• HOME
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • CONTACT
  • CHINA
  • CUBA
  • IRAN
  • RUSSIA
  • BBG WATCH
  • Login
Upgrade
USAGMWatch.com
  • Home
  • About
  • MANAGEMENT
  • ELECTIONS
  • PROPAGANDA
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • BBG WATCH
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
  • MANAGEMENT
  • ELECTIONS
  • PROPAGANDA
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • BBG WATCH
No Result
View All Result
USAGM Watch
No Result
View All Result
Home HISTORY

Happy Birthday Radio Free Europe

Tadeusz (Ted) Lipien by Tadeusz (Ted) Lipien
July 5, 2020
7 1

USAGM Watch Commentary

Originally posted on July 5, 2020 and last edited for formatting changes on February 19, 2021.

 

By Ted Lipien

Happy Birthday Radio Free Europe!

I had lived in communist-ruled Poland until the age of 16 listening to RFE Polish Service. Its broadcasts opened my mind, although as far as knowledge of history and understanding of Marxism, communism, state-run media, schools and socialist economies, I had already learned basic facts from my family, neighbors, Catholic priests and nuns, and a few courageous teachers. I was also old enough to make my own observations of life in a country ruled by a Soviet-imposed, illegal, and inhuman regime.

What Radio Free Europe gave me was hope that I might be able to escape such a life and live in freedom, which I did in 1970. I did not know then and did not expect the Soviet communist empire to collapse within my lifetime. When I was a teenager in Poland I dreamed of working for Radio Free Europe, but because I emigrated to the United States to join my father, in 1973 I started working instead for the Voice of America in Washington, DC as a 20-year-old college student.

In the 1980s I had the honor of leading the VOA Polish Service during Solidarity trade union’s struggle for human rights and Poland’s independence. I interviewed future Pope John Paul II and Solidarity leader and future Polish President Lech Wałęsa. In 1989 I covered for VOA the fall of communism in Poland. I retired in 2006 from my last VOA job as acting associate director in charge of central programs.

Thank you Americans for supporting Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and the Voice of America during the Cold War!

Thank You RFE!

I also want to say: Thank You VOA!

It was not always easy, but I had a rewarding and meaningful career in Cold War journalism.

Until the Ronald Reagan’s presidency, we at the Voice of America did not have the same freedom as RFE journalists had. We envied their superior programming to Poland. But even with various policy restrictions, the Voice of America also contributed to restoring democracy in East-Central Europe from the early 1950s through the end of the 1980s.

Yet I’m convinced that the Voice of America could not have done it alone if there were no Radio Free Europe. The end of Communism in Europe would not have come as fast as it did. RFE’s administrative setup and personnel were far superior to VOA’s.

VOA also had a much more problematic history than RFE and unlike RFE its leadership has never acknowledged some of its biggest mistakes and failures. There were Communist and Soviet sympathizers among Voice of America’s early officials and journalists, people like Howard Fast, the 1953 recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize; RFE never hired Communists unless they had already left the Communist Party and condemned Communism.

There were times between 1942 and 1981 when VOA repeated Soviet propaganda, censored Alexandr Solzhenitsyn and downplayed reports about the Gulag; RFE never did.

In the last decade, both RFE/RL and VOA went through some very difficult times. In 2012 and 2013 I successfully helped RFE/RL reform its management after dozens of Radio Liberty journalists in Russia were unjustly fired. Most of the dismissed journalists were eventually rehired by RFE/RL.

The Voice of America experienced even greater difficulties. The management fired or disciplined several anti-Communist VOA Mandarin Service journalists who wanted to expose crimes of the Communist Party regime in China. They are still waiting for justice. Under former agency director John F. Lansing who is now running NPR, and former VOA director Amanda Bennett who has recently resigned, VOA editors posted materials in praise of Che Guevara and American Communist Angela Davis. They at times repeated without challenge propaganda from Russia, China and Iran, leading finally to a public rebuke from President Donald Trump and the White House.

VOA and even to some degree RFE/RL have acquired in recent year a strong partisan bias of left-leaning American media which now defends the failed former agency executives and biased VOA editors while attacking the new management which at least promises to bring administrative reforms and to respect the VOA Charter. Reading U.S. media accounts of the controversy and looking at some recent Voice of America programs I sometimes feel I’m back in communist-ruled Poland reading communist newspapers.

But I still have faith in American democracy, free elections, free press and hopefully the ability of U.S. government-funded broadcasters to change and improve as they had done in the past. I have not yet lost my faith in Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and the Voice of America. May they still help those who want freedom and uncensored news without propaganda and ideological bias.

Happy Fourth of July 2020!

 

Radio Free Europe started broadcasting 70 years ago on July 4, 1950. This publicity pamphlet describes RFE circa 1960.

 

Radio Free Europe started broadcasting 70 years ago on July 4, 1950. This publicity pamphlet describes RFE in 1957.

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Tags: historyRFE/RLTed LipienVOA
Previous Post

Federal Judge Rules in Favor of USAGM CEO Michael Pack, Tells Fired Officials Decision Belongs “At the Ballot Box”

Next Post

LIPIEN After a decade of extreme bias and foreign propaganda, Voice of America needs a fresh start

Tadeusz (Ted) Lipien

Tadeusz (Ted) Lipien

Tadeusz (Ted) A. Lipien is an international media executive, journalist, writer, blogger, and press freedom advocate. He was Voice of America (VOA) Polish Service chief during Solidarity trade union’s struggle for democracy, acting VOA Associate Director, and served for a short time as President of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). His articles on U.S. international broadcasting have been published in American Diplomacy Journal, National Review, The Washington Times, The Washington Examiner, and Digital Journal. He is the author of a book on feminism and Pope John Paul II, O-Books, UK, and Świat Książki, Poland.

Related Posts

Estonian-American Leader, Estonian Politician Objects to Voice of America VOA News Report on Putin’s Russia
Estonia

Estonian-American Leader, Estonian Politician Objects to Voice of America VOA News Report on Putin’s Russia

by USAGMW
January 24, 2023
HISTORY Flora Wovschin — Codename ZORA — Was The Most Active Soviet Spy But Not The Most Valuable Agent of Influence at WWII Voice of America
HISTORY

HISTORY Flora Wovschin — Codename ZORA — Was The Most Active Soviet Spy But Not The Most Valuable Agent of Influence at WWII Voice of America

by Tadeusz (Ted) Lipien
November 7, 2022
Screenshot from two of several lengthy raw footage videos posted on social media by the Voice of America (VOA), with the VOA logo, showing the burning of U.S. and Israeli flags in December 2017 without any attached balancing content, explanation of U.S. policy, or commentary.
VOA

Voice of America and USAGM Need Rescue

by USAGMW
July 9, 2022
Voice of America Delayed For Five Days Posting Story on Senator Menendez Criticism of USAGM CEO OCB Appointment
Robert Menendez

Sen. Menendez sets meeting to review USAGM CEO nomination of Amanda Bennett

by USAGMW
June 20, 2022
Voice of America New York
PROPAGANDA

Beware of Government Propaganda “Experts”

by Tadeusz (Ted) Lipien
June 5, 2022
Next Post
LIPIEN After a decade of extreme bias and foreign propaganda, Voice of America needs a fresh start

LIPIEN After a decade of extreme bias and foreign propaganda, Voice of America needs a fresh start

Comments 1

  1. David S. Jackson says:
    2 years ago

    Keep the faith, Ted!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

USAGMWatch.com

USAGM Watch is published by citizen journalists who work as volunteers.

Terms of Use.   Privacy Policy.

© 2022 USAGM Watch.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
  • MANAGEMENT
  • ELECTIONS
  • PROPAGANDA
  • CHINA
  • CUBA
  • IRAN
  • RUSSIA
  • HISTORY
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • CONTACT
  • BBG WATCH

© 2022 USAGM Watch.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?