VOA Persian News Network gets media attention.

"One U.S. government arm doing an exemplary job of reacting to Iran's post-election unrest is Voice of America, which has stepped up efforts to provide Iranians with information they aren't getting from Iran's state-run media. ... Radio beamed behind the Iron Curtain was VOA's primary medium during the Cold War. Today, its use of multiple technologies is key to its worth. The agency says its satellite TV broadcasts reach almost 30 percent of Iranian adults each week. And direct visits from inside Iran to PNN's Web site have increased more than 800 percent since early June. U.S. cable news channels are carrying first-person reports from inside Iran, too. But what distinguishes VOA is its long experience in reaching foreign audiences living under regimes that prohibit the free flow of information. That's an especially valuable capacity right now in regard to Iran -- one that should not be overlooked or underestimated in debate about how the U.S. government is dealing with events there." Editorial, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 25 June 2009. No mention of Radio Farda.
     VOA Persian News Netywork mentioned in stories on NBC, CNN, and ABC. Links to video at BBG Tune In, 25 June 2009.
     "The case can be credibly made that the VOA is a healthy return on investment for U.S. taxpayers when Iran's Foreign Ministry rails that such Western TV channels as the BBC and VOA 'are the mouthpiece of their government’s public diplomacy.' And it's helpful too that the VOA is mentioned in the same breath as the prestigious BBC, which, like the VOA, broadcasts in a language local to Iran. (Also, of course, there is the U.S. government-funded Radio Farda, which broadcasts programs into Iran in Farsi.)" Alvin Snyder, blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, 23 June 2009.
     "In Iran, Voice of America is nothing more than a watered-down CNN. Under Clinton, Bush, and now Obama, the U.S. State Department has been afraid to offend Iran's rulers." Ann Donnelly, The Columbian (Vancouver WA), 25 June 2009.
     VOA director "Danforth W. Austin, in an interview with News Talk, a daily show aired on the VOA Persian News Network (PNN), told viewers in Iran VOA would continue giving them a full and balanced view of events inside their country and around the world. ... Austin denied Iran's allegations that international broadcasters, including VOA, worked to threaten the country's territorial integrity. 'That's simply not true,' he said. VOA's specific mission is journalism, providing credible, trustworthy information that people can use to form their own opinions, Austin said. The U.S. Government-funded agency reports on those who support – and disagree – with U.S. policy, he added, explaining that VOA encourages debate and an open forum. Moreover, Austin said VOA would be delighted to secure interviews with senior Iranian officials, as well as officials from the United States and other countries. 'That’s good journalism,' he said." VOA press release, 25 June 2009.
     "How did Bush get his message into Iran? Via the main US government funded TV network: Voice of America’s Persian News Network (PNN). The satellite television network, broadcasting out of Washington, DC, in Iran’s own language, came into existence under Bush’s watch in July 2007. It now reaches 30% of Iranian adults. I suppose one could argue that a US government funded network might consist of American government propaganda, but from the BBC and CBC to NPR, these publicly-funded outlets are almost always the exact opposite, and rife with leftist journalists who are attracted by the theory that that a lack of corporate and private funding ought to make them more objective and less beholden to outside interests (rather than just more leftist, as a result of the ideology of the journalists who gravitate towards them). The fact that the network is free of Iranian government propaganda makes it a powerhouse for cultural change in itself. The American government also operates Radio Farda, featuring both music and news. Launched in December 2002, the network’s Persian language programming originates in Prague and is available on the internet and via radio transmission into Iran from various transmission towers in the Middle East." Rachel Marsden, Human Events, 25 June 2009.
     "During my latest appearance on Voice of America--the illegal but most popular TV channel in Iran--on Monday, I asked the Iranians to send me their opinions in response to the question, 'what do you want President Obama to do on Iran?' My mailbox is being flooded with e-mails in Farsi from throughout Iran. I am going to try to post translated excerpts from as many of these letters as possible throughout the next week." Sam Sedaei, Huffington Post, 25 June 2009. Posted: 26 Jun 2009 Permalink Print