eab@UUNET.UU.NET> (02/02/90)
Because of budget cuts, the Voice of America announced today (February 1) the termination of six language broadcast services effective April 1, 1990. The languages affected are: Lao, Swahili, Greek, Turkish, Uzbek and Slovene. The announcement was made at at a general meeting of VOA employees by Richard Carlson, VOA Director. -- E. Allen (Al) Brown VOA/BBC (Bureau of Broadcasting) Voice of America ...uunet!voa3!eab WA3FYZ/ZF2LY Cohen Building, Room G-748 Chief, Operations Branch Washington, DC 20547 Computer Services Division +1 202 485 7021
aem@BBN.COM> (02/02/90)
Gosh, all those poor Laotians, Swahilians, Turks, Uzbeks, and Slovenes won't get their daily dose of official US propaganda! They'll suffer massive withdrawal, and realize after a time that the US is not the center of the world, the streets aren't paved with gold, and capitalism isn't the divine order of God! They might even stop abandoning their own countries in attempts to reach our self-styled paradise (where they become near-slaves cleaning houses of the rich, living on the streets, and running each day from the INS) and try to build their countries in some form other than in the US's image. Well, maybe I'm exagerating the impact of VOA. Maybe most people do recognize it's high propaganda content, and take everything on it with a block or two of salt. BTW, why does "The Most Powerful Nation in the World" (TM) need a propaganda station? aem -- a.e.mossberg / aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu / aem@umiami.BITNET / Pahayokee Bioregion Only the educated are free. - Epictetus
postmaster@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (02/02/90)
In article <1581@umigw.MIAMI.EDU> aem@Mthvax.CS.Miami.Edu writes: > >BTW, why does "The Most Powerful Nation in the World" (TM) need a propaganda >station? At the risk of being childish (VOA), the answer is I guess, to counter the propaganda by the `Other Most Powerful Nation in the World' (TM). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sriram Narayan 810446 Texas A&M University | INTERNET: narayan@photon.tamu.edu | Go Alain Prost! BITNET: narayan@TAMVXEE
roskos@BBN.COM> (02/04/90)
aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (a.e.mossberg) writes: >Well, maybe I'm exagerating the impact of VOA. Maybe most people do recognize >it's high propaganda content, and take everything on it with a block or two >of salt. Spoken like someone who either (a) never listens to VOA, or (b) only listens to the editorials at the end, or (c) has an unconventional view of the US. The principal bias of the VOA is that it mostly talks about political events, and tends to focus on political events involving the US. The announcers also have a very cheerful and enthusiastic tone of voice. Other than that, it's hard to see how one would claim that it has a "high propaganda content." From listening to it periodically for a number of years, my impression is that VOA's basic approach is to try to present the news surrounding these political events in a straightforward manner, to try to inform people in other countries about how these things are perceived in the US. I haven't encountered many other countries' government-sponsored radio stations that would, for example, have a debate in which one of the two people says "I think George Bush should be impeached for invading Panama" and is given equal time (and no interpretive commentary afterwards) with the opposite viewpoint to explain and expand upon his views. >They might even stop abandoning their own countries in attempts >to reach our self-styled paradise (where they become near-slaves cleaning >houses of the rich, living on the streets, and running each day from the INS) Oh... I think I see the problem. That station on 9655 KHz that has the American-sounding announcers and sounds a lot like VOA but says things like the above, um, isn't VOA. I imagine it comes in fairly strongly down there in Miami, though. As for VOA, as I've said before... I wish their "Wireless File" was available here in the US. The closest thing to it is the GPO's "Presidential Documents" and "Major Legislation of Congress," but it lacks a lot of the detail and timeliness, and only has the text of the President's speeches, not the others carried on the Wireless File. I'd rather read that (the full text of major political speeches) than the 1 or 2 quotes and lengthy interpretation provided in most of the newspapers, at least to start out. (Then I'd read the newspaper to see what the news media's opinion was.) [The above is my personal opinion.] -- Eric Roskos (roskos@IDA.ORG or Roskos@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL)
allbery@BBN.COM> (02/05/90)
As quoted from <1581@umigw.MIAMI.EDU> by aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (a.e.mossberg): +--------------- | BTW, why does "The Most Powerful Nation in the World" (TM) need a propaganda | station? | -- | a.e.mossberg / aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu / aem@umiami.BITNET / Pahayokee Bioregion | Only the educated are free. - Epictetus +--------------- Because certain persons in the U.S. government don't understand the *true* meaning of your .signature quote. ++Brandon -- Brandon S. Allbery allbery@NCoast.ORG, BALLBERY (MCI Mail), ALLBERY (Delphi) uunet!cwjcc.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery ncoast!allbery@cwjcc.cwru.edu