Trump admin offers Voice of America employees buyouts as judge blocks it from being shut down

 

Just as a federal judge issued an order blocking the administration’s efforts to dismantle the broadcaster, U.S. Agency for Global Media staffers received an email offering them a renewed opportunity to sign up for the ‘Fork in the Road’ deferred resignation program

A federal judge in New York City granted a temporary restraining order on Friday to several Voice of America journalists attempting to stop the Trump administration from shutting down the international broadcaster on the grounds that the move is unlawful and unconstitutional.

Additional story at: 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/voice-of-america-trump-restraining-order-b2723614.html

The Rot at the U.S. Agency for Global Media

 

By MICHAEL MCCAUL

February 7, 2024

n recent years, this small organization has experienced an extraordinary crisis of leadership, weakening American credibility abroad.

Most Americans have never heard of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), a tiny piece of the federal bureaucracy that funds news reporting in countries where freedom and democracy are in short supply. 

In recent years, though, this small agency has experienced an extraordinary crisis of leadership. The recent rot of dysfunction formed on a bed of groupthink, political bias, and self-dealing. The lesson? When management officials stand to benefit from a lack of outside scrutiny, subterfuge and misdirection become survival tactics. Fortunately, in this case, congressional oversight identified wrongdoing. But the mea culpa has yet to come.

Additional story at: 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/02/the-rot-at-the-u-s-agency-for-global-media/amp/

USAGM Kuwait Transmitting Station Research project

 

The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is seeking preliminary information, for market research purposes, to supply several shortwave broadcast transmitters, including installation, commissioning, and training at the USAGM Kuwait Transmitter Station near Al Jahra, Kuwait.

Depending on demand, it is a matter of finding companies capable of supplying high-power shortwave broadcast transmitter systems with an operating range between 5.8 and 21.85 MHz with the ability to change the frequency in 30 seconds or less, AM, MDCL, and DRM compatibility.

Transmitters must have the capability to operate at a carrier power of 250 kW and an average power of 125 kW.

Michel FREMY

Media Magazine

https://www.facebook.com/Radiosdumonde/

https://www.media-radio.info

Winter shortwave frequency updates

 

Additional frequencies of USAGM Radio Farda:

Biblis, Germany relay 

Persian

1630-2000 on  9910 (100 kW) to WeAs 

1800-2030 on 12005 (100 kW) to WeAs 

Frequency changes of USAGM Radio Liberty and Voice of America 

Kuwait relay

1400-1600 - 5880 (250 kW) to CeAs Turkmen Daily Radio Liberty,  ex  6060 kHz

2130-2200 - 11830 (250 kW) to WeAf Bambara Mon-Fri Voice of America, ex  5885

Frequency change of USAGM Voice of America 

Kurdish

1200-1250 - 15595 (Biblis, Germany) (100 kW) to WeAs Kurdish Su-Th, x  9370

1400-1500 - 15595 (Woofferton, UK) (250 kW)  to WeAs Kurdish Daily, x 15600

Frequency change of USAGM Voice of America 

Sao Tome relay

1030-1100 - 17775 (100 kW) to EaAf Somali  Daily, ex 15710

1400-1500 - 17530 (100 kW) to SoAf Kirundi Sat/Sun, x 9885

(DXB 18 Jan 2023/edited by Teak Publishing for clarity)

USAGM eyes the future of distribution

An analysis of the future of distribution: The next frontier in delivering publicly funded global media
by Kate Neeper
Deputy Director of Strategy, Office of Policy and Research
June 2, 2020

The networks of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) serve more than 100 countries all over the world in 61 languages. Our target markets have one important thing in common: They do not have fully free media environments. Beyond that key requirement, our markets differ in significant ways, posing enormous challenges in delivering news and programming to intended audiences. To serve audiences on the media platforms they prefer, USAGM and our networks use technologies developed and popularized over the course of at least 100 years.

Additional story at: https://www.usagm.gov/2020/06/02/an-analysis-of-the-future-of-distribution-the-next-frontier-in-delivering-publicly-funded-global-media/https://www.usagm.gov/2020/06/02/an-analysis-of-the-future-of-distribution-the-next-frontier-in-delivering-publicly-funded-global-media/

BBG rebrands as U.S. Agency for Global Media

Statement from CEO John F. Lansing on agency rebrand
by John F. Lansing August 22, 2018
Effective immediately, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent U.S. government agency that employs thousands of talented journalists, storytellers, and media professionals, is now the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM).

The U.S. Agency for Global Media is a modern media organization, operating far beyond the traditional broadcast mediums of television and radio to include digital and mobile platforms. The term “broadcasting” does not accurately describe what we do. The new name reflects our modernization and forward momentum while honoring our enduring mission to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.

We recognize the overdue need to communicate the evolving, global scope of our work as well as our renewed, urgent focus on the agency’s global priorities, which reflect U.S. national security and public diplomacy interests. USAGM is an independent federal agency that provides accurate, professional, and objective news and information around-the-globe in a time of shifting politics, challenging media landscapes, and weaponized information. Our identity and name will now address these realities.

The decision to change our name was a result of thorough research and extensive consultation with numerous internal and external stakeholders, including the BBG Board of Governors, agency staff and leadership at all levels, the five networks, Congress, the Administration, and interagency colleagues.

As with the BBG, the U.S. Agency for Global Media encompasses five networks: the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Television and Radio Martí), Radio Free Asia (RFA), and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN). These networks collectively reach an unduplicated weekly audience of 278 million people in 59 languages and in more than 100 countries. Insulated by a firewall from political influence, these networks will continue to deliver truth and professional journalism to people living in some of the world’s most closed societies.

Now more than ever, people around the world need access to the truth. USAGM continues to tell the truth, and illuminate the world like no other news organization in the world.
(John Lansing/U.S. Agency for Global Media)