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“This is a classic Washington effort to get the public to react,” Robinson wrote in the letter to the editor.
“This is a classic Washington effort to get a public reaction,” Robinson wrote in the letter to the editor.
In this letter to the editor, comments on the story “VOA closes Marianas shortwave site” and the following letter “Keep Marianas shortwave site and shut down ‘useless’ services” Array Radio World appreciates the letters to the editor about this or any story. Send an email to radioworld@futurenet. com.
The letter from Lawrence Cohen of Utica related to USAGM’s closure of the Mariana sites reflects the frustration of many U. S. taxpayers with decisions made through USAGM.
Information about site closures in the Pacific and São Tomé in West Africa was leaked through resources within the company long before the confusing story that gave the impression of quoting William Martin; however, the VOA public relations office, in a reaction to me, later described it as an email “shared in the background, not for deletion purposes. “
An extra from VOA stated in reaction to my request for data that USAGM had not issued a press release on June 26 “or in recent days” and claimed that the story of the shutdown was “USAGM news. “So, through anonymous sources, we’ve been aware of the shutdown for weeks, but neither VOA nor USAGM have made a public statement.
Thus, the closure of one primary relay station was “USAGM News,” but the company never publicly stated it in a press release, nor did VOA. Radio Free Asia also reportedly did not take into account any press releases.
This is a long-standing effort by Washington to avoid public backlash, whether from U. S. taxpayers or USAGM/VOA viewers/users, and it’s a familiar story to those of us who have followed the agency’s mistakes in recent years and done investigative reporting on them. As one user of a concentrated radio group commented, it appears that “an internal email was sent to the public to inform the general public about the closure. “
Cohen’s letter raises the question of whether the company could have avoided shutting down the Cuban Broadcasting Bureau (OCB/Radio-TV Martí), thus maintaining a larger site given rising tensions with China in the region.
This makes sense, but it doesn’t seem to take into account the fact that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to shut down a government company once established; and the fact that OCB enjoys unconditional standing in the United States Congress, where lawmakers – especially those in Florida – would never accept the closure of R/TV Martí because they would lose voters.
Meanwhile, as detailed in an internal email, as the company grapples with budget issues, VOA Director Mike Abramowitz, along with USAGM CEO Amanda Bennett, legalized even more cash for the salaries of the company’s most sensible executives, prompting a typhoon of questions from company executives and executives. Leave workers who are frustrated with top executives, who are already receiving bonuses, earning even more money.
[Editor’s note: Radio World has reached out to USAGM for comment. We will make a percentage of all the answers. ]
[Read more about shortwave radio]
Daniel Robinson
Dan Robinson spent 34 years at VOA, serving as the congressional and White House correspondent for Africa, Southeast Asia, and head of VOA’s Burma/Myanmar department. Since 2014, he has been writing for VOA and USAGM with articles and commentary across the New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Columbia Journalism Review, National Review, al-Jazeera, and Radio World.
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