Encyclopedia
Voice of America is the official international radio and television broadcasting service of the
United States federal government. It is vaguely similar to other international broadcasters such as the
BBC World Service,
Deutsche Welle,
Radio Netherlands,
Radio France Internationale,
Voice of Russia and
Radio Canada International owned by the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, , Its oversight bureau is the International Broadcasting Bureau, which is committed to "public diplomacy."
There are also many "affiliate" and contracted radio stations which carry VOA programs. VOA programs in many of its broadcast languages are also available on the
World Wide Web in both streaming media and downloadable formats. VOA formerly was based on a 625-acre site in
Union Township in
Butler County, Ohio, near
Cincinnati. The Bethany Relay Station operated from 1944 to 1994. Other former sites include
California ,
Hawaii,
Okinawa,
Liberia,
Costa Rica, and
Belize.
Languages
The Voice of America currently does radio broadcasts in 44 languages and television broadcasts in 24 :
Overview
VOA's parent organization is the International Broadcasting Bureau, which is overseen by the presidentially-appointed Broadcasting Board of Governors. Although the IBB was originally seen as a "wall" protecting VOA and other official U.S. civilian international broadcasters from political interference, critics in recent years have questioned the degree of independence of VOA's news programs from government policies.
History
VOA was organized in 1942 under the Office of War Information with news programs aimed at areas in
Europe and
North Africa under the occupation of
Nazi Germany. VOA began broadcasting on February 24, 1942.
Transmitters used by VOA came from
shortwave transmitters used by the
CBS and NBC. Voice of America began to transmit radio broadcasts into the
Soviet Union on February 17, 1947. During the
Cold War, VOA was placed under the
U.S. Information Agency. In the 1980s, VOA also added a television service, as well as special regional programs to
Cuba, Radio Martí and TV Martí.
The VOA has been broadcasting on the
Internet since 2000 in English. Content in other languages is also available online through a distributed network, using more than 14,000 servers in some 65 countries. The International Broadcasting Bureau, in its 2007 budget, proposes reductions in VOA's English language programming, by eliminating VOA News Now radio while maintaining VOA English to Africa, Special English, and VOA's English website.
Laws governing VOA-IBB's activities
Under United States
law , the Voice of America is forbidden to broadcast directly to American citizens. The original intent of this legislation is to keep the federal government from having a direct outlet to their domestic public, unlike many European countries. The law explicitly forbidding VOA from carrying out any domestic broadcasting activities is partly derived from the U.S.'s lack of a state funded domestic radio or television broadcaster. The law was also designed to satisfy the needs of the U.S.'s commercial radio broadcasting companies. The U.S.
PBS and
NPR networks in the U.S. function with some public funding, but without the oversight that state broadcasting corporations typically have. Both networks have supplied material for VOA Worldnet TV , or VOA's Radio's flagship English Service. No other international broadcaster has these kinds of restrictions governing their activities.
In special cases, such as the 1981 TV program
Let Poland Be Poland, Congressional approval was required to show Americans the program. However, VOA is audible on
shortwave and broadcasts streaming audio over the Internet, which enables Americans to hear the programming.
International Broadcasting Bureau services
VOA broadcasts several programs aimed at specialist audiences through the International Broadcasting Bureau. Radio Martí and TV Martí are aimed at
Cuba. Radio Sawa is aimed at a younger audience in the Arab world . Radio Farda is aimed at a younger audence in
Persian for
Iran. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia are VOA sister services aimed at the ex-
communist states and oppressive countries, particularly in
Europe and
Asia. Many Voice of America announcers, such as Willis Conover, Pat Gates, and Judy Massa became world-wide celebrities.
The Voice of America headquarters is located at 330 Independence Avenue SW,
Washington, DC, 20237, USA. IBB runs a number of transmitting sites throughout the world, including its domestic relay stations at Greenville, North Carolina and
Delano, California. IBB operates a series of relay stations outside the US:
Germany ,
United Kingdom,
Botswana,
Greece,
Kuwait,
Morocco,
Saipan &
Tinian,
Philippines,
São Tomé,
Sri Lanka,
Thailand, and recently
Pakistan.
Guam relay stations are available for use if crises in East Asia develop.
Pakistani Service
The Voice of America program.
Khabron Se Agay, is telecast in
Pakistan by
GEO TV. VOA says the program's purpose is to foster further understanding between the Pakistani and American peoples. This program includes documentaries about the United States and its people and about Pakistanis who are living in United States.
A comparison of VOA-RFE-RL-RM to other broadcasters
Programming
The Voice of America has 22 domestic and 16 overseas correspondents, who are U.S. citizens and employees of the U.S. government. They are augmented by contract correspondents and part-time "stringers," in numerous countries, who file in English and numerous languages used by VOA's various language services. The interval signal is "Yankee Doodle," played by a brass band, followed by the announcement: "this is the Voice of America, signing on." For many years "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean" was used for the interval signal .
VOA allocates a certain amount of its budget to television production and programming.
Featured shows
Controversy
National sovereignty
Some critics have suggested that the US government violates national sovereignty by broadcasting and operating in their countries.
In March 2006, five Voice of America staff were arrested on anti-state charges in Ethiopia. Charges were later dropped by the Ethiopian government.
Paying for appearances
Recently, news accounts charge that VOA has for years been paying mainstream media journalists to appear on their shows. According to and the , these include: David Lightman, the Hartford Courant's Washington bureau chief; Tom DeFrank, head of the New York Daily News' Washington office; Helle Dale, a former director of the opinion pages of the Washington Times; Georgie Anne Geyer, a nationally syndicated columnist; and Pablo Alfonso, staff reporter for El Nuevo Herald, and Wilfredo Cancio, a writer for the paper.
In response, spokesmen for the Broadcasting Board of Governors told the newspaper El Nuevo Herald that such payments do not pose a conflict of interest. "For decades, for many, many years, some of the most respectable journalists in the country have received payments to participate in programs of the Voice of America," one of the spokesmen, Larry Hart, told
=See also=
- Radio Free Europe
- Deutsche Welle
- 4 x 500 kW SW transmitters, each with Thomcast rotating antenna
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External links
- ¨The SWDXER¨ - with general SWL information and radio antenna tips.
