New York Times, 12 Feb 2013, editorial: "China and the United States should be working to covertly disrupt the North’s nuclear program, as was done with Iran. The United States should invest more in Radio Free Asia so that more outside information could reach North Korea’s people. Still, it should keep seeking dialogue. No good comes from ignoring North Korea."

I suppose "Radio Free Asia" makes the editorial's point better than the more vanilla "Voice of America." But VOA was broadcasting news about North Korea into North Korea years before RFA came along. Furthermore, only VOA presently has access to a medium wave transmitter in South Korea.

If the NYT's advice is heeded, RFA will get more money for coverage of North Korea, but VOA will have the medium wave transmitter in South Korea. This is the way it is with US international broadcasting. It's always an unassembled kit. The pieces never come together for effective mass communication. This is because the partisans in the War of the Entities are striving to preserve the entities, thus maintaining the inefficiency of USIB.

BBG Watch also sides with RFA over VOA in the War of the Entities by providing more disinformation about VOA...

BBG Watch, 15 Feb 2013: "Surrogate broadcasters like Radio Free Asia (RFA) provide local news content and specialization that other broadcasters, including the Voice of America (VOA), which is important for other reasons, simply cannot offer. Voice of America is important because it offers an authoritative presentation of American policies and opinions, which is critical for countries like North Korea, whose regime is both unpredictable and controls nuclear weapons. Radio Free Asia has a much more focused mission of in reporting on and analyzing internal political, social and economic developments in North Korea. Both missions are important in keeping the population of North Korea informed about both external and internal developments that affect the lives and security of both North Korea and the United States."

Of course, VOA is much more than "an authoritative presentation of American policies and opinions." The word "presentation" makes it seem like VOA is an infomercial for the United States. Actually, VOA reports on US policies towards North Korea. But more than that, VOA is offering the news about North Korea that BBG Watch says that it "simply cannot offer." Have a look this page of the VOA Korean website, and Google-translate it.

And, so, VOA and RFA are chasing many of the same stories about North Korea. This is duplication, a significant form of waste in federal spending. The duplication could be ended by ordering VOA to cease all of its reporting about North Korea. Then the North Koreans would be forced to tune to two stations, different times, different frequencies, to get all the news that they need (as if listening to foreign radio is not difficult enough in North Korea). Such a ridiculuous concept makes sense only to bureaucrats and to the anonymous commentators of BBG Watch.