Broadcasting Board of Governors

Voice of America's Mandarin Service correspondent and a multimedia journalist working for VOA were detained by Chinese police while attempting to interview a retired Chinese professor who was taken away by authorities during a live television interview with VOA nearly two weeks ago. Correspondent Yibing Feng and VOA contractor Allen Ai were taken into custody in Jinan, Shandong province after talking to professor Sun Wenguang, 84, through a closed door of his apartment. Sun told Feng details of his detention and thanked VOA for allowing him to express his freedom of speech on the air.

The Atlantic Council, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and Voice of America (VOA) held an official introduction and discussion about the new Russian-language TV network, Current Time. Known as “Настоящее Время” in Russian — a term that connotes “current,” “real,” and “true,” Current Time is a 24/7 digital network, providing Russian-speaking audiences with accurate and independent local, regional, and international news. Current Time connects Russian speakers in more than ten strategic countries with each other and the world, on digital platforms, social networks, satellite, and cable TV. RFE/RL and VOA launched Current Time to provide audiences with an alternative to the Moscow-controlled media and provide a reality check on disinformation.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) announced the unanimous election of Kenneth Weinstein, who has served as a Board Member since October 2013, to the position of Acting Board Chairman, effective immediately. Weinstein takes over the position from Jeff Shell, who served as Chairman of the Board since August 2013. Shell, the Chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, will continue to serve as a Board Member.

Kenneth R. Weinstein is President and Chief Executive Officer of Hudson Institute, a think tank focused on promoting American leadership and global engagement for a secure, free, and prosperous future. He has been decorated with a knighthood in Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication as a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Weinstein previously served by presidential appointment and Senate confirmation on the National Humanities Council, the governing body of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Weinstein graduated from The University of Chicago (B.A. in General Studies in the Humanities), the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (D.E.A. in Soviet and Eastern European Studies), and Harvard University (Ph.D. in Government).

The Broadcasting Board of Governors released its annual impact numbers which show the agency had its largest ever increase in its weekly worldwide audience to 278 million people, up from 226 million in 2015. These increases occurred across all platforms with digital platforms seeing the largest percentage growth, followed by radio and television.

“The unprecedented growth we’ve seen this year further illustrates the need for US international media particularly in parts of the world where access to balanced, impartial news is severely limited or non-existent,” said BBG CEO and Director John Lansing. “In media markets increasingly dominated by disinformation and propaganda, more and more people are turning to BBG networks for fair, accurate, fact-based reporting.” The increases include gains in highly competitive media markets that are of strategic importance to the United States. Digital audiences increased from 32 million to 45 million while those for radio rose by 27% to 130 million. Television audience also grew, increasing 23% to 174 million.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors named engineer and attorney Dr. Nnake Nweke as the first-ever Director of its newly created Office of Internet Freedom. As Director of the new Office of Internet Freedom, Dr. Nweke will serve as the principal advisor to the BBG Board, the CEO, and BBG’s five networks – the Voice of America, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks – on technological and innovative efforts to circumvent Internet censorship around the globe. In this role, Dr. Nweke will lead the development of the BBG’s strategies on combating Internet censorship and will study its impact on BBG programming.

Dr. Nweke’s accomplished career includes more than 15 years of experience in information and communications technology, cybersecurity, Internet policy, engineering systems and technology policy. Most recently, he served as a branch chief in the Office of Engineering and Technology at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Earlier, he worked as a senior engineer in the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the FCC’s Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division, as well as a senior staff member of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, a Technical Specialist/Patent Agent for a Washington (DC) law firm, and a research engineer at the National Security Agency.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors released a report that found shortwave radio to be essential to listeners in target countries, but of marginal impact in most markets.

Research-based evidence of media trends suggests that the increased availability and affordability of television, mobile devices and Internet access has led to the declining use of shortwave around the world.

Still, the report finds that substantial audiences embrace shortwave in Nigeria, Burma, North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Cuba and other target markets for the BBG. At the same time, the committee’s recommendations make clear that the BBG will need to continue to reduce or eliminate shortwave broadcasts where there is either minimal audience or that audience is not a US foreign policy priority.

Kurdish media habits are similar to that of the national population of Turkey, according to media research data released by the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

Amidst reduced press freedoms, younger people across Turkey are looking toward the Internet and social media to consume news and information.

Across Turkey, television remains the top choice for news (90% past-week use), but the Internet is very much in second place (42% past-week use) -- including among the country’s Kurdish population, which the research took an in-depth look at for the first time.

US government funded international broadcasters reached an estimated 187 million people every week in 2011, an increase of 22 million from 2013, according to new audience data being made public by the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

“We are pleased that people the world over are responding in unprecedented numbers to our high-quality journalism and active audience engagement,” said BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson. “The ability of our broadcasters to inform, engage and connect audiences through traditional and social media alike lie behind these impressive results and will be essential to driving future audience reach and impact.”

The record numbers, released in the BBG Performance and Accountability Report (PAR), measure the combined audience of the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio and TV Martí, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa). The report details impact on audiences around the globe.

In 2014, there were significant audience increases in Afghanistan, where RFE/RL and VOA together reach 75% of adults weekly; in Egypt, where Alhurra TV doubled its weekly audience to 15% in tandem with the Arab Spring; and in Indonesia, where VOA’s aggressive affiliate strategy has boosted weekly audiences to some 38 million adults.

Audiences in many other strategically relevant countries held strong. In Nigeria, VOA retains its position as a news source of record with 23 million weekly listeners. In Burma, VOA and RFA reach 26% and 24% of adults, respectively, amounting to a weekly audience of 10 million.