GOP Lawmakers Wicker, Schock Aim to Restore Cuts to Radio
Free Europe
Wednesday, 19 Mar 2014 03:14 PM
By Andrea Billups
Lawmakers are pointing at Russian
aggression in Crimea as they call on a federal agency to cancel proposed
funding cuts for Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty's
news coverage in the Balkans.
"The timing of this decision
by the [Broadcasting Board of Governors]
just seems unbelievable," Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who wrote the
BBG in late February, told Newsmax.
"It just sounds like the
decision-makers here haven't been paying attention for the last three
months," Wicker said in an interview. "The administration has long
wanted to pivot to Asia and to the Pacific,
and that may have sounded like a sound approach during the year 2012 and maybe
2013, but things have changed."
Wicker was joined in his concern
by Republican Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois,
who also wrote to the BBG asking it to reconsider the budget cuts.
"The ongoing situation in
Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula has reinforced the importance of these
services in recent weeks, and has underscored the original pretext upon which
these broadcast services were established," Schock wrote in his letter.
"Furthermore, there is the concern that these broadcasts, originally
developed with great purpose, investment, and thought, will not be easily
re-established once closed down."
Radio Free Europe has broadcasting
headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic, with offices also in Washington, D.C.
The news service was founded in 1949 and funded by the CIA until 1972.
The nonprofit agency is credited
with crucial reporting, including helping to soften Cold War relations.
President Ronald Reagan was a staunch supporter, increasing its funding and
using it to cast a critical eye on Communist regimes.
Currently, Radio Free Europe
reports are broadcast in 28 languages in 21 countries. Both the House Foreign
Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hold jurisdiction
over the BBG, and appropriations committees from both chambers provide funding
and oversight on policy and programming.
Concern came earlier this year
after the BBG released its 2015 budget request for the radio news service and
for Radio Liberty, and the board called for substantial reductions away from
"legacy markets" in Europe and "toward current policy
priorities" in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. It also sought a move
away from medium- and short-wave radio broadcasts to more modern platforms of
FM radio, television, and digital.
"In keeping with this
strategy, the request includes investments to engage audiences in Africa and Southeast Asia, expand English learning programs, and
increase and enhance social media presence and products," the BBG budget
request noted. "The request also expands on BBG efforts to transition to
digital transmission technology by continuing to evolve away from shortwave
radio transmissions."
The BBG plans to cut two services,
Radio Free Iraq and its Radio Free Europe Balkans coverage. Included in the
Balkans downsizing are 14 positions, while the Iraq service will be consolidated
with the Middle East Broadcast Network's Radio Sawa, eliminating 11 jobs and
transferring six to Radio Sawa.
Of the $721 million budget request
for 2015, about $12 million has been cut from the previous year as a part of a
downsizing effort that if approved, leaves Balkans coverage out in the cold.
The BBG defended its budget in a
statement released March 4.
"This agency has a strategic
imperative to tie its priorities to global realities, making the most of
relatively scarce resources while responding to shifts in audiences, technology
use, and media markets," BBG Chairman Jeffrey Shell said.
Others warned that press freedom
would be all but lost in the region.
"Russia's
actions in Ukraine are a
warning signal to the rest of Eastern Europe.
The U.S. must be willing to have an aggressive debate throughout all of Eastern
Europe about the benefits of free-market economies, increased human rights, and
greater liberties," former U.S. spokesman to the United Nations Richard
Grenell told Newsmax. "Essential to this debate is a free press
unintimidated by growing Russian aggression and a state-run media controlling information."
The Radio Free Europe's Balkans
service has been in place since 1994 and extends its message via Internet,
radio, and television to Bosnia,
Serbia, Kosovo,
Macedonia, and Montenegro.
More than 150 station affiliates distribute the news service programming, and
supporters say the voice of freedom must remain strong there as Russian
aggression grows.
Wicker said he is concerned the
cutbacks have been done with little input from Congress.
"I just believe that this
decision should be reconsidered, and the issue should be fully aired," he
told Newsmax.
Americans, Wicker added, should
understand why it is crucial to keep the message of freedom, liberty, rule of
law, and appropriate governance carried to people in fractious parts of the
world.
"When the strong men come in
to take over a region, what's the first thing they target? It's the radio and
television stations. It's information," Wicker warned. "They do that
for a reason — because it's power. We need to be a competitor in the battle of
international ideas. We think our message is an exceptional one, and I think
that RFE and all the related networks have been invaluable over time and still
are."
Schock said the news programs are
important because they promote democratic values in areas of the world where
they are needed.
"These broadcast services
promote the values of freedom of speech and democracy, values that must remain
in the forefront of Iraqi thought, especially as our troops withdraw, and that
are needed in the Balkans more than ever, as expansionist policies threaten to
unmake all the progress that has been made over the past two decades,"
Schock said.
He added: "If the values of
democracy, free speech, and liberty lose their foothold in these regions, it
will become an increasingly hostile world for the United
States, and a far more difficult world for the people of Iraq
and the Balkans."
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Steven
W. Korn was the president & CEO for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a VP & general counsel for the
Turner Broadcasting System Inc., a
director at the Public Broadcasting
Service (PBS), and the vice chairman & COO for CNN.
Note: Patricia E.
Mitchell was an executive in charge of original productions for the Turner Broadcasting System Inc., the president
& CEO for the Public Broadcasting
Service (PBS), and the president of CNN
Productions.
Vivian Schiller
was the Russian interpreter for the Turner
Broadcasting System Inc., the SVP for CNN
Productions, and the president & CEO for the NPR.
Alan
C. Page was the color commentator for the Turner Broadcasting System Inc., and the color commentator for the NPR.
Kevin
Klose is the president emeritus for the NPR, and the president & CEO for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
George
Soros was a benefactor for the NPR,
and the chairman for the Foundation to
Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the NPR, the Aspen Institute
(think tank), the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and the Hudson Institute
(think tank).
Marc B. Nathanson
is a trustee at the Aspen Institute
(think tank), and was the chairman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
Condoleezza Rice is a trustee at the
Aspen Institute (think tank), was a governor for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Walter
Isaacson is the president & CEO for the Aspen Institute (think tank), was the chairman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and the
chairman & CEO for CNN.
Ted
Turner is the founder of CNN,
the founder of the Turner Broadcasting
System Inc., and a co-chairman for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director
at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think
tank), the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Cameron F. Kerry
is a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and John F. Kerry’s brother.
Teresa Heinz
Kerry is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and married to John F. Kerry.
John
F. Kerry is Cameron F. Kerry’s
brother, the secretary at the U.S.
Department of State for the Barack
Obama administration, and a governor for the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
Kenneth R.
Weinstein is a governor nominee for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and the president & CEO for
the Hudson Institute (think tank).
S. Enders Wimbush
was the SVP for the Hudson Institute
(think tank), a governor for the Broadcasting
Board of Governors, and a senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Booz Allen
Hamilton is a contractor for the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Edward Snowden leaked
information about the National Security
Agency (NSA), and an employee at Booz
Allen Hamilton.
Robert S. Osborne
is the EVP & general counsel for Booz
Allen Hamilton, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
James S.
Crown is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a trustee
at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Lester Crown
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was a lifetime
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Marc B. Nathanson
is a trustee at the Aspen Institute
(think tank), and was the chairman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
Condoleezza Rice is a trustee at the
Aspen Institute (think tank), was a governor for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Walter
Isaacson is the president & CEO for the Aspen Institute (think tank), was the chairman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and the
chairman & CEO for CNN.
Steven
W. Korn was the vice chairman & COO for CNN, a VP & general counsel for the Turner Broadcasting System Inc., a director at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and the
president & CEO for Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty.
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