Cold War Calling

Morgan Lorraine Roach / October 01, 2009

On September 30, 2009, The Heritage Foundation hosted “The Year of Miracles: The Fall of the Berlin Wall Twentieth Anniversary.” A reoccurring theme of the event centered on America’s use of government-sponsored broadcasting and its effects on U.S. influence during the Cold War and how it must be used today. While government-sponsored broadcasting was just one of the many successful public diplomacy tools utilized by the United States, former Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, James Glassman emphasized that the United States still has much to learn in the way that it conducts its public diplomacy initiatives.

For example, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has five out of their nine positions filled. Furthermore, the Board has slashed language services to Ukraine, India, Georgia and many other countries that depended on news service such as Voice of America for international news. Clearly the spreading America’s message of democracy and freedom is not high on the current administration’s agenda. (more…)