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In addition to reporting on the news, Alhurra and Radio Sawa stand apart from many other Arabic-language media in that they present all sides of sensitive issues not found in other media outlets. Alhurra and Radio Sawa also provide comprehensive coverage from the United States—politics, values and its people. (scroll down for members)

For decades, a so-called anti-propaganda law prevented the U.S. government's mammoth broadcasting arm from delivering programming to American audiences. But on July 2, that came silently to an end with the implementation of a new reform passed in January. The result: an unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption in a reform initially criticized as a green light for U.S. domestic propaganda efforts. So what just happened? Until this month, a vast ocean of U.S. programming produced by the Broadcasting Board of Governors such as Voice of America, Radio Free...

Coakley's bodyguard is connected all the way to the top of the Democratic party.Update: 3:10 P.M.: An aide to a Republican senator on the Foreign Relations Committee, which handles nominations to the BBG, says the shoving incident “will certainly be an issue if the White House continues to back his nomination.”“The BBG works to promote freedom and stop abuse of the press overseas. What kind of message does that send dictators in Iran and Venezuela if the U.S. promotes someone caught on tape assaulting reporters?”Update: 2:57 P.M.: The Boston Globe is reporting that Meehan  “said in an e-mail he would...

Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James K. Glassman FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog Commentary by Ted Lipien, October 4, 2008, San Francisco -- James Glassman, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, gave incomplete and misleading answers when asked Friday whether the elimination of vernacular broadcasts to Georgia, Russia, and India is going to hurt his "war of ideas" effort. Speaking in Washington at a National Press Club luncheon on "The New Age of Public Diplomacy," Glassman seemed surprised and annoyed by the question. His answer that the U.S. is not...

The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is a little bipartisan body, which currently has six members. All but one, voted to terminate Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Russia and also wanted to end VOA radio broadcasts to Georgia and Ukraine. Ignoring Congressional warnings, the BBG eliminated Russian radio broadcasts just 12 days before Russia invaded Georgia last August. They still refuse to resume them. One of the BBG members who voted to stop VOA from broadcasting radio to Russia was Senator Biden's former chief of staff, Ted Kaufman, who now helps Biden with his vice presidential campaign....

Coburn Delays State Nominee Over Pro-Iran Radio April 07, 2008 The Washington Times Nicholas Kralev President Bush's nomination of a successor to his longtime friend Karen P. Hughes as the nation's top public diplomacy official is being held up in the Senate over concerns about anti-American bias in the Voice of America's broadcasts for Iran. Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, has put a hold on the confirmation of James Glassman, whom Mr. Bush nominated in December and who went before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in late January, administration and congressional officials said. Mr. Coburn has sought for years...

It is no secret that America's international-broadcasting institutions have been sadly lacking in strategic vision for years. In fact, such institutions are among Washington's most dysfunctional. Efforts to make them more efficient in the "war for hearts and minds" inevitably get stymied by political infighting, tight budgets and internecine warfare among the organizations. News last week suggests that the U.S. government is again about to shoot itself in the foot in this vital front of the public diplomacy in war against terrorism by eliminating Voice of America's English-language service. Not all the news is bad, though. The good news...

The connection was obvious to senators of both parties, though nobody said so publicly. Four days before Sen. Joseph Biden declared he would seek the Democratic presidential nomination if he could find the financing, he held hostage an important, non-controversial Bush diplomatic appointee. His intent: to force President Bush to reappoint a billionaire backer of Biden to a government oversight board. Nobody expected Biden's move when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee convened last Wednesday to send routine nominations to the floor. Biden, the committee's ranking Democrat, blocked Senate consideration of White House personnel director Dina Habib Powell as the State...