postmaster@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (02/21/90)
Excerpts from a House Committee on Foreign Affairs news release
dated 13 Feb 1990:
"For further information contact:
R. Michael Finley or Thomas Bruce
at (202) 225-5021
"PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING
"Dante B. Fascell (D-Fla.), the Chairman of the House Committee
on Foreign Affairs, urged President Bush to name a bipartisan
Presidential Commission to review US public diplomacy and
international broadcasting programs on an urgent basis to
respond to the dramatic changes in East Europe and the Soviet
Union.
"In a letter addressed to the President...Fascell recommended
that a bipartisan Presidential Commission be convened to focus
on the various international broadcasting entities of the US
government, to develop the future direction of US government
broadcasting and to make recommendations for action by the
President and the Congress before the end of the current
Congressional session...
"The letter came in the wake of a decision last week by USIA to
end Voice of America broadcasting in 6 languages. In releasing
the letter, Fascell called that decision, now apparently
reversed, `ludicrous... We obviously need to rethink our
programs from the ground up, and I believe a Presidential
Commission is the best way to rapidly develop a comprehensive
plan to assure that our programs meet the new challenges and
opportunities in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and other
parts of the globe where fundamental change is underway.'"
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rh: At yesterday's meeting of the House Subcommittee on International
Operations (which heard complaints by environmentalists about
the VOA/RFE-RL relay planned for Israel), Subcommittee Chairman
Mervyn Dymally noted that he, too, had written the President
to urge that a commission be formed to reexamine the US
government's approach to international broadcasting.
--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Robert Horvitz, Executive Secretary ANARC BBS: 1-913-345-1978
Association of North American Radio Clubs Compuserve: 76210,517
P.O. Box 143, Falls Church, VA 22040-0143 USA uucp: rh@well.sf.ca.us