US Seeking a Stronger World Media Voice

Andrew Lack was sworn in this week as the first chief executive of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, putting him in charge of an agency with a $700 million budget and an outsize influence on shaping world opinion about the United States.

Foreign policy experts and some critics say the appointment of Lack, the former president of NBC News and a prominent news media executive, represents a sea change for the often-criticized agency, which oversees United States government-supported civilian international news media such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and Radio Free Asia. Before Mr. Lack’s appointment, day-to-day international broadcasting operations were overseen by a board that had become known more for its dysfunction than for managing broadcast programs that reach more than 200 million people every week. Now, with Lack at the helm, the feeling in the agency and in Congress is that the broadcasting board is better positioned to counter the increasing hostile and suspicious views of Americans aboard, and more forcefully engage international rivals such as China and Russia in the high-stakes information war.