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New US Broadcasting Chief Knows His Way Around a NewsroomJames K. Glassman has become Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the agency supervising US government international broadcasting. Answering questions via email this weekend, he offered a candid and optimistic appraisal of the agency and its mission.
The US Senate approved the nomination June 6 and Glassman was officially sworn in June 8th, the same day controversial al-Hurrah news director Larry Register resigned. The US House of Representatives only days earlier threatened to trim BBG funding in response to bi-partisan Congressional criticism. The Broadcasting Board of Governors supervises all US Government international non-military broadcasting activities. The US President appoints eight Governors, not more than four from any one political party, who serve six-year terms. The US Secretary of State is the ex-officio ninth member of the Board. The BBG oversees the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia, Radio and TV Marti and the Middle East Broadcasting Network (al-Hurra TV, Radio Sawa, Radio Farda, et.al.). The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) provides administrative and technical support to US international broadcasting organizations. Almost immediately after being sworn in Glassman flew to Prague, Czech Republic for the June BBG meeting and to visit RFE/RL officials and staff. He had good news to deliver. A US House Appropriations Subcommittee, the budget people, voted to save several language services, including VOA’s English service, that had been headed for the chopping block. BBG's fiscal 2007 budget is not yet signed, sealed and delivered but moving away from the feared tough slashing. A few days after that visit, he answered a few questions via email. ftm: International broadcasting, just a few years ago, seemed doomed to the dust-bin of media history. From the Internet to the iPod to YouTube, media itself is changing at an astonishing rate. Media platforms just aren’t what they were just 5 years ago. How would you say the BBG – through its various broadcasting channels – can meet this dynamic challenge? Glassman: I have been Chairman of the Broadcasting for all of about two weeks, so my responses will be necessarily brief as I continue to go through my briefings about the work of the Board and of the various entities in the U.S. government-supported international broadcasting family. Having said that, I am not sure I agree with your initial premise that international broadcasting was on the skids a few years ago, but I do very much agree that the media environment in which we operate has changed and continues to change at a rate than can only be described as dizzying – or, as you put it, astonishing -- both here in the U.S. and around the world. And your question as to how U.S. international broadcasting can meet this challenge is on target. We must continue to marry our mission – to promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding by broadcasting accurate, objective and balanced news and information about the United States and the world to audiences abroad – to the market. We must also continue to reach our markets with the mix of technology most appropriate to each market. Achieving this of course requires considerable resources, and there are and will be hard choices that we must make as we focus our resources on the areas and in the technologies that make the most sense. I look forward to this challenge in the months and years ahead. ftm: What would you say is your greatest asset for directing the public diplomacy media channels for the United States, your career in print journalism noted? Glassman: First of all, from my own professional background and experience, I know my way around a news room, and, at a basic level, that is essential to understanding what the BBG’s broadcasting entities do: they are all journalistic organizations, so I know what they do and how they do it.
ftm: From what I understand your first mission after being sworn in was a trip to Prague, home of RFE/RL. Not all that long ago RFE/RL was given a change in direction, away from Central and Eastern Europe, toward the Middle East and Central Asia. Yet this week Freedom House released a report strongly indicating that the free flow of information within this region has taken giant steps backward. Would you give second thought to scaling back services to CEE or has the tide simply turned? Would you consider re-evaluating BBG services to CEE? Glassman: It is simply too early in my tenure as BBG Chairman to comment specifically on whether we might take a new look at the Central and Eastern European region. At the same time, I am well aware of the Freedom House report and what it says about the state of media freedom in some parts of that region, and that is a concern and bears watching. As I said earlier, however, we have some tough choices to make as we apply our finite resources and technology to areas of the greatest need in the world. At the moment, that is primarily the Islamic world and adjacent areas. ftm: The Russian and French international television news channels – Russia Today and France24 – in the last week announced program distribution through YouTube. The private television channel kicked off the airwaves in Venezuela – RCTV - re-emerged on YouTube. There are others. Your AEI experience noted, what’s your view of competition among international broadcasters for opinion leaders as well as general audiences? Glassman: I am of course a big fan of competition whether it’s for opinion leaders or market share of general audiences. In contrast to the years of the Cold War, when large international broadcasters like the BBC and VOA enjoyed a virtually monopoly, it is a highly competitive world out there. Large broadcasters compete with each other, with increasingly free and private media in many areas, as well as with indigenous state-run media organizations in some countries. In my view, these present us with opportunities for our products which, especially in the case of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, are already well known and trusted brand names. I believe that this is a great time to be in the international broadcasting business. ftm: The credibility of BBGs services to the Middle East was raised again at a recent Congressional hearing, specifically regarding al-Hurra. Shortly thereafter (al-Hurra News Director) Larry Register resigned. How might you address the credibility of services both to opinion leaders in the Middle East and to Congress? Glassman: Credibility in our business is paramount and must be preserved, nurtured and protected at all costs. That, incidentally, is one of the most important parts of the mission of the BBG: to serve as a firewall between the journalists and the policy makers and to be the guarantor of the broadcasters’ strict adherence to the highest standards of western journalism. As far as what happened or did not happen in the past with respect to Al-Hurra Television, I am studying the matter closely and carefully. I do not wish to comment at this time except to say that we will make changes and corrections whenever necessary to strengthen Al-Hurra Television, just as we will for all of the broadcasters under the BBG, for without our credibility, we have nothing. Iran tourism: very expensive and hard to leave - September 20, 2007
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US President George W. Bush placed Jim Glassman’s name before the US Congress in April to become the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) fourth Chairman. Glassman’s career is almost entirely media-related beginning as editor of his college (Harvard) newspaper (The Crimson), founder of a newspaper and a web publication, Washington Post personal finance columnist, President of the Atlantic Monthly, publisher of US News & World Report, CNN commentator and host and, occasionally, a radio talk show host. Currently he serves as American Enterprise Institute (AEI) senior fellow editing it’s magazine The American.
I also understand and embrace the mission of U.S. international broadcasting, which is to broadcast accurate and objective news and information around the world. One of the essential pillars of freedom, here in the U.S. or anywhere, is a free press. Our broadcasters are themselves models of a free press. But in addition there is also an important foreign policy dimension to our mission. The 1994 International Broadcasting Act states, “international broadcasting shall…be consistent with the foreign policy objectives of the United States.” It accomplishes foreign policy goals in two ways – first, by presenting the policies and values of the U.S. clearly and effectively, at the same time giving a “balanced and comprehensive projection of American thought,” and, second, by broadcasting how a free press functions. I believe that fulfilling the mission of international broadcasting is critical to winning the war on terror and to meeting other policy objectives of the United States government.