10 March 2009

U.S.-Supported Foreign Broadcasting Adapts to Digital Age

Audience of 134 million benefits from Internet distribution, Web 2.0 tools

Voice of America Director Dan Austin, left, meets with Chinese students in Beijing in October 2008.

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Staff Writer

Washington — The U.S. government’s premier international radio and television broadcast organization — the Voice of America (VOA) — will continue to provide timely news and information to more than 130 million people worldwide while pursing innovative ways to engage this audience, says VOA Director Dan Austin.

“Everything I have seen or heard from the new [Obama] administration and from people [in Congress] is that there is an understanding that what we do, dollar for dollar, is one of the better investments the American taxpayer can make,” Austin told America.gov March 4.

The former Wall Street Journal reporter and executive, who now oversees VOA’s $190 million budget, said, “Our fundamental mission has basically remained the same” since VOA began broadcasting in 1942 during World War II.

“Our task is still to provide accurate, balanced and comprehensive news and information programs for foreign audiences. We are just expanding our technical ability to do that while at the same time using state-of-the-art information technology to have a dialogue with people.”

Increasingly, VOA is using the Internet to interact with its audience. In addition to transmitting news and information, it operates social networking programs on its Web site and uses blogs and webchats to encourage audience participation, Austin said.

It also uses the Internet for English language learning programs. In 2008, VOA awarded a contract to Alelo Inc. to develop an interactive Web-based learning portal to teach English as a second language. The portal is extremely popular with college-age students in China and Iran.

VOA now broadcasts 1,500 hours of radio and television news and feature programs each week for a foreign audience of 134 million people. Its 1,100 journalists and technicians broadcast in 45 languages (25 through its television arm), using a growing network of 1,200 local radio and television stations, as well as cable systems.

“Our strategy for reaching audiences is market- and research-driven,” Austin explained. “People in Nigeria get most of their news via shortwave radio, so we’re there in that market with radio. Many people in Iran get their news through satellite TV, and we’re there in TV. If mobile devices [cell phones] are what young people in key markets are using, we’re going to be there” broadcasting to them in that format too.

AFRICA’S LEAPFROG APPROACH TO TECHNOLOGY

Electronic equipment is installed in December 1954 in the new Voice of America building.

Austin said Africa is where information technology is literally “leapfrogging.”

“Where they didn’t have a hard-wired infrastructure, some countries have gone from shortwave broadcast to text messaging, SMS [short message service], to mobile devices,” he said. In Zimbabwe, for example, “we have used SMS with some success, although we still broadcast there from [shortwave] and medium-wave transmitters in Botswana.” (See “Zimbabweans Relying on Foreign Broadcasts for Political News.”)

“We are investing a fair amount of money into our technological infrastructure,” Austin said. “Right now, we have one foot in the analog world and one foot in the digital world.”

“But, bit by bit, we’re putting together a [digital] system,” he said, that eliminates tapes and similar recording and playing equipment, relying instead on computerization to get better quality quickly and cost-effectively.

CRACKING THE “TOUGH NUT” OF BURMA

Austin said a good example of melding technology with traditional reporting was VOA’s coverage of a devastating cyclone that struck Burma in May 2008, killing more than 75,000 people. Because the Burmese government played down the effects of the storm, Austin said, “to get the true story of the devastation out, we brought people into neighboring Thailand, trained them in how to use satellite video cameras, and then sent them back into Burma to get footage.” (See “Warnings on Burmese Cyclone Came Mainly from Overseas.”)

In February, VOA launched its first satellite TV program for Burma, an important development because the country’s ruling junta severely restricts the flow of information, Austin said. “Burma is a very tough nut to crack, and this program will expose people in Burma to information and images they may never have seen before."

The television show, airing Sunday mornings and repeated during the week, is an expansion of VOA's Burmese Service radio programming, which now broadcasts 3.5 hours daily on shortwave, according to VOA’s Web site.

In October 2008, VOA signed an agreement with MGM [TV] Networks Latin America to carry Spanish-language news and cultural affairs programming on MGM’s popular movie channel. The network reaches 20 million households throughout the region on satellite and cable.

“This agreement will supplement VOA's wide network of radio and TV affiliates in the region, and ensure the audience is up to date on the latest news and information from the Americas and the world,” Austin said at the signing ceremony.

VOA’s reach has become so broad, Austin said, that “Google News now rates us as the Number 5 news source worldwide. This comes at a time when a lot of television networks and print people have really cut back on international coverage.”

More information on VOA is available on its Web site.