VOA Must Do a Better Job at Depicting American Life

Helle Dale / October 25, 2010

“What are the most effective actions the United States could take towards liberty for the Iranian people and political freedom for the Green Movement in Iran?” This was the question posed to Amir Abbas Fakhravar, Iranian dissident in exile in the United States, by the audience at a lunch hosted by the Heritage Foundation last week. “Two things,” was his brief and blunt answer: Impose oil sanctions and reform Voice of America’s Persian News Network (PNN).

The first item on this brief list comes as no surprise, given the overwhelming dependence of the Iranian economy on just one commodity, oil. The second item, reform of PNN, underscores just how important U.S. international broadcasting continues to be in closed societies like Iran. According to Fakhvarar, VOA’s Persian service is only one of two outside networks reaching Iranian audiences—the other being the BBC’s Persian service. He further noted that VOA has an estimated 17 million listeners in Iran, a sizable audience share in a country of 72 million people. (more…)