TRANSCRIPT:
Because of the VOA Charter and because of the special position that Voice of America plays in our foreign policy establishment, we need to make sure that we are presenting opposing points of view in a responsible way. We should not be trying to put our fingers on the scale one way or another.
We should again report the facts. One of the best ways to report the facts is by interviewing key policymakers. Let them explain for themselves what the policy is or why they disagree with the particular policy. If you’re not consistently truthful, if you allow propaganda to continually color your broadcasts or your material, you’ll soon lose [your] audience — except for those few people who already agree with whatever it is that, the point of view that you’re trying to get across.
We elect a new president every four years or every eight years, and if we went back and forth between being the mouthpiece for one party or mouthpiece for the other party, sooner or later the parties would get tired of it, and that would be the end of the Voice of America.
You can’t lose and rebuild an audience every four years either. It’s better that you be consistent. It’s better that you be right down the middle and fair. It’s better that you be truthful, because that’s how you accomplish your mission. Otherwise, you’ll fail in your mission. Our problem is not too much information. It’s too little information, and also too little information that is reliable and factual.
Published
Bruns served as deputy VOA director during the George H. W. Bush administration and as acting VOA director for the first 14 months of the Clinton administration. He also served as the first director of the International Broadcasting Bureau. Bruns later worked at WETA, the flagship PBS station in Washington, serving as its executive vice president and chief operating officer from 2001–2013.