TRANSCRIPT:
I know VOA because I spent some of my childhood growing up in Greece. And then when I was posted to Indonesia, I went to Biak. And, you know, Biak is very far from everything.
And, we met with the provincial governor and he asked us to do karaoke with him. And, I said, “Well, what do you want us to sing?” And he said, “Elvis Presley.” He spoke no English. I said, “Well, how do you know Elvis Presley?” He said “VOA.” I said, “Oh, you know, do you do anything else from VOA?” “Oh, ya ya I listen to the news and it’s very good. I like the fact that Americans care enough about Indonesia that they broadcast in Bahasa Indonesia.”
But to me, the lesson is, if we’re going to compete in the world for hearts and minds and getting our ideas across, if we can’t speak to people in their own language, how are you going to win that battle? How are we going to be influencers? It’s losing a key part of American soft power, of our ability to compete. And, if we don’t speak for ourselves, other people will speak for us.
Well, in my experience, VOA was very good at just delivering the news. It tried to play straight up, not take sides because it knew the consumers would not pay attention carefully to it if it was seen as propaganda.
Now, they would also sometimes broadcast news that the host government didn’t like. And the host government would say it’s propaganda. In my opinion, people aren’t stupid. If you only present one point of view without giving the other side an opportunity, people are going to say, “Oh, that’s propaganda. They’re only presenting one side of the story.” And it doesn’t matter if you’re Indonesian or Russian or whatever. They want to hear what seems to be an equal time for points of view.
Now, maybe in Indonesia, it’s a fairly free press, you have other outlets which may present a point of view, but always be on an Indonesian point of view, which is fine. But if you’re especially, if you’re talking about America, who knows better to talk about America than Americans and the VOA to get that message across.
RT and Chinese media are making a distinct effort because they see U.S. retreat as an opportunity for them to make an advance. So they’re putting out incredible propaganda. You just look at the Chinese media about the South China Sea and its sovereign Chinese territory, anyone that disagrees is basically infringing on our sovereignty. And no one else has the right to tell us. Now, if someone doesn’t push back against that narrative and explain why China is incorrect, who’s going to fill that void?
The cost of running VOA versus the cost of funding more military makes no comparison. VOA is very inexpensive compared to building another F-35 airplane. Look at the national security strategy that was recently released and they talk about the U.S. is in competition with China. Well, if we’re going to compete, it has to be across all aspects of national power. It can’t just be military.
Published
Carouso is a retired U.S. diplomat whose 25-year Foreign Service career focused on East Asia and the Pacific. He served in senior roles at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, and the U.S. Mission to ASEAN, among others.