TRANSCRIPT:
I spend probably half of my professional time in Central and in Eastern Europe. And I am always encountering people who when I ask them like “Where where do you get your information? What do you know about America? How’d you learn English?” All these things. And they always talk about Voice of America and they talk about the impact it has and how they seek it out.
And you know there’s so much, so many sources of information out there, but I think people trusted Voice of America because of the quality of the journalists that are there and also the sense that it was real, solid information, not propaganda. These are not ballet. This is rugby football all day, every day. And you’ve got to compete in the information space. And this is where VOA, Voice of America, was a part of that.
You know, it’s never going to be one network, one source that does it. But having that voice that people trusted contributing to countering the Russian disinformation and and false narratives is important. And now we’re at the risk of losing one of those strong positive voices.
Published
Hodges served as commanding general of U.S. Army Europe from 2014–2017. A retired Army lieutenant general, he has been a prominent commentator on European security and Russia’s war against Ukraine.