Voice of America: intimidating whistleblowers

Voice of America (VOA) and Broadcasting Board of Governor (BBG) officials including the Executive Editor, Chief of Staff, Associate Director of Language Programming, and Director of Human Resources, held an all-staff meeting with VOA Persian News Network (PNN) employees on March 3, 2008. The meeting took place after a series of VOA employees and outside observers expressed concern about counterproductive content on VOA. Employees who have spoken out have already been harassed and intimidated by VOA management.

After the meeting, VOA officials emailed PNN staff a summary of what was discussed. The message reinforced by the email illustrates Soviet-style intimidation used at VOA to silence whistleblowers. The following excerpts from the email sound more like an internal memo at Pravda than U.S. taxpayer-supported Voice of America:

"If you disagree with any work that is being done at PNN, let’s talk about it. Don’t feed external criticism."

"Freedom of speech is a tricky issue. There are limits to free speech. You have the right to speak with elected officials and outside media but these comments need to be made in the public interest."

"Blogs that discuss our work are a symbol of our success. We enjoy freedom of speech in America. However, I will not stand for people at VOA who undermine our mission."

Click here for the full email.

Key Facts:

The VOA Persian News Network is supposed to be the balance to the propaganda from the regime of Iran, but VOA frequently provides another platform for apologists of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The law states VOA "will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinion on these policies.”
The U.S. taxpayer provides over $675 million annually for international broadcasting such as the Voice of America.

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Voice of America: intimidating whistleblowers

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Mar 4, 2008