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VOA staffers seek Hill probe by Tom Sullivan 
The Hill, July 6, 2004 VOA staffers seek Hill probe By Tom Sullivan Nearly half the staff of the Voice of America (VoA) has signed a petition that will be sent to members of Congress today accusing the Broadcasting Board of Governors of "dismantling the nation's radio beacon" and calling on Congress to investigate the board. The petition also accuses the board, an independent entity responsible for all government-sponsored broadcasting, of launching new services in the Middle East with no editorial accountability at the expense of VoA programs serving the same areas and cutting back on broadcasts to Eastern Europe and in English around the world. "We're being bled white to support this expensive and ill-advised operation to the Middle East," a VoA English-language editor and supervisor told The Hill. The VoA employee, who said he feared reprisals if he were identified, added, "It's shameful and also very sad that we're missing an opportunity to be doing what we should be doing." More than 460 of an estimated 1,000 VoA staff members have signed the petition, the editor said. A VoA spokesman said Friday that the agency would have no comment since he had not yet seen the petition. The major complaints cited in the petition involve the board's new services in the Middle East - Radio Sawa, al-Hurra and Radio Farda - which the signatories say provide inadequate news coverage and do not operate under VoA's charter, which guarantees balanced reporting. The petition accuses the board of shutting down the VoA Arabic Service and reducing resources to VoA television in the region and VoA service to Iran in favor of the new broadcasting services. Defenders of Radio Sawa and Radio Farda have said their offerings, mainly music with some news, appeal to younger listeners. But the VoA editor said reaching educated people, the leaders and activists in a community, is just as important. He also said the board members, with their business backgrounds, place too much emphasis on achieving market share. Alan Heil, a former VoA deputy director who helped distribute the petition, agreed. "Its very, very important for the United States to have something on the air that's more food for thought and is part of the dialogue and not just a pop music service," he said. Both Radio Sawa and al-Hurra have not reported important breaking news stories, according to the petition, including, in the case of Radio Sawa, the capture of Saddam Hussein. What little news is reported is not produced in VoA's newsroom but in a separate place overseen only be the board itself, the VoA editor said. "There is a lack of balance and a there is a lack of editorial oversight," he asserted. While the board is launching new services to the Middle East, VoA English broadcasts are being crippled, the petition's supporters say. The hours of English-language broadcasts have been reduced from 24 hours a day to 19. Because the service is dark at times it misses important stories, such as the handover of power in Iraq, Heil said. The petitioners also expressed concerns about increasing politicization of the VoA itself. Both Heil and another VoA journalist who spoke on the condition of anonymity said reporters and editors are convinced that the demotion of Andre DeNesnera as news director in a reorganization announced Thursday is evidence that is happening. "He was believed [to be acting], and correctly so, as the bulwark against politicization of the news report," the journalist said. DeNesnera could not be reached for comment. |