Paul Goble, director of the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, believes the US has erred in cutting shortwave broadcasts to countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Mr Goble was speaking at a discussion of the likelihood that the so-called “Arab Spring” of democracy movements in the Middle East and North Africa might spread to the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union.
In response to a question from Representative Steve Cohen about the influence of radio programming beamed into the countries by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Mr Goble said the US made a mistake abandoning shortwave broadcasts in favour of FM stations licensed by the repressive regimes in Central Asia. He said the stations practice self-censorship in order to retain their licences, defeating their purpose.
(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)