Kim Andrew Elliott
discussing
International
Broadcasting and
Public
Diplomacy
MARCH 2005
Put the news here, and the propaganda there: international broadcasting versus public diplomacy. Kim's analysis.
Kim's articles and papers
VOA
transmission schedule for A-05
season, 27 March-29 October 2005.
CHINA RADIO INTERNATIONAL IN, RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONAL OUT, ON PHILADELPHIA AM DIAL. CRI takes over 7-9 a.m. weekday slot on ethnic/international WNWR, 1540 kHz. Philadelphia Inquirer, 31 March 2005.
SW RADIO AFRICA JAMMED. Zimbabwean opposition station based in London continues to adjust frequencies to overcome the interference. "The only Zimbabwe radio station worth jamming!" SW Radio Africa. Also has instructions for anti-jamming antenna. BBC Monitoring confirms the jamming: "The 1600gmt cast on 11845 kHz was accompanied by a continuous 1kHz tone whilst the 1700 and 1800 gmt casts, on 11705 and 11995kHz respectively, were targeted by a rotary-type jammer. The interfering signals were present only for the period of the SW Radio Africa programming." See also Business Day (South Africa), 16 March 2005, The Mercury, Durban, 14 March 2005, and BBC News, 14 March 2005. Reporters sans frontières writes, "Thanks to support from China, which exports its repressive expertise, Robert Mugabe's government has yet again just proved itself to be one of the most active predators of press freedom." RSF, 22 March 2005. Independent radio from abroad examined by The Globe and Mail, 26 March 2005. "With Internet use limited to a few pay-as-you go stations in urban areas and private broadcasting outlawed, Zimbabweans have depended on short-wave radio beamed in from abroad." But UPI story confuses VOA's Studio 7 with SW Radio Africa. Via Washington Times, 31 March 2005.
BBC WORLD SERVICE WILL TIGHTEN ITS BELT, TOO. Although its funding comes from the Foreign Office rather than the license fee, "World Service is aiming to make efficiencies in the same order as the BBC-wide target." BBC World Service press office statement sent to Kim, 31 March 2005. Summary of cuts affecting domestic BBC services: BBC press release, 21 March 2005.
WORLD RADIO NETWORK CHANNEL ON WORLDSPACE NOW REQUIRES SUBSCRIPTION FEE. Channel aggregates English-language programs of international radio broadcasters. Click on Worldspace at www.wrn.org. Ireland's RTÉ, part of the WRN channel, writes: "We are very upset about the announcement of this new situation." RTÉ Radio announcement.
CHINA CALLING JAPAN. Xinhua Finance weekly radio program to be heard on Radio Nikkei, domestic shortwave broadcaster in Japan. Xinhua Finance press release, 31 March 2005.
BURMA SEEKS TO BLOCK PROXY WEBSITES. Irrawaddy reports that Burma uses software from a U.S. company to fill last gaps in Burma's internet filter. Irrawaddy, 30 March 2005. Perhaps shortwave is the ultimate "proxy."
TUNING IN TO BBC AND CNN FOR TSUNAMI WARNINGS. Which, fortunately, weren't necessary after the 28 March Indonesia earthquake. With local stations "largely silent," Malaysians relied "on live coverage from international news agencies like CNN and BBC." The Malay Mail, 29 March 2005. In the Maldives, they monitored BBC World. Minivan News, 29 March 2005.
"PUTTING NEWS FIRST." New BBC World marketing slogan for India. BBC also borrows a focus group soundbite: "CNN is reporting, BBC World is journalism." The Economic Times (New Delhi), 28 March 2005. BBC World also plans news to airplanes and mobile phones, and hopes to be profitable by the end of the decade. Indiantelevision.com, 28 March 2005.
STATE DEPARTMENT CLOSES THE AMERICAN CENTER IN ISLAMABAD. Along with its library, auditorium, art gallery, and public affairs office, for security reasons. Newsday, 28 March 2005.
SCOTLAND CALLING AMERICA. Tartan TV -- not a BBC production -- to be distributed to U.S. television stations. Boston Sunday Herald, 27 March 2005.
SENIOR U.S. OFFICIAL SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND CONCEPT OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING. Condoleezza Rice: "I'm a student of the Cold War and during that period the United States was really quite good at Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and Voice of America, very good at getting a message across that was not spin or somehow propaganda; it was the truth. And that was what really did impress the people of Eastern Europe." ABC This Week via State Department, 13 March 2005. Or does she? "...it has to be a unified message and a coherent message... ." Washington Post via State Department, 25 March 2005.
VOA MUNICH MEDIUM WAVE RELAY CLOSES WEEKEND OF 26 MARCH. Facility on 1197 kHz (1196 kHz before 1978) was key to the Voice of America's success in Czechoslovakia and Poland during Cold War. Now a U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau relay station, used for VOA and RFE broadcasts to the Balkans. VOA transmission schedule for A-05 season, 27 March-29 October 2005. (Does not include most rebroadcasting outlets.)
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY VIA TALKING HEADS. Alhurra, Radio Sawa, Hi magazine are nice, but "What would have a real impact," says unnamed U.S. official, "is a cast of American diplomats who were capable of putting their case over on Middle Eastern news and talk shows." telegraph.co.uk, 25 March 2005.
THE HEAVY BURDEN OF BUREAUCRACY. Farid Ghadry, president of the U.S. based Reform Party of Syria says the United States "must figure out a way to promote democracy outside the heavy burden of its bureaucracy. I suggest a special tax break for Americans willing to donate 'Democracy Dollars' to help democratic organizations like the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which can funnel the funds much more effectively. Or channel the funds directly to international organizations designated by U.S. Congress but outside departmental controls." FrontPage Magazine.com, 25 March 2005. Reform Party of Syria operates Radio Free Syria.
CNN INTERNATIONAL AND BBC WORLD BOTH CLAIM VICTORY FROM ASIAN AUDIENCE SURVEY. From Synovate PAX survey in eleven markets: "CNN International remains the undisputed news leader in Asia, and ... demonstrates the highest year-on-year growth in the news/business genre." CNN International press release, 24 March 2005. "BBC World has a greater year-on-year increase in weekly viewing among top management than any other international news channel." BBC World press release, 24 March 2005.
VOICE OF RUSSIA GETS MEDIUM WAVE IN GERMANY. Licensed to use 630 kHz near Braunschweig for two years, then the transmitter will convert to DRM digital. Radio Netherlands Media Network, 23 March 2005.
NO RSS FOR RIGHT-TO-LEFT LANGUAGES? BBC World Services director Richard Sambrook writes, "RSS does not have a way to display right to left languages correctly and is not very compatible with non Latin languages. I believe it just was not thought about deeply by the people and development effort behind RSS. ... We need to develop multiple language RSS and hopefully redefine standards and approaches." RConversation blog, 18 March 2005. RSS is a popular new method of distributing news through the internet. Some readers of this site would like me to use it.
NEW VOA TIBETAN TELEVISION PROGRAM. "First-ever TV program in Tibetan (outside of Tibet)" launches March 23, 1400 UTC. Available via AsiaSat 2 C-band. VOA media advisory via International Campaign for Tibet, 21 March 2005.
INDIAN HOME MINISTRY TO JAM RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTS? "Hostile content" could be blocked by successor to Central Monitoring Service, set up by British in 1937. Hindu Business Line, 18 March 2005.
BROADBAND OVER POWER LINE VERSUS RADIO OVER SHORTWAVE. America Radio Relay League seeks shutdown of Texas BPL provider, and imposition of fine, for alleged interference to amateur radio and shortwave broadcast bands. ARRL, 17 March 2005.
BBC WORLD SERVICE EXPLAINS WHY IT IS REDUCING SHORTWAVE, AGAIN. "The downward trend is accelerating." BBC World Service FAQ, 18 March 2005. Reductions will be in English, Spanish, and Arabic, with Portuguese to Brazil off shortwave altogether. Effective 27 March. BBC World Service announcement.
ALHURRA, RADIO SAWA REPORT IMPRESSIVE NUMBERS IN SYRIA. In satellite households, 39 percent watch Alhurra weekly. Among all adults, 13 percent listen weekly to Radio Sawa. Middle East Television Network press release, 10 March 2005. Radio Sawa has no FM outlet in Syria, so is heard there via medium wave relays, likely Cyprus, or perhaps FM from Jordan or West Bank. UPI examines these audience numbers and Alhurra itself. Via Washington Times, 17 March 2005. In other news, Syria withdraws accreditation for Alhurra/Radio Sawa correspondent. Aljazeera.net, 16 March 2005.
PILING HIGHER AND DEEPER. Advice to Karen Hughes, President Bush's nominee for Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy. Much of it has to do with international broadcasting, even though legislation in the 1990s separated U.S. international broadcasting from the U.S. Information Agency and later the State Department. While the Secretary of State is an ex officio member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the real authority is among the nine members of the BBG, a bipartisan panel whose members have fixed and staggered terms. With that in mind, read on...
NO LONGER LIKE SHOOTING
FISH IN A BARREL. "In the Soviet Union of the 1950s and '60s, there was
Pravda on the one hand, Voice of America on the other. The former
dished out the dreary boilerplate of the ruling Communist Party. The
latter offered exciting rhythms from the forbidden outside world. ...
Today, an official American image, even a well-crafted one, would have
to compete with a vast array of newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasts
and, most crucially, satellite TV networks -- some state-sponsored,
some independent -- that have a much better idea of what appeals to
their viewers than we do." Fred Kaplan, Slate, 15 March 2005.
GET INTERNATIONAL
BROADCASTING IN SYNC. "The BBG is supposed to broadcast balanced news
and cultural programs through the Voice of America network and
surrogate outlets such as Radio Free Asia. Since the Reagan
Administration, these entities have gone on to operate in separate
universes... Establish a public diplomacy coordinator position at the
National Security Council to put other agencies with missions like
information warfare, media development, and foreign broadcasting in
sync." Stephen Johnson and Helle Dale, Heritage
Foundation, 15 March 2005.
AND NIX THE POP. "Don't
look at this as giving those "foreigners" some of our good ol' pop
music (which we're doing with Radio Sawa), while neglecting real and
honest news." Georgie Anne Geyer, Yahoo!
News, 16 March 2005.
THE TARGET AUDIENCE IS
PAVLOV'S DOG. "Although audience surveys do suggest that people have
listened and tuned in to Radio Sawa and Al Hurra occasionally, there is
yet any solid evidence that these programs are working to convert
anyone to an American point of view, whatever that might be." Nancy
Snow, Common
Dreams, 14 March 2005.
WE'RE BRANDED, ALL RIGHT.
"This clumsy branding of George W. Bush's vision of America to
Americans will not only backfire at home, it invariably subverts
efforts to brand America overseas. Public candor and transparency are
supposed to be one of the American brand's distinguishing assets."
Andrés Martinez, Los
Angeles Times, 16 March 2005.
SWAMPING AFGHANISTAN WITH SUBSIDIZED BROADCASTING. "The donor-nation mantra is 'support free media,' but rather than run their programs in existing and available free and independent media, they choose to create new subsidized media organizations, competing in a tight market. In Kabul, we have the BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Kilid (NGO), VOA, AINA/Women's Radio (NGO) and others that compete directly with the commercial ARMAN FM." Saad Mohseni and Don Ritter, Washington Times, 17 March 2005.
HIRONDELLE'S TENTH ANNIVERSARY. Swiss foundation established radio stations in Liberia, Kosovo, and Central Africa Republic. Hirondelle Foundation press release, 16 March 2005.
SATELLITE BOUQUET. Falun Gong denies that it is jamming Asiasat transponders. Reuters via CNN, 16 March 2005. Xinhua reported that six C-band transponders on Asiasat 3S were interrupted by transmissions containing Falun Gong content. Xinhua, 15 March 2005. Perhaps related to Eutelsat not renewing contract of New Tang Dynasty TV, with alleged connections to Falun Gong. Reporters sans frontières suggests this was a result of Chinese pressure on Eutelsat. RSF, 14 March 2005. See also International Federation of Journalists, 15 March 2005. Eutelsat has also recently ceased relays of Hezbollah's Al-Manar and Iran's Sahar channels, as a result of French legal action. IN OTHER SATELLITE NEWS: Startup company ProtoStar plans DTH service to East and South Asia after 2006 launch. ProtoStar press release, 14 March 2005. Morocco's 2M Maroc and Al Maghribia now available to North America via Globecast. Press release, 3 March 2005. See also www.globecastwtv.com. The Caribbean Channel plans transmission to the United States via Dish Network. Jamaica Observer, 13 March 2005.
CHINA CENSORS BBC, AGAIN. BBC's much promoted China Week could not be received in China. AP via The Star, Malaysia, 11 March 2005. Xinhua remarkably upfront about this: "The airing of the program proves that as China continues its policies of reform and opening up to the outside world, open political discussion is now sometimes possible -- though, in this case, in English and for foreign audiences." Xinhua (in English), 11 March 2005. BBC's problems with China go back several years. A new book about Rupert Murdoch reminds us that he "obliged Communist China by removing BBC World News from Satellite TV Asia Region (Star)" in 1994. Green Left Weekly, 16 March 2005. Mr. Murdoch has just met with Chinese Communist Party officials and said his company would "further strengthen cooperative ties with the Chinese media, and explore new areas with an even more positive attitude." Xinhua, 16 March 2005. Meanwhile, China Radio International increases in the United States and Europe what Western stations cannot get in China: access to AM and FM rebroadcasting outlets. CRI press release (via BBC Monitoring), 28 February 2005.
KAREN HUGHES NOMINATED TO HEAD STATE DEPARTMENT'S PUBLIC DIPLOMACY EFFORT. Arabic-speaking Dina Powell will be her deputy. State Department press release, 14 March 2005. Also: AP via San Francisco Chronicle, 14 March 2005.
HUGHES AND POWELL ARE ALREADY GETTING ADVICE. "US policy makers should recognize blogging as a perfect tool to promote the proliferation of independent democratic voices." Hampton Stephens op-ed, Boston Globe, 14 March 2005. "We must now be willing to invest in different formats and broadcasting concepts to communicate with the world's Muslims." Lee Hamilton op-ed, Indianapolis Star, 14 March 2005. "In a media-saturated world, image matters, and people won't listen to our sales pitch if our policies send a conflicting signal. In other words, we've got to 'live the brand.'" Clay Risen essay, Boston Globe, 14 March 2005. "Effective public diplomacy could get people who hate America to 'hate it a little less,' and people who like it, 'to like it a little more.'" Daniel Byman, quoted by Chicago Tribune, 15 March 2005.
AND HUGHES AND POWELL MIGHT WANT TO TRY THIS: UNMANNED PROPAGANDA. EMCEE communications will put VHF television transmitter on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), for psyops use. EMCEE press release, 14 March 2005.
SOME AUDIENCES ARE RETURNING TO SHORTWAVE, OUT OF NECESSITY. People in Belarus and Central Asia "are resorting to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and shortwave news broadcasts, just as they were during the Cold War." RFE/RL, 14 March 2005.
PUBLICITY VOA COULD DO WITHOUT. "The 1948 Smith-Mundt Act ... allows Voice of America to broadcast pro-government news to foreign audiences, but not at home." New York Times via San Francisco Chronicle, 13 March 2005. "Pro-government news"? VOA will no doubt protest, stating that its Charter does not allow its news to be pro-anything. And this: "Voice of America reported under the headline 'Mideast Freedom On The March,' the president noted that from Lebanon to Afghanistan, 'The trumpet of freedom has been sounded, and that trumpet never calls defeat.'" Daniel Ruth, Tampa Tribune, 13 March 2005. Actually that was an editorial on VOA, not a "report." But wait, it gets worse: "The State Department’s broadcasting activities are supervised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), established when the Voice of America was discontinued." Weblogger William Fisher in Scoop (New Zealand), 15 March 2005. VOA's discontinuance will come as a surprise to the hundreds of VOA broadcasters still producing programs in 44 languages. And the BBG broadcasting elements are not subordinate to the State Department. That was the point of creating the BBG.
SELLING JUCHE. North Korea's aspirations to be a world ideological power. The Korea Times, 9 March 2005. Meanwhile, electronic media are penetrating North Korea. "Today, it is cool for North Koreans to look and behave South Korean." New York Times via Wilmington Star, 15 March 2005.
PROFESSOR KIM (no relation) ADVOCATES PROFESSOR NYE'S SOFT POWER FOR SOUTH KOREA. By way of films, dramas, satellite broadcasting, fashion, Hyundais and Samsungs. The Korean Herald, 10 March 2005. President of Arirang TV writes that the Republic of Korea should have a global television channel like BBC, DW, TV5, CCTV. The Korea Times, 16 February 2005.
INSTEAD OF IMPROVING OUR CONTENT, IMPROVE THEIR CONTENT. "Have a public diplomacy operation that focuses on quietly pressuring governments to moderate hate-filled sermons at mosques ... and to get rid of venomous textbooks. Indigenous sources of information affect the way people think and feel far more effectively than splashy ads or pamphlets from abroad." Stan Crock in Business Week, 9 March 2005.
WORLDSPACE HOPES TO PENETRATE INDIASPACE. Washington based satellite radio company renews its marketing campaign in India, offers cheaper radios. Business Standard, 9 March 2005. Asks India not to regulate satellite radio the way it regulates India's FM stations. newkerala.com, 20 February 2005, via Satellite Radio blog, 1 March 2005. Its channels for India include BBC, CNN International, World Radio Network and -- just added to Asiastar -- NPR Worldwide. See west beam at Worldspace Asiastar program guide. First Voice International, the Worldspace nonprofit arm, is distributing digital radio receivers to radio stations in remote areas of Aceh, as a link in the province's new Emergency Broadcasting Service. Internews, 4 March 2005.
VIRGIN RADIO, PRESSED AGAINST YOUR EAR. U.K. commercial station becomes a global broadcaster via mobile phones. Radio data streams to 3G devices "will currently be most attractive in mobile markets such as the United States, India, Thailand, Singapore, China, Italy and Australia where service providers offer unlimited data bundles." Sydus press release via www.3g.co.uk, 2 March 2005. More information from Virgin Radio itself. Here, the content is mainly music. But perhaps it could also be used for up-to-the-last-download news bulletins. Now if data streams of radio could be received by a device with a wooden cabinet, and the smell of warm bakelite, and the amber glow of a dial. Perhaps related, though I can't figure out what it really does, Nokia and Finland's Kiss-FM introduce "Visual Radio." Nokia press release, 4 March 2005. I suppose as bandwidth increases and the pictures come in more rapid succession, radio will succumb to its inevitable, tragic fate and become television. Sure enough, Nokia announces trial of television to mobile phones, with BBC World and CNN among the channels offered. Nokia press release, 8 March 2005.
SOME REASONS WHY WE STILL HAVE SHORTWAVE BROADCASTING. Tunisia is blocking websites even as it prepares to host the World Summit on the Information Society in November. Reporters sans frontières, 3 March 2005. Malaysian police question blogger. IFEX, 3 March 2005. Chinese web censorship as a National People's Congress convenes. New York Times via Wilmington (NC) Star-News, 3 March 2005. Iranian blogger sentenced to 14 years in prison. Had been interviewed by Radio Farda and BBC. The World Today, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 24 February 2005.
EXPERTS SAY THE DARNEDEST THINGS ABOUT INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING. Beneficiary of budget increase, VOA's Persian language "News and Views" dinnertime television news magazine will expand to one hour. Washington Times, 17 February 2005. Reported 11 days later by Reuters, 28 February 2005. I thought "News and Views" was to bring, well, news and views to Iran. But experts quoted by Reuters suggest a more dramatic mission. Shireen Hunter, Center for Strategic and International Studies: "I don't think it's going to create the climate for a popular uprising." Nancy Snow, California State University, Fullerton: "People could see it as a sign that an invasion is coming. It's the sort of thing that happens before nations build up their war effort." These alarming scenarios are reinforced by a Los Angeles Times piece reporting that "The Bush administration is considering a more aggressive effort to foster opposition inside Iran." The article goes on to describe the expanded VOA and Radio Farda services directed at Iran, thus by juxtaposition implicating them in whatever plans may be in the works. Via Longview Daily Times, 4 March 2005. With this talk about uprisings and invasions, we should read again the op-ed by Robert Robb, who really is familiar with international broadcasting, because he cited the example of Radio Free Europe to Hungary in 1956: "Is Bush writing checks the U.S. can't cash?," Arizona Republic, 6 February 2005.
RVI FLEMISH WORLD RADIO SET TO REDUCE SHORTWAVE OUTPUT. On the 4 March edition of VOA's Talk to America, I interviewed Wim Jansen, station manager of Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal, international broadcasting service of the Flemish community in Belgium. RVI shortwave broadcasts in English, French, and German will cease at the end of this month. Dutch language programs on shortwave will be reduced to four hours per day to Europe. RVI will continue in all four languages via its website rvi.be, and none of its broadcasters will lose their jobs. VOA Talk to America, 4 March 2004. (If your browser forces a download of the audio, copy the link to your RealOne player to listen online.) DXers will miss Frans Vossen's Radio World on RVI.
DEFINITELY ON A DIFFERENT WAVELENGTH. Murder of federal judge's husband and mother in Chicago draws attention to extremist programming on private U.S. shortwave stations. AP via Newsday, 3 March 2005. Lacking audience ratings data, the several private U.S. shortwave stations have generally not succeeded in selling spot ads. So most sell blocks of time to program makers, some of whom advocate political, religious, and racial views that would be considered out of the mainstream. Nominally beamed to targets abroad, these stations tend to be more interested in their audiences inside the United States.
KBS WORLD RADIO IS THE NEW NAME OF RADIO KOREA INTERNATIONAL. See the new logo at world.kbs.co.kr. Station also added Vietnamese, its 11th language. KBS World Radio, 2 March 2005. See also The Korea Times, 1 March 2005. Vietnamese ambassador to Seoul praises the the new KBS World Radio Vietnamese broadcasts. Thanh Nien News, 3 March 2005.
WORLD SERVICE ON THE TELLY? The U.K. Culture Secretary's Green Paper on the future of the BBC suggests that BBC World Service could introduce television programs in some languages. But a cut in the number of World Service "vernacular languages" may be necessary to afford the expansion into television. The Green Paper also proposes replacing the BBC Board of Governors with a board of trustees. Will this affect the independence of World Service? Probably not, as the new board will select BBC management, and be selected, in the same fashion as the Governors. In any case, as BBC World Services Director Richard Sambrook told me in an interview last year, the BBC's independence is more a matter of custom than the Board of Governors acting as a "firewall." The trustees would not be involved in day-to-day management.
FORMER DIRECTOR OF CNBC EUROPE WILL HEAD NEW AL-JAZEERA ENGLISH CHANNEL. Will launch in late 2005 from news centers in London, Doha, Washington and Kuala Lumpur. Media Guardian, 4 March 2005.
News Items February 2005
KimAndrewElliott.com
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Kim Andrew Elliott.