Chen Weihua

VOA signing off comes as no surprise

By Chen Weihua (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-02-22 07:57

Voice of America's announcement that it would pull the plug on its Chinese language radio broadcasts in October was a decision made by the US Broadcasting Board of Governors, VOA's parent company, out of budget concerns. However, the writing has been on the wall for some time despite the regrets of some in Washington.

Established in 1942 during World War II under the Office of War Information, VOA had its heyday in the Cold War years under the State Department when the flow of information between the East and West was like molasses.

Now that more than 20 years have lapsed since the end of the Cold War, the world is immensely different. China and the United States have not only set up diplomatic ties, their exchanges now span the fields of government, business and academia.

Every day about 7,000 to 8,000 people travel between the two countries, totaling more than 3 million a year. Around 120,000 Chinese students are studying in the US, while more than 20,000 American students are studying in China.

In many hotels and foreign language bookstores, Western publications, such as Time, Newsweek, the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times, are readily available, although many in China find it cheaper and more efficient to read them online. In China, there are more than 420 million Internet users and that figure is still rising. Many Chinese people also watch Western news services, such as CNN and the BBC, via satellite, legally or illegally.

Despite the fact that there is still much to be desired in China's news media, progress has been impressive over the past three decades and it has become much more sophisticated and diversified.

VOA, an ideological product designed for countries with which the US has little communication and interaction, no longer makes much sense in China. The US taxpayers' money should not be wasted. It would be better used in other ways, such as sending more US students to China. The same is true for the UK now the BBC World Service has announced it will end several of its foreign language broadcasts, including those in Chinese.

VOA's bias is obvious. The US Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, better known as the Smith-Mundt Act, forbids VOA to broadcast directly to US citizens. The legislation, an attempt to protect the American public from propaganda actions by its own government, speaks much of VOA's credibility.

It also raises the question of why some people believe that information considered harmful to US citizens will be beneficial to Chinese people or those of other nationalities, especially in a global village with numerous other sources of information. It is feared that the US may resort to the Internet and other advanced means to continue such an agenda.

At a time when misunderstandings and misperceptions still abound, what is truly needed between China and the US is a medium that focuses on facilitating understanding between the two nations.

Also needed is more representation from the developing world, such as China, Brazil, India and Africa in a global news media market now dominated by US and European companies.

For VOA and the BBC World Service, the time has come for them to sign off on their Chinese language broadcasts.

The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. He can be reached at chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 02/22/2011 page8)