TRANSCRIPT:
The Voice of America has had the effect of letting people know what’s happening in their own country, what’s happening in the world, without it being filtered through the press controlled by their government. It has also in this way very directly spread American culture and American values and, above all, the value of an independent, critical press that has served as a message of hope and inspiration for people who are striving to build democracy and human rights inside their own country.
The immediate danger in terms of United States’ interests is that it is handing an opportunity for China and Russia, which have a very different model of foreign broadcasting to spread their influence around the world. The Russian and Chinese broadcast services are directly controlled by the government. They do not have the independence that Voice of America has always had to be accurate and critical in reporting on the government, on their own government, on the United States’ government.
So giving up that influence to Russia and China as the United States is now systematically doing in its diplomacy, in its development policy, in its research and scientific funding, is hurting the United States directly. It also means that those people who are trying to build a better society, looking for models outside of their own country, will not have this resource that is really central to the ideas of freedom and human rights and democracy.
Published
Countryman served more than three decades in the U.S. Foreign Service, including as assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation during the Obama administration. He later joined the Arms Control Association.