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Kari Lake previews her plans for Voice of America in the next Administration.
- Thread starter Bill Betten
- Start date
And you base this assumption on what research?
You can, however, find research released this week that the president of Argentina... who in may ways is a Trump clone... is the most "popular" and highly respected leader in all of Latin America.
Revelan nuevo ranking de presidentes de Sudamérica: Javier Milei es el más popular, ¿en qué puesto quedó Gustavo Petro? (In Spanish, but the chart about one page-scroll down shows how well-perceived he is).
My suspicion as a programmer in 16 of the Spanish speaking Latin American nations is that the people who might be interested in VOA content (particularly if available online or through time bought on local FMs) would find that kind of content very appealing. In particular, the movement in many nations towards a conservative smaller government has great appeal among the middle class that might listen to such content if available conveniently.
As has been said here countless times, the international broadcasters have either closed or changed focus to new media.
It depends on what region of the world you are referring to. VOA doesn't broadcast to the EU countries, where there have been some right wing increases in parliaments. It also doesn't broadcast to Latin America anymore. Just Africa and parts of Asia. Then you've got Radio Free Asia, which is jammed. VOA's audience is 'limited' to those in Africa and the parts of Asia it's trying to reach (Burma, North Korea, Tibet, China -- including Uighur speaking western China, etc.).
So whether right wing governments are rising in the EU is immaterial to VOA's purpose. They may stream in Indian languages and Arabic, and it's possible that there are listeners to VOA's English stream in the EU, but who's really listening to VOA streams overseas when they have local music streams to listen to?
You completely missed the point of my post, which dealt with Steve Bannon, not conservative media in general.
An international audience will have no tolerance for Bannon’s recipe of disinformation, half-truths, distortion, “alternative facts”, conspiracy theories, and outright lies.
I don’t think anyone wants an American version of RT. Ever looked at their content? Bizarre alternate universe, an absolute sewer.
Have you listened to the VOA? Last time I heard one of their newscasts -- actually it was three of them, over the period of an hour -- there was nothing in the content that someone like Bannon could twist. How could Bannon get the VOA to tell half truths about the elections in Ghana or Nigeria? Do Bannon, Lake or Trump even care about what's happening in Ghana or Nigeria? Could they even find them on the map? Probably not. What's Bannon's take (or Lake's for that matter) on Zimbabwe and what is happening there? Their take is probably non-existent.
I think when it comes to what VOA actually does, the Trump Administration -- any administration, actually -- is like a fish out of water. They all are basically Amero-centric when it comes to policy. They have only a rudimentary understanding of what our foreign broadcasts attempt to accomplish, but there's no way that any American politicians could turn the VOA into RT.
VOA isn't Fox Cable News or CNN. It's a shortwave extension of US 'soft power', and their newscasts are mainly about what's happening in the regions where they beam their broadcasts. I hear the ones beamed at Africa, because many of them are in English. I hear news events based in Africa, interviews with African politicians and other African newsmakers, and there is a lot of US pop and R&B music played on VOA, too. One afternoon a year ago I heard a news feature on Zimbabwean white farmers being invited to Zambia to farm there. I doubt that anyone in the upcoming administration -- much less anyone in the present one -- knows where Zambia is.
I suppose they could cut the budget, or eliminate VOA completely. I could see that possibility. But the fact remains that major international broadcasters use SW to reach Africa for a reason. If VOA is eliminated, it's one less diplomatic tool for our government to use to try to influence positive relations with African and Asian countries, by reaching out directly to the people there.
This person does!
Michael C. Gonzales - Wikipedia
Zambia to finally get new US Ambassador - Zambia: News Diggers!
US President Joe Biden has announced his intent to nominate Michael Gonzales as US Ambassador to Zambia. According to a statement issued by the White House, Friday, Gonzales currently serves as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of African Affairs in the U.S. Department of State
diggers.news
Listen to the clips i posted of VOA on the first page and tell me what bannon could twist
The new president has announced the person he wants to run the USAGM:
www.voanews.com
If you want someone more extreme than Kari Lake, it's Brent Bozell.
TTBOMK, he's never actually worked in the media. He's a good guy to promote an ideology. Bad for unbiased media.
The one part of the media he didn't include was radio.
Trump selects nominee to lead US global media agency
Head of conservative media bias watchdog named to lead entity overseeing independent news agencies including VOA
www.voanews.com
If you want someone more extreme than Kari Lake, it's Brent Bozell.
TTBOMK, he's never actually worked in the media. He's a good guy to promote an ideology. Bad for unbiased media.
The one part of the media he didn't include was radio.
Which could be getting the ax, or at the very least, severe reductions. Shortwave forums are already buzzing about this.
Turns out Brent Bozell's son was one of the convicted Jan 6th rioters:
www.nbcnews.com
His confirmation hearing will be interesting.
Trump picks father of convicted Jan. 6 rioter to serve as CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media
L. Brent Bozell III wrote a letter last year defending his son L. Brent Bozell IV, who was charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
www.nbcnews.com
His confirmation hearing will be interesting.
Oh good lord
Turns out Brent Bozell's son was one of the convicted Jan 6th rioters:
Trump picks father of convicted Jan. 6 rioter to serve as CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media
L. Brent Bozell III wrote a letter last year defending his son L. Brent Bozell IV, who was charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
His confirmation hearing will be interesting.
I would probably do a better job than him and I'd still suck at it. Though, I probably understand radio on a global scale better than this jabroni.
The real issue is that this is not about "radio" any more. If the VOA is to be of any propaganda use, it has to totally move to new methods of information distribution.
No matter how bad some repressive governments are, their citizens don't have and won't have short wave radios in the future.
I agree.. radio isnt just radio anymore, regardless of what old timers thing/say/kvetch about
Theyd have to start broadcasting news domestic audiences care about because thats not what they do currently. having heard VOA in english on SW quite a bit in the last few years, which mirrors alot of online content.. i cant recall many if any stories a domestic audience would be interested in long term
All of those people will be fired and replaced with far right ideologs. That's what Michael Pack did under 1st administration:
New CEO of US broadcasting abruptly fires agency heads
Michael Pack, ex-associate of President Trump’s former political adviser Steve Bannon, fired heads of three outlets and replaced their boards with allies.
www.11alive.com
well thats great and all, not.... but the VOA wouild have to totally change the news the report/cover/talk aboutAll of those people will be fired and replaced with far right ideologs. That's what Michael Pack did under 1st administration:
New CEO of US broadcasting abruptly fires agency heads
Michael Pack, ex-associate of President Trump’s former political adviser Steve Bannon, fired heads of three outlets and replaced their boards with allies.
Let's remember what happened when NBC tried a national news format in the mid-70's: most Americans wanted local news and the NBC offering was almost totally national.
VOA can't run local stations in the US. If an administration wanted to affect news within the nation's borders, they would have to intervene in some way in the operation of NPR as trying to do anything with VOA is not practical or possible.
VOA can't run local stations in the US. If an administration wanted to affect news within the nation's borders, they would have to intervene in some way in the operation of NPR as trying to do anything with VOA is not practical or possible.
Despite what anyone might think of the Trumpistas and far right politicians and influencers in general, you have to grudgingly admit that they are quite savvy about modern communication techniques and distribution platforms. Shortwave radio doesn’t fit into any of that, despite the dreck that private U.S. shortwave broadcasters are pumping out. Nobody is listening, outside of die-hard SW hobbyists.
Note that Russia shut down what was left of its international shortwave services in 2014, in favor of the RT television channel and website, local rebroadcasts and online distribution of Radio Sputnik, as well as the use of troll farms to pump social media full of distortions and disinformation.
China seems to be backing off of its international shortwave broadcasts. Many language services no longer have spoken word content, and are mostly music fill.
I suspect the BBC World Service in English will be gone from shortwave in the next five years, with only a very few specifically targeted language services still using SW output. They seem to be emphasizing online distribution and podcasts, along with local rebroadcasters.