Voice of America is an international radio broadcasting state media network funded by the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest of the U.S. international broadcasters. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content in 48 languages, which it distributes to affiliate stations around the world. Its targeted and primary audience is non-American outside of the US borders. As of November 2022, its reporting reached 326 million adults per week across all platforms. It is financed by the U.S. Agency for Global Media after the approval of the Congress.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is an American government-funded international media organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analyses to Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. RFE/RL is a private 501(c)(3) corporation and is supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an independent government agency overseeing all international broadcasting services that receive American government support. Nicola Careem is the organization's editor-in-chief.
The United States Information Agency (USIA) was a United States government agency devoted to the practice of public diplomacy which operated from 1953 to 1999.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996 by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of the United States Code. The act was the first significant overhaul of United States telecommunications law in more than sixty years, amending the Communications Act of 1934, and represented a major change in that law, because it was the first time that the Internet was added to American regulation of broadcasting and telephony.
Radio Televisión Martí is an American state-run radio and television international broadcaster based in Miami, Florida, financed by the federal government of the United States through the U.S. Agency for Global Media. It transmits propaganda in Spanish to Cuba and its broadcasts can also be heard and viewed worldwide through their website and on shortwave radio frequencies.
Alhurra is a U.S. government-owned Arabic-language satellite TV channel that broadcasts news and current affairs programming to audiences in the Middle East and North Africa. Alhurra is funded by the U.S. government and is barred from broadcasting within the United States itself under the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act.
The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), known until 2018 as the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), is an independent agency of the United States government that broadcasts news and information. It is considered an arm of U.S. diplomacy.
The Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG) was an arms-length Government of Canada agency. It was created in 1958 by amending the Broadcast Act to regulate television and radio broadcasting, originally taking over that function from the CBC.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is an American government-funded non-profit corporation operating a news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia. The service, which provides editorially independent reporting, has the stated mission of providing accurate and uncensored reporting to countries in Asia that have poor media environments and limited protections for speech and press freedom and "advancing the goals of United States foreign policy."
The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, popularly called the Smith–Mundt Act, was first introduced by Congressman Karl E. Mundt (R-SD) in January 1945 in the 79th Congress. It was subsequently passed by the 80th Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on January 27, 1948.
Kenneth Y. Tomlinson was an editor at Reader's Digest and American government official. He was also chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which manages Voice of America radio, and Chairman of the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which manages funds appropriated by Congress in support of public television and radio. According to The New York Times, there was an inquiry concerning possible misuse of federal money by Tomlinson. Investigators at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting said on November 15, 2005, "that they had uncovered evidence that its former chairman had repeatedly broken federal law and the organization's own regulations in a campaign to combat what he saw as liberal bias". According to The New York Times, U.S. State Department investigators determined in 2006 that he had "used his office to run a 'horse racing operation'," that he "improperly put a friend on the payroll", that he "repeatedly used government employees to perform personal errands", and that he "billed the government for more days of work than the rules permit".
Radio Azadi is the Afghan branch of the U.S. government's Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) external broadcast services. It broadcasts 12 hours daily as part of a 24-hour stream of programming in conjunction with Voice of America (VOA). Radio Free Afghanistan first aired in Afghanistan from 1985 to 1993 and was re-launched in January 2002. Radio Azadi produces a variety of cultural, political, and informational programs that are transmitted to listeners via shortwave radio, satellite and AM and FM signals provided by the International Broadcasting Bureau. According to Radio Azadi, their mission is "to promote and sustain democratic values and institutions in Afghanistan by disseminating news, factual information and ideas".
Radio Farda is the Iranian branch of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) external broadcast service for providing "factual, objective and professional journalism" to its audiences. It broadcasts 24 hours a day in the Persian language from its headquarters in the district Hagibor of Prague, Czech Republic.
The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) is the technical support outlet within the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which is a U.S. independent agency. The IBB supports the day-to-day operations of Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. It also provides transmission and technical support for all of the independent non-military broadcasting services funded by the USAGM. The IBB is located in Washington, D.C.
The Broadcasting Act, given royal assent on 1 February 1991, is an act of the Parliament of Canada regarding broadcasting of telecommunications in the country.
The Board for International Broadcasting (BIB) was a commission established in the United States as a privately incorporated organization in 1973 by the International Broadcasting Act of 1973, Public Law 93-129, on October 19, 1973. This primarily covered Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), established as an option to USSR broadcasting during the Cold War. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the International Broadcasting Act into law. This act disbanded the BIB and put control of the RFE/RL under the newly created bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).
Public diplomacy is that "form of international political advocacy in which the civilians of one country use legitimate means to reach out to the civilians of another country in order to gain popular support for negotiations occurring through diplomatic channels."
Radio propaganda is propaganda aimed at influencing attitudes towards a certain cause or position, delivered through radio broadcast. The power of radio propaganda came from its revolutionary nature. The radio, like later technological advances in the media, allowed information to be transmitted quickly and uniformly to vast populations. Internationally, the radio was an early and powerful recruiting tool for propaganda campaigns.
The United States International Programming to Ukraine and Neighboring Regions is a law that authorizes the federal government to spend $10 million on programming for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America to be broadcast into Ukraine. The goal of the increased funding would be to combat the Russian "propaganda" into the Crimean peninsula, which had been illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, provoking international condemnation and severe economic sanctions against Russia.
The United States International Communications Reform Act of 2014 is a bill that would revise U.S. international broadcasting and communications structures, missions, and objectives. The bill would also replace the Broadcasting Board of Governors with the United States International Communications Agency.
