
BY DR. ELEZ BIBERAJ/
Director Eurasia Division, Voice of America/
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Dielli is thankful to Dr. Biberaj for providing the presentation to its readers.Dr. Elez Biberaj, Director of Voice of America’s Eurasia Division, was the guest speaker at the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester Township.
His talk centered on the VOA’s global impact during the Cold War between 1947 to 1991; events leading up to the fall of the wall in 1991; and some of the current issues regarding propaganda and disinformation programs from Russia. One point focuses on whether we are experiencing a ‘Second Cold War’ due to reports of Russian disinformation efforts during the US 2016 presidential election and in our electoral system. The media release for his talk said “No one knows the Cold War like VOA career-employee Elez Biberaj. The Museum Executive Director Jack Dominic said that Elez was on the front lines of the Cold War as both a political analyst and a VOA journalist. “We’re eager to hear his insights on the role VOA played in inspiring East Europeans to work for democracy in their own countries, as well as his take on the state of democracy in Europe today.” After World War II ended in 1945, the Soviet Union controlled the eastern part of Germany, while the western part went to the United States, Great Britain and France. In 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic started building a wall in Berlin to separate east and western areas. It became the symbol of the Soviet Union’s “Iron Curtain” separating nations during the Cold War. Demolition of the wall began Nov. 9, 1989, after the Eastern German Communist Party announced that citizens could cross the border without fear or retaliation.
Elez Biberaj, has earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University, and has been Director of VOA’s Eurasia Division since 2006. He oversees the VOA’s Russian, Ukrainian, Albanian, Armenian, Bosnian, Georgian, Macedonian, and Serbian language services. He has traveled extensively throughout Eurasia and has spoken on Eurasian, Balkan and Russian affairs to government, NGOs and media organizations because of his expertise in Eurasian affairs, according to the VOA in Washington DC. He is the author of four books and numerous scholarly articles.
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As we mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is a good
time to reflect on the role that the Voice of America (VOA) played during the
Cold War and examine the critical role it plays today in supporting and
promoting freedom of information, democracy, and media literacy worldwide.
VOA is the largest and most important entity of the U.S. Agency for Global
Media, an independent federal agency that oversees all American international
broadcasting. It is a global, fully multi-media organization – providing
content on TV, radio, and digital platforms in 47 languages. On a weekly basis,
VOA now reaches 275 million people – an increase of 50% over the past five
years. VOA’s TV programs, video streams and multimedia content meet audiences
on platforms of their choosing and are shared daily with millions of connected
mobile and social media users on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and
VOA-operated websites and apps.
VOA is funded by the U.S. Congress, and has about 1,000 employees with correspondents
and stringers around the world, and more than 2500 affiliates worldwide.
Its editorial independence is guaranteed by law. VOA is mandated by its Charter
– signed into law in 1976 – to practice responsible journalism and to provide
accurate, balanced and comprehensive news and information of the highest
journalistic standards to an international audience. The Charter defines VOA’s
mission very clearly: to serve as a trusted source of reliable news and
information; present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant
American thought and institutions and present the policies of the United States
clearly and effectively.
While many things have changed since the end of the Cold War and VOA has
undergone significant transformations, one thing that has not changed is our
mission: to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support
of freedom and democracy.
Compared to a few years ago, the world today is less democratic and the media
less free and independent. We are witnessing a widespread assault on the truth
and attempts to manipulate public opinion and disseminate blatantly false news
and information. Social media are becoming political battlefields, manipulating
the truth and spreading disinformation.
VOA is the leading international broadcaster and one of the most recognized
international news brands in the world. It is in a unique position to tell
America’s compelling story and advance U.S. foreign policy objectives by
placing special reporting emphasis on issues important to the United States.
VOA has expanded its programming across platforms. The Eurasia Division’s eight
services, targeting Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, and the Balkans, are
focusing their programing on responding to Russian disinformation and malign behavior,
countering radicalization and violent extremism, reporting on poor governance,
pervasive corruption, lack of rule of law and other issues that hinder the
region’s consolidation of democracy and its Euro-Atlantic aspirations. VOA has
become a permanent feature of the media scene in many countries, often driving
the news cycle and generating conversations and debates on major issues.
VOA During the Cold War Era
The Voice of America was established in response to the need of people in
war-torn and repressed countries to have access to accurate, honest, and
reliable news and information. The Eurasia region – the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe – were at the center of the Cold War, and throughout that long,
dark period, VOA served as a source of trustworthy information, broadcasting in
more than 30 languages spoken in the region. VOA provided comprehensive
coverage of key political events that shaped the lives of people in the
communist world: the Sovietization of Eastern Europe, the Stalin-Tito break, de-Stalinization,
the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, the invasion of Czechoslovakia;
the rise of the Polish labor movement Solidarity, the emergence of dissident
movements, the rise to power of Mikhail Gorbachev and the introduction of
glasnost and perestroika, and, finally, the momentous events that led to the
demise of communism throughout Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the
Soviet Union.
Through its comprehensive reporting, VOA served as a beacon of hope, helping
people under communist rule keep their hopes alive, preserve their independent
spirit, and achieve their democratic aspirations. More specifically, VOA
broadcasts provided accurate and balanced news and information; exposed the
systematic repression of human and national rights in the communist world;
highlighted American and Western support for the democratic aspirations of the
peoples of communist countries; promoted the ideals of a free, pluralistic and
democratic society; served as a significant agent of change by successfully
challenging communist regimes’ monopoly on news and information, and provided
an outlet for dissent and served as an alternative source for the flow of
information and ideas, thus discrediting the official communist propaganda and
encouraging democratic elements. VOA conducted impactful interviews with the
region’s most important dissidents – Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Andrei Sakharov,
Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, and others.
After 1989-91, many dignitaries such as Walesa, Havel, post-communist leaders
of Baltic and East European countries, former diplomats, experts, journalists
and people from all walks of life acknowledged that VOA had played a key role
in the fall of communism and the development of democracy in the region.
Former Secretary of State James Baker, in an interview with the Voice of
America on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall,
acknowledged the important role VOA played in galvanizing public support for
democracy: “The fall of the [Berlin] Wall really was not predicted to happen
when it did. We knew there were demonstrations for freedom occurring all across
the Warsaw Pact countries and in large part, I might add, because of the
actions and efforts of the Voice of America and the fact that we were getting
our message across and into those countries. There is a strong yearning for
freedom on the part of peoples everywhere in the world. And when authoritarians
come to power and try and shut off that freedom or eliminate that freedom,
there’s going to be resistance. That’s why we won the Cold War. That’s why our
paradigm of democracy and free markets is the most successful one.”
VOA’s reputation as an independent, trusted and credible media outlet is what
attracted its audiences during the Cold War – and still inspires audiences
today.
VOA in the Post-Cold War Era
In the wake of the end of the Cold War, there were high hopes that Russia and
other former communist countries would rapidly embrace democracy and the market
economy. The U.S. made a huge investment, launching a set of assistance
programs, which focused on sustained democratization and economic
stabilization.
In the first two decades after the Cold War, Russia and the other former
communist countries indeed made significant progress in reshaping their political
and institutional landscape, establishing a new constitutional order, and
developing an independent media. The Baltic States, the Central and East
European countries, plus Slovenia and Croatia joined both NATO and the European
Union.
In the early 1990s, some expected to see a peace dividend and argued that VOA
had completed its mission and as result there was no longer a need for VOA and
its sister broadcasting entities. Unfortunately, that could not be farther from
the truth.
VOA broadcasts today are as critical, if not more critical, than during the
Cold War. The transition from communism to democracy has not been as smooth and
rapid as many had hoped. Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the
situations in Eurasia remains fragile and few former communist countries have
fully consolidated their democratic order. Freedom House classifies Eurasia as
one of the most repressive areas in the world. Russia is rated as “not
free,” and the other countries as “partly free.” The media in Eurasia are
highly politicized and subject to the control and influence of government,
political parties, and powerful oligarchs.
Leading media monitoring organizations – Freedom House, IREX, and Reporters
Without Borders – consistently rank the Eurasia region’s media environments as
not yet free. In recent years, the space for independent media has severely
been curtailed. The few truly independent media outlets and journalists
are often targeted by their governments and local business people who want to
suppress critical reporting.
Countering Russian disinformation
Repressive and authoritarian regimes are waging global disinformation
campaigns, aimed at sowing chaos, undermining democratic processes, and
creating doubt about the truth.
Russian disinformation presents a growing challenge.
Russia has emerged as a fully, consolidated authoritarian state, with power
concentrated in the hands of President Vladimir Putin, the opposition
marginalized, legislative and judicial branches obedient to the executive
branch, and the media under tight government control. Putin has pursued
an increasingly aggressive and revisionist policy aimed at reasserting Russia’s
control over its neighbors, blocking their integration into Euro-Atlantic
institutions, and aggressively challenging U.S. policy around the globe.
The Russian government has relied heavily on the intensive use of weaponized
information to fan anti-U.S. and anti-Western sentiments both in Russia and
globally.
The government-controlled media often publish false and misleading information
aimed at undermining democratic values and institutions, tarnishing the appeal
of Western-style democracies, and building sympathy for Putin’s authoritarian
model of government. They focus on domestically divisive topics, support extremist,
and fringe forces and then amplify their messages and positions.
Russia is using a broad range of tools and tactics to target specific
communities, countries, and environments. RT (former Russia Today) and Sputnik,
which now operate in more than 100 countries, flood the markets with false or
misleading information. They make heavy use of social media bots and fake
accounts to influence elections in other countries and promote Moscow’s
narratives.
The region that VOA’s Eurasia Division covers is one of the prime targets of
Russia’s disinformation. And in our programming, we devote considerable
attention to this issue.
VOA plays a critical role in countering Russian disinformation and discrediting
Moscow’s sophisticated narratives aimed at undermining democratic processes in
other countries and instigating resentment toward the United States. Our
Services have extraordinary reach and impact. This is reflected in their
weekly audience size and quantitative, qualitative and anecdotal data on
program quality of trustworthiness, engagement, and audience understanding of
current events. VOA’s weekly reach ranges from 3.1% in Russia, 10% in Ukraine,
26% in Serbia, 38% in Armenia, to 60.5% in Albania.
We counter Russian disinformation as journalists – through truthful, fact-based
news and information. Our reporters engage in painstaking research, identifying
false and misleading statements and information by officials and
government-controlled media and setting the record straight.
The United States and Russia hold fundamentally different and clashing world
views. It is therefore imperative that VOA provide its Russian audiences with
timely news, analysis and insights into U.S. policies and American life that is
not available in the Russian media.
VOA’s Experience in Russia
VOA remains a well-known and powerful brand name in Russia, having provided
Russian-language programming to audiences in Russia and other former Soviet
republics continuously since February 1947. After the Cold War ended, VOA
developed a network of radio and television affiliate partners in Russia. But
in the last decade, with Russia’s democratic backsliding, the Kremlin’s tight
grip on major broadcast outlets, and mounting encroachments on key spheres of
online activity, VOA has been forced to work in a highly constricted public
space in Russia. In 2008, our Russian Service lost access to radio and
television affiliates when President Putin’s government pressured local
stations to stop rebroadcasting VOA programs. In 2014, Russia barred VOA from
local broadcasting. Then in November 2017, the Russian government declared VOA
and RFE/RL as foreign agents, a move aimed at reducing access to U.S.
international media outlets and intimidating VOA’s audience. A new and
controversial law went into effect on November 1, 2019, aimed ultimately at
creating an independent internet for Russia. The “sovereign internet” law
allows Russia’s telecom company, Roskomnadzor, to sensor or block content it
may consider as too sensitive or critical of the Kremlin. It remains to be seen
how and to what extent the law will be implemented, but now the authorities can
disconnect users from the global internet.
Denied direct distribution and program placement on Russia’s media outlets,
VOA’s Russian Service has employed a digital-first strategy. The Service
provides in-depth coverage of regional and world developments, U.S.-Russia
relations, Russian diaspora, and events in the United States. The Service also
regularly provides simultaneously translated live streams of major U.S. events,
including presidential speeches, major press conferences, and hearings in the
U.S. Congress. In 2017, VOA partnered with RFE/RL to launch Current Time, a
24/7 Russian-language television digital network, targeting Russian-speakers in
and around Russia. The network is attracting a younger and more social media
savvy audience. Current Time is available to viewers on a variety of
television, digital, social and mobile platforms.
In addition to Russia, there are significant challenge to press freedom in
other former communist countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Many media
outlets are controlled by big business and they cannot cover certain stories or
risk losing revenue. The result is a widespread lack of trust in the
media and lack of government and business accountability.
VOA’s Response
Given these troubling trends, VOA has put added emphasis on the importance of
press freedom – even added the tagline to our logo “A Free Press Matters.” VOA
supports and works with investigative journalists in the region – covering
stories that local media cannot, such as high-level corruption. VOA has also
added an English web page devoted to examining challenges to free press
globally and explaining why a free press is important to democracies, launched
a media literacy project in Learning English, and is conducting extensive
training of journalists in the field to expand “good” media space and increase
media literacy.
In addition to being a beacon for press freedom, and to telling America’s
story, VOA is adding new programming for refugees, raising the profile of women
on the air and as experts in coverage, and is doing more investigative
reporting. And – pursuing a strategy of not just targeting countries, but in
this digital age, targeting language speakers – VOA is providing 24/7 streams.
In addition to Current Time, a television and digital stream for Russian
speakers around the world developed by VOA and RFE/RL, VOA has launched a
stream for Persian speakers and is developing a similar project for Mandarin.
These 24/7 streams enable VOA to provide, in real time, important U.S. speeches
and events, with simultaneous translation – thus giving audiences unfiltered
access to American newsmakers and policymakers.
In this age of widespread disinformation, propaganda campaigns and falsified
news, VOA is committed to serve its audiences by practicing responsible
journalism and upholding the highest journalistic standards. As William
Harlan Hale said in VOA’s first broadcast, on February 1, 1942, “The news may
be good. The news may be bad for us. We shall tell you the truth.”
Just as during the long, dark period of communist dictatorship in the Soviet
Union and Eastern Europe, VOA remains a potent force in sharing the values of
democracy, good governance, and a free press.
In February 2020, VOA will mark its 78th anniversary. The staying power of VOA is a testament to the vital role it continues to play in exporting the First Amendment to audiences worldwide.