Voice of America (VOA), or French Voice of America, is the international broadcasting service radio and television of the U.S. government. Unlike the Deutsche Welle , Radio France International or BBC World Service , VOA is directly controlled by the state. Its parent organization is the International Broadcasting Bureau. There are also several radio stations affiliated with or engaged VOA that broadcast its programs. These are also available on the Internet. VOA was first settled in Union Township (now West Chester Township) in the State of Ohio. Among other sites VOA are those of Dixon (California), Hawaii, Okinawa, Liberia, Costa Rica and Belize. Hearing the Voice of America would exceed 116 million listeners and viewers in 2006 , against 163 million for BBC World Service and 44 million for RFI.

VOA goals are defined in a charter drawn up in 1960 and became law on 12 July 1976 (Public Law 94-350) ^History

The Second World War

In terms of the international radio broadcast U.S. showed late: in 1930, they are the only major country not to have public radio signal to the world. Only a dozen shortwave transmitters of low power and belonging to the private sector are now in this country. In 1941 , several of them are rented by the Coordination for Inter-American Affairs (CIAA) to broadcast programs to Latin America. In mid 1941 , U.S. President Roosevelt created the Foreign Information Service (FIS) in charge of issuing abroad. The entry into the U.S. war against Japan and Germany at the end of that year makes it easier. By December 1941, the FIS launched its first broadcasts to Asia. On 24 February 1942 , the FIS began his broadcast to Europe through short-wave transmitters of the BBC. In June 1942 , Voice of America is under the authority of the Office of War Information (OWI) .

With the end of the war, the Voice of America closes many of its services in foreign languages. At the end of 1945 , a committee appointed by the Government of the United States and chaired by Arthur McMahon of Columbia University asked to pay more attention to the station VOA Thus, as the CIAA came under the control the State Department on 31 December 1945.

The beginning of the Cold War: 1947 - 1953

Joseph McCarthy

The emergence of the Cold War in 1947 gave a new justification for the existence of the Voice of America: the voices of America against that of the Soviet Union. In 1948 was voted the Smith-Mundt Act, which depend on the broadcasting services outside of the Office of International Information of Department of State.

Voice of America is facing a serious crisis in 1953. It is from the February 16 1953 that Senator Joseph McCarthy looks at VOA, which he accused some employees of''negligence promoting communism .'' Several employees have quit or are fired, the station's budget is reduced from 21 to 16 million, the proposed construction of transmitters is arrested, and several foreign language services are removed .

The result of the Cold War: 1953 - 1990

The same year a commission appointed by President Eisenhower concluded that information services for use abroad must no longer be controlled by the State Department. So the United States Information Agency (USIA) was established on ¹ August 1953 , on which Voice of America. In addition, the station was moved from New York to Washington.

In 1960 , the director of the USIA adopted the charter of the Voice of America, which sets out the principles guiding the radio station. In 1969 , it experienced its best audience: 800 million people following its broadcast of the first steps of man on the moon. On 12 July 1976 , the VOA charter becomes federal law (Public Law 94-350). In 1977 , the station became the first international broadcaster to constantly use the satellite to transmit programming.

During the years 1980, VOA launched its television programs. In 1983 , she initiated a program of reconstruction and modernization of its technical equipment, obsolete .

The 1990s

Old logo

In 1997 , the Albanian government cuts the programs broadcast from Voice of America by local stations. The same year the U.S. broadcaster for international access to the satellite AsiaSat 2. An important change takes place with the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 , which on 21 October 1998 , places the public broadcasters non-military programs overseas under the supervision of the Broadcasting Board of Directors, composed of nine members .

Voice of America after September 11, 2001

From the months following the attacks of September 11, 2001 , Voice of America are important pressures from the U.S. government not to broadcast interviews of persons linked to terrorism .

The U.S. government will strengthen its foreign media results in an increase of 30.96% of the funds allocated to the Voice of America between 2001 and 2002 , and by the continued in 2002 with a large staff . Since then, the number of employees has decreased but the budget of the radio station and television is increasing (166 million dollars in 2006 ). Stirring unrest in Somalia in 2006 and 2007 encouraging the Voice of America relaunch its programs in Somali . The new budget for 2008, not yet approved by Congress, will result in abandonment of 14 hours per day of VOA NewsNow Franais and the abandonment of the radio broadcast in Cantonese , Uzbek, Croatian, Greek, Hindi and Russian. Programs to the North Korea to Cuba and Venezuela are expected to increase their volume .

Languages

Currently

Voice of America currently broadcasts in 45 languages for its radio and television for over 24 (marked with an asterisk) :

History

The number of languages broadcast has declined in 2004. 52 languages in 1998 , VOA passes to 55 in 2003 and then down to 44 the following year .

Number of hours broadcast

In 2007 , Voice of America broadcast 1473 hours of programs, against 881 in 1998.

Audience

For 2009 would amount to some 125 million listeners and viewers . It is therefore up because in 1999 it was 91 million people .

Organization

Laws governing VOA and IBB

The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 prohibits Voice of America to issue directly to U.S. citizens. The original purpose of this Act is to prevent the U.S. government has a direct impact on its people, unlike many countries in Europe. In some cases the approval of Congress has been asked to broadcast programs in the United States , like the television show "Let Poland Be Poland. VOA can be heard on shortwave and online, it means for Americans to listen to this station.

Guardianship

The VOA's parent organization is the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), which itself depends on the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The director of the BWI is appointed by the President of the United States . Although the BBI has been contained wall protecting VOA and other broadcasters with a global vocation of political interference, criticisms have been raised in recent years to question the degree of independence of news programs from VOA government policy. Thus in 2001 , Voice of America has suffered the direct pressure of the U.S. Government in September 2001 the U.S. State Department asked the VOA not to broadcast the interview that one of its journalists had Mullah Omar, but it is still aired on 25 September 2001. Two months later, the station manager asked his editors to comply with U.S. law imposing not to air interviews with persons or governments related to terrorism .

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is an organization composed of nine people. Eight are appointed by the President of the United States of America, their appointment being confirmed or refuted by the Senate. The Secretary of State is an ex officio member of this organization . These members belong to the two largest parties in the United States , the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The organization that runs the U.S. government broadcasters for transmitting abroad. In addition to VOA, he was under the responsibility of Radio Marti and TV Marti for Cuba. Other public enterprises depend on BBG, like Radio Sawa for young Arab Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia.

In 2005 , the budget for the IBB and BBG was 248 million against 233 million in 2004 .

Internal organization

The Director manages the various departments and services included Voice of America. Here is the list of directors :

Voice of America had, in 2005 , 1149 employees, a figure comparable to that of 1998 , which amounted to 1143. However, it is possible to distinguish three periods in the evolution of the number of employees: from 1998 to 2000 , the workforce is stable and even decreased in 1999 to 2000 from 1152 to 1118 persons . In 2001 the number increased to move to 1353. Consequence of the September 11 attacks, the number of people working at VOA is stable the following year (1353). Then it decreases from 1353 to 2002 to 1212 in 2003 and 1149 in 2005 .

Budget

Voice of America operates using funds allocated by the U.S. Congress. In 2006 , the budget amounted to 166 million, or 124.7 million euros or 195.2 million Canadian dollars . VOA's budget is constantly increasing in 1998 to 2006 . From 1998 to 2001 , he rose from 102.478 to 112,700,000 dollars. The attacks of September 11, 2001 prompted the government to enhance the potency of VOA which sees its budget increase by 30.96% between 2001 and 2002. Between 2002 and 2006 , it increased by 12.48% from 147.588 to 166,000,000 dollars.

Controversies

National sovereignty

It has sometimes been suggested that the U.S. violated the sovereignty of foreign countries are broadcasting programs . In March 2006 , five Ethiopian journalists working for Voice of America has been arrested by the government of Ethiopia for treason

Payment for appearances

VOA has paid journalists to appear in its broadcasts. According to El Nuevo Herald and The Miami Herald, it would mean David Lightman, the Washington bureau chief for the Hartford Courant, Tom DeFrank, Washington bureau manager of the New York Daily News, Helle Dale former director of the Opinions section of The Washington Times Georgie Ann Meyer, Pablo Alfonso, a reporter for El Nuevo Herald, and Wilfredo Cancio . In response a spokesman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors told the El Nuevo Herald that such payments do not pose a conflict of interest: For decades, for many, many years, some of the most respected journalists have received payments to participate in programs of the Voice of America'' .

References

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