The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is
deeply concerned by reports of large funding cuts to Voice Of America’s (VOA)
Chinese language services.
The United States
Government’s Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees the operation
of VOA and several other international broadcasters such as Radio Free Asia,
announced a 57 per cent reduction in staff numbers to its Mandarin service and
closure of all Cantonese-language programming, VOA reported on
February 16.
According to a proposal before the
United States Congress, the BBG would reallocate funds to enhance the agency’s
global satellite transmission infrastructure and expand efforts to move VOA to
an all-digital broadcast platform.
“While we were told that we will
move to a news service utilising the internet and mobile communications
technologies, these budget amendments raise questions about whether there will
be sufficient manpower for news gathering,” a VOA reporter
said.
“We’ve had no assurances of job
security among these changes to an all-digital platform and we are mindful that
China’s cyber policing efforts could
prove to be problematic.”
David Wu, a Democratic member of
Congress from Oregon, told VOA on February 16 that he is
“utterly opposed” to any reduction in the broadcaster’s Mandarin service. Wu
said he will raise the matter with speaker of the House of Representatives John
Boehner and chairman of the House committee responsible for the BBG budget Frank
Wolf.
The BBG also decided to close its
Croatian-language service operated by Radio Free Europe. According to VOA,
various congressmen have already expressed their opposition to the proposed
changes. Former BBG member Blanquita Cullum said: “This is not the time to
retreat. This is the time to advance and reach out with more
broadcasting.”
“Recent internet blacklistings on
internet searches on the Egypt and Iran protests have shown that China’s
capacity for controlling the internet and blocking access to information is
second to none,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan
White said.
“Furthermore, there are a great number of Chinese citizens
who live in poverty and would have tremendous difficulty accessing VOA services
online.
“The IFJ urges the United States
Congress to overrule the proposal and the BBG committee to consider other means
of expanding the VOA service which will not threaten the job security of media
practitioners, or the public’s ability to access the
service.”
For further information contact IFJ
Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0919
The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 125
countries
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@ifjasiapacific
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