Keep the Voice of America speaking loud and clear

Voice of America is a vital tool of public diplomacy. Its budget must not be cut.

from the March 21, 2007 edition

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Confession complete, I can now freely urge Congress to be bold and imaginative about the work of the government radios as it currently considers the $668 million requested annual budget for them, $178 million of it scheduled for VOA. Clearly, the image of America is sullied in various countries around the world today, particularly in Islamic lands. So surely the projection of an accurate picture of America, its people, and its policies should have high priority. The funds requested to keep the radios telling America's story is a pittance compared with the enormous spending on military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Specifically at risk in the budget requested is VOA's broadcasting in English and in other languages to several countries. These cuts, amounting to $26 million, have been made to enable redirection of programming to Iran and the Middle East. Nobody can question that need, but it should not be undertaken at the cost of other programming that has proved effective. There is still a huge English-language audience for VOA, not the least among leaders and elites who speak English in countries where it is not the predominant language. That is why I have joined with other former VOA directors to petition Congress to restore the eliminated funding. While it is also true that the audience for shortwave broadcasting may be declining with the advent of new technologies, officials point out that more than 300 million people, particularly in Asia, still listen to shortwave radio.

Public diplomacy, in which the radios play a significant role, requires that the United States communicate with its friends who have stood by it, as well as audiences more hostile in time of crisis.

Thus Congress should restore the cuts that have been made in the radios' budget for the coming fiscal year. However it would not be unreasonable for Congress to order an examination of the five government radio services to see whether there are economies of scale that might be made and overlapping functions that could be streamlined.

Bureaucratic rivalries should not hinder the mission prescribed for VOA when it was launched in 1942 to broadcast to Nazi Germany: "The news may be good. The news may be bad. We shall tell you the truth."

• John Hughes, a former editor of the Monitor, served as VOA director in the Reagan administration.

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