Broadcasting Board of Governors in 2008

Extract

[...] China is refusing to accredit two additional journalists on the grounds that they speak Mandarin (Kaufman 2003, p ) Kaufman has also written scholarly articles about the BBG itself, and suggests a significant expansion of its role, including " in important media markets, the BBG should own local broadcasting stations. Local censorship and market constraints apply to affiliate stations owned by the host country. Affiliates also do not put a high priority on U.S. broadcasts, and controlling what precedes and follows the U.S. [...]

[...] Glassman made predictions in the wake of the Iraq invasion as well, arguing that anti-war protestors were "clueless" because: "they told us that 500,000 Iraqis would be killed in Dresden-like bombing that thousands of our own troops would be killed, that the Arab "street" would rise up . that Iraqis would tenaciously resist our colonization of their land, that we would become bogged down in urban warfare, and on and on." (Glassman 2003, p. While formally correct in April of 2003, the last five years have shown that many of the predictions made by the anti-war movement were absolutely correct, and that Glassman was wrong. [...]

[...] A15) Blaya is one of the three Democrats on the board he donated $2000 to the Senator John Kerry Presidential campaign in 2004 according to Fundrace.org. Blaya appears to be less specifically ideological than Glassman; his position is not any less "pro-American", but he believes that the best way to have an influence on the Arab world is to present not just pro-American reportage and ideas alHurra presents televised speeches by President Bush, live and uncut but American-style media, which generally does not hold to a specific "party line" in the way foreign media often does. [...]

[...] 93) In essence, the mission of the BBG was being criticized, as the BBG was formed in the first place to remove these international broadcasting endeavors from direct State Department control. In 1998, for example, the BBG had launched Radio Free Iraq "as a surrogate radio station, to be truthful but also to promote democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression. Unlike [Voice of America] it has no mission to explain the United States or U.S. policy, so it is only partially a public diplomacy instrument." (Rugh 2006, p. [...]

[...] If the level of disagreement between board members after the departure of Tomlinson is low, it is because the level of disagreement between political parties is low. The Democratic Party was never against the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan, or in favor of the Castro regime or pro-Russian Ukranian officials, or Communist China's crackdowns on dissent. The Democrats may disagree with the methods used by the Bush administration, but not necessarily with the goals. Thus all seven current members of the board agree with the general ethos of American superiority, even if they do not adopt the entire neoconservative ideology of President Bush and chairman Glassman. [...]