Delahunt Hearing Wednesday On TV Marti

06/16/2009
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt announced today that his House Foreign Affairs Oversight Subcommittee will hold a hearing on TV Marti, the US government’s television station that broadcasts to Cuba.

The hearing will be at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, June 17, in room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

It will review a report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, that found continued problems with lack of journalistic standards and minimal audience for TV Marti and its sister station, Radio Marti.  According to the US government’s own figures, TV Marti’s audience is less than 2% of those responding to surveys. To read the report, please follow this link: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09127.pdf

“Is it a station in search of an audience?” asked Delahunt.  “This hearing will examine what, if anything, US taxpayers have received for the half-billion dollars they have pumped into this operation.”

DATE:             June 17, 2009

TIME:              3:00 pm

LOCATION:  2172 Rayburn House Office Building

SUBJECT:       TV Marti: A Station in Search of an Audience?

WITNESSES:     

Panel I

Mr. Jess Ford

Director, International Affairs and Trade Team
Government Accountability Office

Panel II

John Nichols, Ph.D
Professor of Communications and International Affairs
Penn State University

Mr. Philip Peters
Vice President
Lexington Institute

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