TRANSCRIPT:
I can remember back when I started my career in the 1990s, I had an old shortwave radio and sometimes Voice of America was my only connection to American news and information. At that time, there was not yet satellite television, or it was not common in all places, and sometimes very difficult to obtain what was the news from home without VOA.
And as someone who has lived on several occasions in countries where the government controls the news and information very closely, having an alternative, fact-based source for news and information is very important. It’s important to people who are there, and it’s important to Americans who want to do business with countries like that.
Voice of America is important to American citizens because in many parts of the world, much of the information, when it is controlled by the government, comes out with a strong anti-American bias. People are fed narratives that are contrary to America at all points. I’ve been in situations where supposedly highly-educated people have quoted to me things that are not true about America because it’s what their local media tells them.
So having something, Voice of America service, that is providing actual facts and narratives that are counter to the pervasive anti-Americanism is more important than ever. Without VOA, there is nothing to provide a narrative that is counter to all of this anti-Americanism that we hear and see so often when working in other countries.
Published
Erath is the senior policy director for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. He is a former U.S. diplomat and arms-control expert who most recently served on the National Security Council staff. His diplomatic career included work on European security, NATO and the Balkans.