TRANSCRIPT:
The VOA tells stories that are not told elsewhere. And they’re good stories. They’re interesting stories. You know, this is journalism. It’s not technical boring stuff.
In the last few years, before things got more complicated, you know, VOA had really been able to diversify its platform. VOA social media platforms, at least in the region that I cover, they get a lot of hits. They’re massively popular.
Even if the authorities don’t like them, these platforms are huge. For Americans, what’s important about VOA is that it’s meant to represent what’s most important about American democracy and that entails, quite frankly, not being an entity that simply serves as a propaganda organ of the U.S. government. I mean, my understanding is this is why the Trump administration is unhappy with VOA, or one of the reasons why it thinks it doesn’t do a good enough job of reflecting the views of the administration of the day. And that, of course, is not VOA’s job. It’s meant to maintain that editorial independence.
Isn’t promotion of press freedoms and freedom of speech anywhere in the world, including the United States for that matter, critical to U.S. interests? I think so.
That’s why I think it would be a mistake only to maintain a few language services that would be based in regions, or focused on regions, that are important for U.S. strategic or geopolitical interest, or whatever the case may be. I think it’s important to broaden the scope, and I really do not think that finances need to be an issue. That’s never been an issue and it should not be an issue now.
Published
Kugelman is a South Asia analyst and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. He previously led South Asia research and programming at the Wilson Center, focusing on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and U.S. relations with each of them.