews its appeal to pressure the Obama Administration and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to reverse their decision to end Voice of America (VOA) Tibetan radio broadcasts.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TIBETANS, SUPPORTERS IN 100+ CITIES STAND UP FOR FREEDOM AS SELF-IMMOLATIONS CONTINUE IN TIBET

Mar 10, 2012
Contact: Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director, +1 (646) 724-0748
Tenzin Dolkar, USA Director, +1 (917) 727-6239
Kate Woznow, Deputy Director, +1 (917) 300-9491

TIBETANS, SUPPORTERS IN 100+ CITIES STAND UP FOR FREEDOM AS SELF-IMMOLATIONS CONTINUE IN TIBET

Tibet campaigners urge meaningful action from global governments.

New York – Tibetans and their supporters in more than 30 countries (1) took to the streets today to mark the 53rd anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan National Uprising (2) when tens of thousands of Tibetans rose up against China’s invasion and occupation of their country. Today’s global protests came as Tibetans inside Tibet continue to defiantly resist China’s repressive policies, which have provoked an unprecedented wave of self-immolations by Tibetan monks, nuns and laypeople. On March 6th, a Tibetan man was reportedly shot dead, and two more injured, as police conducted a manhunt to arrest Tibetans who had taken part in a nonviolent protest in Pema County, eastern Tibet, in late January.

“Today we honor all Tibetans, past and present, who have courageously resisted China’s violent colonial rule. Fifty three years on, Tibetans are still demanding independence and the freedom simply to be Tibetan – to speak our language, to practice our Buddhist religion, and to live free in our own country,” said Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “In the past year, Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans, Syrians, and others around the world have risen up and shown the world that the time for authoritarian rulers has ended. In Tibet, the self-immolations, acts of civil disobedience, and mass protests demonstrate that even one more day under the Chinese regime is too long. Tibetans need freedom now.”

Since January 2012, 13 Tibetan monks, nuns and lay people (3) in eastern Tibet have set themselves alight in protest, calling for freedom for Tibet and the return of the Dalai Lama. All told, 26 Tibetans have self-immolated in Tibet since 2009, at least 19 of whom have died (4), including Rinchen, a mother of four children (4). The same calls for freedom were heard during a wave of large-scale peaceful protests in January and February of this year. Chinese security forces responded to this resistance by opening fire on crowds, killing at least five Tibetans and seriously injuring many more.

“The self-immolations are a direct response by Tibetans who have suffered horrific repression for decades under China’s occupation. As Tibetans in Tibet are taking their own lives to resist China’s violent regime, people of conscience worldwide were in streets today to ensure that Tibetans’ cries for freedom echo around the world and pierce the halls of political power,” said Tenzin Dolkar, USA Director of Students for a Free Tibet.

Tibetans in Tibet continue to risk everything in defiance of the Chinese leadership, which recently announced it was preparing for “war” against Tibetan “saboteurs” (5). In an effort to stop news of this unrest reaching the world, the Chinese government has sealed Tibet off from foreigners and journalists, and cut internet and mobile phone service in many areas. Undercover footage obtained by journalists who have snuck into Ngaba (Chinese: Aba), eastern Tibet, shows a town saturated with riot police, troops, and other extreme military build up.(6)

“Faced with all the armed might of the Chinese state, Tibetans are unwavering in their demand for basic rights and freedoms,” said Kate Woznow, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “Today, people around the world stood in solidarity and called on our global leaders to come together now to take new, coordinated action to help secure a just and fair resolution for the Tibetan people, so that they can live their lives in the peace and freedom they have sacrificed so much to achieve.”

NOTES:

1. See www.March10.org

2. March 10, 2012 is the anniversary of one of the most momentous days in Tibetan history; on this day in 1959 thousands of Tibetans in Tibet took to the streets of Lhasa to protest against Chinese rule and protect their leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As China shelled Lhasa, the Dalai Lama was forced to escape from Tibet. In 2008, protests in Tibet on March 10 sparked an uprising across the Tibetan plateau in the weeks that followed, the largest since the 1959 Uprising.

3. See www.StandUpforTibet.org/further-information.

4. See report by the International Campaign for Tibet: http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/tibetan-student-and-widowed-mother-self-immolate-tibet

5. In February 2012, Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo told officials to prepare for “a war against secessionist sabotage” [Tibet Daily, quoted by The Telegraph, see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/tibet/9074401/Chinese-police-shoot-dead-two-as-Tibetan-New-Year-approaches.html ]

6) See footage from Sky News, http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16183059, and The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/feb/10/inside-tibet-heart-protest-video

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Sign a Petition - Save Voice of America Radio To Tibet - Click on the Image to Sign.

The BBG wants to minimize VOA Vietnamese radio broadcasts and to eliminate positions of 10 VOA Vietnamese broadcasters. The BBG also wants to reduce RFA coverage to Vietnam and eliminate two RFA Vietnamese positions.

AMENDMENT
OFFERED BY MR. ROHRABACHER OF CALIFORNIA
TO THE AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A
SUBSTITUTE TO H.R. 1410 OFFERED BY MR.
SMITH OF NEW JERSEY

In section 4(a), insert before the period at the end the following: ‘‘and that the Broadcasting Board of Governors should not cut staffing, funding, or broadcast hours for the Vietnamese language services of the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, which shall be done without reducing any other broadcast language services’’.

A strong critic of the Broadcasting Board of Governors and supporter of U.S. broadcasts to nations without free media, Rep. Rohrabacher introduced a successful amendment last year to prevent the BBG from ending Voice of America radio and television broadcasts to China.

This year the BBG staff struck back with far greater programming cuts against VOA, including the elimination of the VOA Cantonese Service and VOA radio broadcasts to Tibet. BBG Watch has learned that at least some BBG members were not fully briefed by the staff on the extent of the programming cuts, particularly with regard to Tibet. At today’s BBG open meeting, BBG Governor Victor Ashe — a frequent critic of programming reductions proposals from the International Broadcasting Bureau staff — suggested that the Board will reevaluate the proposed cut of VOA radio to Tibet, but the Board did not take a formal action to reverse its earlier decision. There was no mention at today’s BBG meeting of reevaluating or reversing the proposed cuts in other VOA English and language services.

The latest amendment from Rep. Rohrabacher does not address the other proposed cuts to VOA programs, but numerous human rights and media freedom activists as well as the union representing BBG employees are working on getting Congressional support to overrule the BBG’s decisions.

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Russia – Human Rights Watch calls for an end to intimidation of activists, media as election nears

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Russia: Harassment of Critics