TRANSCRIPT:
I spent a lot of time in the Western Balkans, and people who grew up in former Yugoslavia under communism talked about how Voice of America was a source of true and independent reporting that they could trust when they didn’t trust whatever came from the government. And that made a big difference.
And it’s not just that it’s providing people with truth for them to understand their own situation, or even [that] it helps them connect to the rest of the world when they’re in a closed society. But it also set up an example that our society was one where journalists could do their job and they were free to criticize the government, and that our system was strong enough to withstand that criticism and actually use it to grow, I think, stronger and better.
And that set up a really powerful example of a different way to organize your society. And so, that was really good for the U.S., even if stories from time to time were critical of the government.
Warlords and criminal gangs try to distort the truth to advance their own agenda. And so, you need to have some kind of independent counter to that. And it’s not just the American people say, “well, you know, we’re helping people in other countries understand the truth and be connected to the world. And why should we pay taxpayer dollars for that?”
My answer to that is — it’s what helps promote security and keep wars from happening. And once there’s a war, very often the U.S. gets drawn in. It’s very costly to us in terms of lives and money. So, I think that having independent journalism available worldwide really does help promote international security. And that is cost-effective for the United States.
Published
Hoh is a retired U.S. diplomat whose Foreign Service career focused on the Balkans and Central Europe. He was involved in the negotiations that led to the Dayton Accords and served as director for South Central European Affairs in the State Department, directing U.S. policy and programs for Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.