1 111THCONGRESS " COMMITTEE PRINT ! S. PRT. 2d Session 111–‘‘l’’ U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING: —IS ANYBODY LISTENING?— KEEPING THE U.S. CONNECTED COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JUNE 9, 2010 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations Available via World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE ??–??? PDF WASHINGTON : 2010 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:38 Jun 09, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5012 Sfmt 5012 H:\DOCS\DIPLO2.0.TXT SENFOR1 PsN: BETTY seneagle COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts, Chairman CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin BOB CORKER, Tennessee BARBARA BOXER, California JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JIM DEMINT, South Carolina ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming JIM WEBB, Virginia ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York FRANK G. LOWENSTEIN, Staff Director KENNETH A. MYERS, JR., Republican Staff Director (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:38 Jun 08, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\DOCS\DIPLO2.0.TXT SENFOR1 PsN: BETTY LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, DC, June 9, 2010. DEAR COLLEAGUES: A key component of any nation’s public diplo- macy effort is its ability to communicate with the rest of the world—either through people-to-people initiatives or through com- munications such as press briefings and broadcasting. Modern-day U.S. broadcasting began with the advent of the Voice of America during World War II, beamed around the world via Short Wave radio to dissidents, underground operatives as well as our allies. The intervening years have resulted in a plethora of new forms of connecting not only with those living in authoritarian regimes but with the rest of the world as well—from FM radio to the latest uses of social media tools available on the Internet. In addition to multiple commercial and other foreign government broadcasters competing with U.S. efforts, with different forms of media have also come different methods of repressing it. Some na- tions completely block American broadcasting efforts by jamming our radio broadcasts, satellite TV or Internet programming, while others imprison, torture, or kill both local and international jour- nalists. Tasked with ensuring the U.S. message gets through is the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The Board oversees the oper- ations of the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Network and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which together broadcast in some 60 lan- guages through radio, TV and the Internet. The Board consists of eight members nominated by the President (four Republicans and four Democrats) with the Secretary of State as the ninth member. Congress originally established the Board in the mid-1990s to en- sure our broadcasting operations were free from political pressures from either end of Pennsylvania Avenue. After 15 years, however, it has become clear that the BBG, rather than functioning as a po- litical ‘‘firewall,’’ has become a political ‘‘football’’ as Board member- ship nominations have become enmeshed and blocked due to par- tisan politics. The Board has not been fully staffed since 2004, and the chairmanship has been vacant since 2008. A consequence of this uncertainty in leadership and direction, not surprisingly, is that the BBG has consistently ranked at the very bottom in sur- veys of federal employees’ workplace satisfaction. Yet the need for robust leadership has never been greater. Thus, it is my hope that, by the time this report is printed, the new Chairman and the other seven members of the Board, nomi- nated some 7 months ago in November 2009, will have been con- firmed by the Senate. Broadcasting issues related to Russia, Iran, China, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, where re- gimes do all they can to prevent our broadcasts from getting through, all demand immediate attention, as does a critical look at our Middle East broadcasting, where we are struggling for market share in a media market that only grows more crowded by the day. VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:38 Jun 09, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6602 Sfmt 6602 H:\DOCS\DIPLO2.0.TXT SENFOR1 PsN: BETTY vi With this in mind, I asked the Foreign Relations Committee staff under the leadership of Senior Professional Staff Member Paul Foldi to prepare the following report based on travels and study of these vital matters. The report addresses both the Board’s staffing difficulties, as well as the key issues and countries of concern that will confront the new Board when they are in place. Staff have con- sulted widely with experts inside and outside the government, former officials, public diplomacy experts in Washington and around the globe, as well as bloggers, journalists and academicians. As the title of the report suggests, we must not only work harder at gaining broader audiences for our programs, we also face fierce competition to keep our listeners, viewers and readers engaged. This is the first of several reports I have asked Mr. Foldi to initiate this year addressing major Public Diplomacy issues, and I hope you will find it valuable as we address these concerns. Sincerely, RICHARD G. LUGAR, Ranking Member. VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:38 Jun 08, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6602 Sfmt 6602 H:\DOCS\DIPLO2.0.TXT SENFOR1 PsN: BETTY U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING—IS ANYBODY LISTENING?—KEEPING THE U.S. CONNECTED EXECUTIVE SUMMARY American Public Diplomacy has always addressed two audiences. One audience views the United States positively, as a democracy based on the free flow of information, the freedom of expression, civic discourse and active citizen participation in government. This group will more often than not be supportive of U.S. actions and initiatives, or at least give us the benefit of the doubt. Members of the second group believe that these strengths are, instead, weak- nesses and are predisposed to assume the worst about America; they reject—or worse, attack—us as a result. Successful Public Di- plomacy (PD) keeps the first group engaged and increases its num- bers while reducing the size and impact of the second. Impacting both groups are not only the actions, images and words of our own Nation, but fierce competition from other nations whose own inter- ests may or may not agree with our own. One of our major tools for connecting with these audiences is through people-to-people ex- changes; another is international broadcasting. Once thought of only in terms of short-wave radio broadcasts to dissidents huddled late-night over their radios, recent technological advancements and improving standards of living have seen a vir- tual explosion of other communication outlets, from the greater use of FM radio to television, the Internet, social media and cell phone technology. All this has, on the one hand, greatly expanded the po- tential audience, but on the other greatly strained our broad- casters’ ability and budgets to reach them. The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) was created by Con- gress in 1994 to oversee the operations of the Voice of America and the so-called surrogate stations: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio/TV Marti, Radio Sawa and Al Hurra TV.1 The first Board was sworn in on August 11, 1995, with four Repub- lican and four Democratic Governors and the Secretary of State as the ninth member. However, since 1995, the Board has only been fully staffed for 6 of the subsequent 15 years of operations, and has not been so since 2004. The current Board has only four members (two Republicans and two Democrats), each of whom has been serv- ing since 2002. While this is well beyond the official 3-year term 1‘‘Surrogates’’ is the name given to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (founded in 1949), the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (1985), Radio Free Asia (1996) and Middle East Broadcasting Net- work (2004) that the BBG oversees. The Voice of America was tasked by Congress in Public Law 94–350 to ‘‘represent America, not any single segment of American society, and [VOA] will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions (and) will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively.’’ Surro- gates are designed to provide the listeners in countries that have limited press freedoms with the news from inside their own countries and regions. Governments of the nations receiving these transmissions are thus very often hostile to this information and often spend millions of dollars trying to block or jam surrogate radio/TV and Internet. (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:38 Jun 08, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DOCS\DIPLO2.0.TXT SENFOR1 PsN: BETTY 2 of office, Board members are, by law, able to serve until replaced.2 Since then partisan politics on both sides have blocked almost all further nominations. The Board has not had a formal chairman since June 2008 when the incumbent left to become the Under Secretary of State for Pub- lic Diplomacy for the remainder of the Bush administration. The Obama administration did not formally submit candidates for a new Board until November 2009, but action on them is still pend- ing as this report was going to print. This is especially unfortunate because the changing circumstances that have confronted the BBG since the current Board members were emplaced in 2002, both technical and geopolitical in nature, require immediate attention; attention the current Board is understandably reluctant to address given the nominations waiting in the wings. One of these issues is the growing concern over the ability of U.S. broadcasters to reach their desired audiences. Sometimes this is due to crowded media markets, such as in the Middle East, where our voice is one among many. Other times, our voice is si- lenced or suppressed, including in China, Iran, and Russia, which use intimidation to prevent local affiliates from carrying U.S. pro- gramming or use sophisticated technologies to shut down satellites, jam radio transmissions or block Internet sites. Each of these issues requires its own response, but without a new Board in place providing appropriate direction and guidance, these difficulties will only grow more pronounced. This report seeks to expand upon these issues for consideration by Congress and by the Board. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS • The Broadcasting Board of Governors sets the policies and pro- vides necessary oversight of U.S. broadcasting operations. The average vacancy rate for a seat on Board is more than 460 days (one seat has been vacant for more than 4 years). The Senate needs to confirm the current slate of nominees for the Broadcasting Board of Governors to provide needed leadership and guidance. Going forward, Presidents should move with dis- patch to fill vacancies and should prioritize nominees with sub- stantial international broadcasting experience. In the medium term, Congress must decide whether it is time to consider an- other management structure if Board staffing difficulties per- sist. • Alhurra—the U.S. 24-hour Arabic television news channel—is expensive, and with the exception of Iraq, little watched else- where in this vital region. Alhurra’s budget of some $90 million surpasses the combined budgets of Radio Free Asia ($37 mil- lion), Radio/TV Marti ($30 million) and VOA’s Persian News Network Television ($17 million). Given the crowded media en- vironment of the Middle East, either greater resources must be devoted to marketing and promotion or additional program- ming changes must be enacted in pursuit of increasing the channel’s market share. Should these efforts fail to improve 2See Title III, Sec 304 (c) of PL 103–236; http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?db name=103lconglbills&docid=f:h2333enr.txt.pdf. VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:38 Jun 08, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DOCS\DIPLO2.0.TXT SENFOR1 PsN: BETTY 3 the overall viewership levels, policy makers will have to decide if continuing Alhurra’s operations is worth the costs. • The Chinese Government has issued only two work visas for Voice of America Beijing-based correspondents since 2009 and, for over a year, has blocked VOA from opening a bureau in Shanghai. By contrast, China’s state-run media organization— Xinhua News—has some 75 correspondents based in the United States. Since 2007, the U.S. Government has issued some 2,900 press visas to Chinese journalists and media per- sonnel. • Journalists in Russia are routinely abducted, tortured, and murdered with virtual impunity. The number of Russian radio stations carrying Radio Free Europe’s Russian service broad- casting has declined precipitously from over 30 stations in 2001 to currently 5; VOA’s dropped from 85 in 2003 to just one by 2009 as the Russian Government successfully silenced most BBG broadcasts by simply refusing to renew Russian radio sta- tion licenses unless U.S. programming was dropped. The State Department should raise this issue at the highest levels in its meetings and should monitor closely rising attempts to block BBG Internet sites. • In Asia, according to the human rights NGO Freedom House, the six countries served by Radio Free Asia are experiencing steadily dwindling levels of press freedom, with none currently ranked higher than 132 out of 195 countries. RFA, set up in 1994 with the hope that the post-cold-war tide of democracy and liberalization would soon sweep Asia, was authorized only on a temporary basis. Congress should permanently authorize Radio Free Asia to recognize the unfortunate reality of press freedom in Asia, and put RFA on a legislative par with Radio Free Europe, Cuba Broadcasting, and Middle East Broad- casting. • The BBG’s Arabic-language Radio Sawa has an hourly format of 45 minutes of music with 15 minutes of news. As a result, Sawa was deemed heretical by many ‘‘news-only’’ advocates within the BBG when it appeared in 2002, yet Sawa quickly became popular with the ‘‘under 30’’ youth-bulge deemed crit- ical in that region, virtually none of whom had listened to VOA’s Arabic radio programming. Over time though, as its for- mat has been copied by local stations, Sawa’s listenership has declined by 25 percent. Greater funding for marketing or a change in formats may be needed. • While Radio Free Asia is tasked with reaching a population of over 1 billion people, its marketing budget for fiscal year 2009 was less than $2,000. The Middle East Broadcasting Network, which oversees Al Hurra TV and Radio Sawa, has seen its marketing budget fluctuate wildly from a few thousand dollars in 2005 and 2006 to $100,000 in 2007, back to $5,000 in 2008 to over $1 million in 2009. Such inconsistencies wreak havoc with any long-term attempts to capture market share and must be addressed. • The Government of Iran continues to attempt to jam both VOA’s Persian News Network TV (which uses multiple sat- ellite systems to prevent a total shutdown) and Radio Free Eu- VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:38 Jun 08, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DOCS\DIPLO2.0.TXT SENFOR1 PsN: BETTY 4 rope’s Persian-language ‘‘Radio Farda.’’ In February 2010, the Iranian Government arrested seven journalists who had mere- ly held job interviews with Farda. Efforts to ensure that our programming gets through should remain a high priority. • Critics note that some BBG entities have allowed individuals opposed to U.S. policy to air their views without any rebuttal or balanced context. While allowing such vitriol to go uncontested is clearly poor journalism, such occurrences have been the rare exception, not the norm. Nonetheless, in order for the BBG to be credible to its audience and draw in not just those who already agree with U.S. policy, its networks must be permitted to present both sides of an argument. • Congress should revisit the Smith-Mundt legislation, which was passed originally in 1948 and later amended, which bans U.S. Government broadcasting within the U.S. for fear the gov- ernment would unduly influence its own citizens. Today, how- ever, Russia and China and other entities currently broadcast in English in the United States. Additionally, recent Arabic- speaking immigrants to the United States are able to watch Al Jazeera but prevented by Smith-Mundt from viewing Al Hurra. These realities, coupled with the rise of the Internet, which en- ables computer users in the U.S. to receive video and audio streams of BBG broadcasts and readily access BBG Web sites, demonstrate that aspects of the legislation are both anachro- nistic and potentially harmful. • As part of its FY 2011 budget submission, the BBG has pro- posed closing its last U.S.-based short wave broadcasting facil- ity, located in Greenville, North Carolina. The Board estimates a $3.2 million dollar savings as a result of this closure. While there is no question that audience for short-wave is decreasing in some countries, policymakers need to decide if shuttering the only remaining SW facility on American soil makes stra- tegic sense. Additionally, while the U.S. has been jettisoning its shortwave frequencies, cutting some 60 stations in the last 10 years, China has been doing the exact opposite, almost dou- bling its number to 284 in the same period. VerDate Nov 24 2008 13:38 Jun 08, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\DOCS\DIPLO2.0.TXT SENFOR1 PsN: BETTY 5 U.S. International Broadcasting – Is Anybody Listening? – Keeping the U.S. Connected Letter of Transmittal A key component of any nation’s public diplomacy effort is its ability to communicate with the rest of the world – either through people-to-people initiatives or through communications such as press briefings and broadcasting. Modern-day U.S. broadcasting began with the advent of the Voice of America during World War II, beamed around the world via Short Wave radio to dissidents, underground operatives as well as our allies. The intervening years have resulted in a plethora of new forms of connecting not only with those living in authoritarian regimes but with the rest of the world as well – from FM radio to the latest uses of social media tools available on the Internet. In addition to multiple commercial and other foreign government broadcasters competing with U.S. efforts, with different forms of media have also come different methods of repressing it. Some nations completely block American broadcasting efforts by jamming our radio broadcasts, satellite TV or Internet programming, while others imprison, torture, or kill both local and international journalists. Tasked with ensuring the U.S. message gets through is the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The Board oversees the operations of the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Network and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which together broadcast in some 60 languages through radio, TV and the Internet. The Board consists of eight members nominated by the President (four Republicans and four Democrats) with the Secretary of State as the ninth member. Congress originally established the Board in the mid-1990’s to ensure our broadcasting operations were free from political pressures from either end of Pennsylvania Avenue. After 15 years, however, it has become clear that the BBG, rather than functioning as a political “firewall,” has become a political “football” as Board membership nominations have become enmeshed and blocked due to partisan politics. The Board has not been fully staffed since 2004, and the chairmanship has been vacant since 2008. A consequence of this uncertainty in leadership and direction, not surprisingly, is that the BBG has consistently ranked at the very bottom in surveys of federal employees’ workplace satisfaction. Yet the need for robust leadership has never been greater. 6 Thus, it is my hope that, by the time this report is printed, the new Chairman and the other seven members of the Board, nominated some seven months ago in November 2009, will have been confirmed by the Senate. Broadcasting issues related to Russia, Iran, China, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, where regimes do all they can to prevent our broadcasts from getting through, all demand immediate attention, as does a critical look at our Middle East broadcasting, where we are struggling for market share in a media market that only grows more crowded by the day. With this in mind, I asked the Foreign Relations Committee staff under the leadership of Senior Professional Staff Member Paul Foldi to prepare the following report based on travels and study of these vital matters. The report addresses both the Board’s staffing difficulties, as well as the key issues and countries of concern that will confront the new Board when they are in place. Staff have consulted widely with experts inside and outside the government, former officials, public diplomacy experts in Washington and around the globe, as well as bloggers, journalists and academicians. As the title of the report suggests, we must not only work harder at gaining broader audiences for our programs, we also face fierce competition to keep our listeners, viewers and readers engaged. This is the first of several reports I have asked Mr. Foldi to initiate this year addressing major Public Diplomacy issues, and I hope you will find it valuable as we address these concerns. U.S. International Broadcasting – Is Anybody Listening? Keeping the U.S. Connected Executive Summary American Public Diplomacy has always addressed two audiences. One audience views the United States positively, as a democracy based on the free flow of information, the freedom of expression, civic discourse and active citizen participation in government. This group will more often than not be supportive of U.S. actions and initiatives, or at least give us the benefit of the doubt. Members of the second group believe that these strengths are, instead, weaknesses and are predisposed to assume the worst about America; they reject – or worse, attack – us as a result. Successful Public Diplomacy (PD) keeps the first group engaged and increases its numbers while reducing the size and impact of the second. Impacting both groups are not only the actions, images and words of our own nation, but fierce competition from other nations