 Ted Lipien : FreeMediaOnline.org is a nonprofit organization working to defend and advance free speech and freedom of the press worldwide through journalistic, educational, information sharing, and program delivery services and activities. Our primary goal is to create an international media environment promoting dialogue and supporting greater freedom, understanding, and tolerance. We are also helping journalists in media-at-risk countries obtain access to free news and information from a variety of reliable sources. To achieve that we are working with information providers to raise their awareness of the need to to help independent journalists whose freedom of expression is being restricted or denied. See our Guiding Principles in About Us
- Q: Aren't there many other organizations which provide assistance to journalists? What do you do that is different from what other organizations are doing?
A: Through my work as a media marketing specialist in Eurasia in the 1990s, I and my colleagues became aware of serious gaps in the way Western media outfits, nonprofit organizations, and governments communicate and work with independent journalists in media-at-risk countries. We felt that independent journalists struggling with censorship and repression deserve an easier access to free information and other resources, which the rest of the world can provide but often fails to deliver. We also felt that if progress is to be made in reducing political oppression, intolerance, corruption, and poverty -- independent journalists need to be treated as equal partners of the international media and NGO community. To achieve these goals, we constantly need to improve ways of communicating, sharing information, and delivering programs.
FreeMediaOnline.org web site is specifically designed for independent journalists in media-at-risk countries and for organizations and individuals who are trying to help them. We advocate for the rights and needs of media professionals working in some of the most restrictive environments. Despite various efforts to help them, these journalists often find it difficult to establish and maintain links with their colleagues in more democratic societies. FreeMediaOnline.org founders and associates have years of experience in helping independent journalists and media outlets deliver, receive, and exchange information. While other organizations are effective in defending persecuted journalists, we focus on information-sharing and program delivery where conventional methods of journalism and program delivery cannot be used.
Cooperation, dialogue, and mutual support among independent journalists from different cultures and regions are essential to building a better, more peaceful future -- a future in which the rights of all people are respected. Our goal is to promote this idea and to implement it in practical terms through information sharing activities. We are using innovative technological solutions and work together with independent journalists to counter censorship, propaganda, corruption, and discrimination.
- Q: How do you define "media-at-risk countries"?
A: This can be any country in which freedom of expression and freedom of the press are restricted by repressive governments or other groups. Usually, the media in such countries are subject to censorship while the government-controlled media engages in propaganda. This can also mean any country where the media organizations promote violence, intolerance, religious hatred, or ethnic, religious, racial, and gender discrimination. Any country in which corruption has affected the work of journalists should also be considered at risk, as well as and any country where commercial and political interests are forcing journalists toward sensationalism and partisanship. The U.S. might fall into this last category.
- Q: You make a big deal of applying innovative program delivery solutions to the daily work of journalists and broadcasters, what does it mean in practical terms?
A: The ability to effectively share information with others is critical for any journalist but especially for those who operate under censorship and political repression. We have had extensive expertise in helping journalists bypass censorship through innovative program delivery solutions using interactive and multimedia communications. We believe that program delivery is one of the most critical and at the same time one of the least understood and least supported elements of international broadcasting.
Most of the emphasis among information providers has always been on program content. Much less attention is being paid to program delivery or willingness to share information free of charge and without restrictions. Without an active engagement with the audience through local media outlets, much of the impact of any international program is lost. Again, innovative use of technology can greatly assist with this process, but technology alone is not a substitute for ideas and for the willingness to share information with those who need it most. We hope to promote both good ideas and new technologies; we intend to use both to help free media worldwide.
- Q: Can you be impartial in helping independent journalists abroad without trying to sell them American ideas? How does your former association with the Voice of America affect your objectivity and outlook?
A : While I am no longer with the Voice of America, I am proud of my journalistic work at VOA and my activities to help independent media. The Voice of America operates under the Charter [Link] granted to it by the U.S. Congress to guarantee its independence. Most of the time, the Charter protects VOA journalists from political interference. Over the years, however, various U.S. government officials had tried on a number of occasions to influence VOA reporting. I personally managed to successfully resist such pressures, although other VOA journalists may not have always been as lucky. During the period of over 30 years, I may have received three or four phone calls in which a mid-level U.S. government official had tried to influence my reporting. I always ignored their requests and could report very much what I wanted, including doing reporting which reflected strong criticism of various U.S. administrations.
I am especially proud of my human rights reporting during various period of the Cold War when different U.S. administrations, both Democratic and Republican, had sometimes tried to downplay the human rights issue in order to placate the Soviet leaders or some other East European regime. We all remember the policy of detente and the famous convergence theory predicting the merging of communism and Western democracy. Many VOA journalists were unafraid to report on the strong criticism of the White House and the State Department coming from various independent experts, politicians, and organizations in the United States and abroad. I intend to promote the same kind of independence at FreeMediaOnline.org.
As to being impartial as an American, any generalizations just because someone is an American by birth or by choice can be deceptive. The American society is one of the most diverse and includes people of many different backgrounds, cultures, and opinions. Some Americans support the current Bush Administration, and others do not. The exposure to communist media helped me develop skills in identifying propaganda and biased reporting. I have also spent a lot of time abroad working closely with journalists and broadcasters from many different nations. This gave me yet another perspective and a better understanding of how to communicate across cultural and political borders.
- Q: Are you critical of the current Bush Administration and its public diplomacy policies?
A: I should state for the record that I had left VOA in April 2006, and I am no longer associated with my former employer. Any views I express in FreeMediaOnline.org are entirely my own.
International broadcasting should not be part of government-run public diplomacy programs. But even if they manage to protect their independence from governments, neither VOA nor any other international broadcasting organization I know of operates entirely without bias or without problems. One of the problems all international broadcasting organizations share is the slowness in adapting to political, social, and technological changes. Some also suffer from insufficient understanding of the information needs of their audiences. Nearly all international broadcasters are reluctant to engage in interactive programs with the local media abroad and find it difficult to cooperate in a meaningful way with independent journalists. They could all benefit, however, from working with independent journalists as their equal partners since in many cases they both support similar ideas and have similar goals.
As for politics, I have always tried to divorce my personal political opinions from my reporting. I value balanced reporting in which opposing viewpoints are fairly presented, but I also believe in showing weaknesses in any claims or arguments, especially if they are in any way deceptive. I do not view partisan reporting or partisan commentary as the kind of journalism i would like to practice, but this kind of journalism still has its role in informing a democratic society about what political parties and their supporters are thinking on various issues and how they differentiate themselves form their political opponents. The fact that in many countries almost anybody can publish information through the Internet is a good check on the skills and impartiality of professional journalists.
I have been critical of some of the policies of the current Bush Administration, just as I have been critical of other U.S. administrations, but hopefully my personal opinions should not have played a major role in my reporting. I will freely admit that there is no perfect impartiality, but it is something that all journalists should strive for.
I have criticized the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) decision to end VOA radio programs in Russian. These programs are helping independent journalists not only in Russia, where free media is under attack, but also in other countries, including Belarus and the Central Asian republics. BBG is a bipartisan body managing U.S. international broadcasting. BBG's desire to produce more programs for the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world is understandable, but a big and generous nation like the United States should be able to afford to pay for communicating with the people in Russia and in other countries where Russian is spoken. Many of these people, including millions in Russia alone, are also Muslim. They have problems integrating within their societies and are victims of ethnic or religious discrimination. Radio happens to be a great medium for conducting interactive programs with journalists in Russia and Central Asia. The people in Belarus also rely on VOA radio broadcasts in Russian to learn how their current political situation is viewed in Washington and in the rest of the world. Using radio and working with independent journalists in the region, VOA Russian service broadcasters have been trying to address some of these problems and issues. If VOA radio programs in Russian are terminated, it would be a serious blow to free media in the region.
The Internet and satellite television have already contributed to a revolutionary transformation in international broadcasting and will cause even greater changes for the better in the future. Other technologies may have an even greater impact on international communications. There are still many countries, however, where the defense of free speech and freedom of the press requires a strong, multimedia approach to program delivery, and radio may be an essential part of the mix of media for some of these countries. I do not think that the Bush Administration and the Broadcasting Board of Governors have been sufficiently mindful of the need to support media freedom through independent journalistic reporting.
- Q: Are you in any way critical of the current American style of journalism as practiced by right-wing and left-wing media personalities?
A: I am very critical of biased and unethical reporting and propaganda regardless of where it originates. I have discovered that despite receiving salaries from the government, VOA journalists are some of the most independent media professionals in the United States.This may be because as government employees protected by the VOA Charter they cannot be easily fired. But almost almost all journalists, including those at VOA, run a risk of allowing personal political bias to enter their reporting. International broadcasters are also at a much higher risk of losing touch with their audience.
As for the U.S. commercial broadcasting these days, it is becoming dominated by ideologically-driven partisan reporting designed to exaggerate fears and concerns in order to gain higher audience ratings. In the pursuit of higher ratings, news reporters try to entertain or shock rather than inform. But having said that, I strongly believe in commercial media. I would be very concerned if public or government broadcasters were the only ones allowed to operate in the United States. Strong and enforceable legal protections combined with journalism funded by the sale of commercials is the best guarantee of freedom of the press in any country. The idea is to prevent commercial interests from affecting the work of journalists to the point where they can no longer be independent. This is much easier than trying to defend journalists from politicians if the latter have a monopoly control of all the media.
- Q: You mentioned your role as a former international media marketing specialist at the International Broadcasting Bureau. Can you use this experience to help independent journalists?
A: I was fortunate to have spent ten years abroad -- first in Munich, Germany and then in Prague, the Czech Republic -- helping hundreds of radio and television stations in Eurasia start and improve their operations after the fall of communism in the region. I spent a lot of time visiting radio and television stations multiple times in nearly all the countries in the region as far as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia. I have learned a lot about their concerns and needs, and I was able to help them with grants of equipment, training, and access to programming. Their contributions to the defense and promotion of free media and their special needs and concerns are still not sufficiently recognized by the international nonprofit and broadcasting community. I hope that FreeMediaOnline.org will promote better communication and cooperation between independent journalists and those organizations and individuals who help them.
For more information about FreeMediaOnline.org, you may also want to see About Us | FAQ
|
