His Master's Voice?

JUST THE FACTS

David S. Jackson

Sanford Ungar's allegation of politicization at the Voice of America (VOA) ("Pitch Imperfect," May/June 2005) is filled with errors and unsupportable accusations. He charges, for example, that employees have "tried to fend off directives from VOA director David Jackson and other political appointees, who have suggested that the network report more favorably on the actions of the Bush administration in Iraq and the Middle East." This is simply not true. Anyone who watches, listens to, or reads the VOA's reporting can see that our balanced, objective, and comprehensive reporting fully lives up to our congressionally approved charter. If I had made such demands, it would be easy to prove. The reason Ungar cites no supporting memos or statements is that there are none.

Ungar goes on to say that editors "have repeatedly been asked to develop 'positive stories' emphasizing U.S. success stories in Iraq, rather than report car bombings and terrorist attacks." Again, not true. What I have done with regard to our Iraq coverage is the same thing most editors with correspondents in Iraq have done: pushed our people to go beyond the wire-service stories to tell our audiences what else is going on in Iraq. As a result, our coverage has included the daily bombings as well as -- not instead of -- more in-depth, enterprising stories.

Ungar also charges that VOA editors were "instructed to remove from the VOA Web site photographs of abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison." That is also not true. Here are the facts: after two weeks of the VOA's covering that story and posting (and broadcasting) the photos that were being leaked, I became concerned about the effect of such sexual content on intended listeners, viewers, or readers whose cultures are even more sensitive than ours to such material. I issued the following guidelines: all of the photos we had used would remain on our Web sites, and those photos could be used in future broadcasts and Web postings as needed, but no new photos should be broadcast or posted on-line unless cleared in advance. As it turned out, many other news organizations issued similar guidelines at about the same time, all apparently motivated by similar concerns.

Ungar goes on to charge that "VOA management has objected to stories quoting Democratic politicians or newspaper editorials critical of the Bush administration's foreign policy." This is an outrageous falsehood. As Ungar well knows, the Board of Broadcasting Governors that oversees the VOA is equally divided between Democratic and Republican presidential appointees. It would be a violation of both their responsibilities and mine to allow such political meddling. As a journalist with 30 years of experience in the private sector (including 23 years with Time magazine), I would not engage in such actions, and they would not allow it.

Finally, Ungar writes that the former newsroom director was "punished for refusing to make the daily news report more overtly sympathetic to" President George W. Bush. This charge is also not true and is unsupportable by the facts.

DAVID S. JACKSON is Director of the Voice of America.

THE REAL DEAL

Kenneth Y. Tomlinson

I have worked in four administrations, and this is the first time there has been no attempt from the White House, the National Security Council, or the State Department to interfere with the programming broadcast by our professional journalists.

As for VOA director David Jackson, his lengthy career as a Time magazine foreign correspondent speaks for itself -- and dwarfs the credentials of his critics. I have yet to see any case in which his news decisions were dictated by anything other than professionalism.

As much as I respect Sanford Ungar, he should deal with specific case histories as opposed to general and unsubstantiated charges.

Al Hurra television and Radio Sawa have been tremendous successes. Professional audience research conducted by respected polling concerns in the region put the combined audience for Radio Sawa and al Hurra at more than 30 million people, a strong majority of whom consider the news credible. But it seems to be that the more the stations succeed, the more hard-core critics who doubted and dismissed them from the beginning ignore the evidence of their success.

KENNETH Y. TOMLINSON is Chair of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors.

CREDIBLE WITNESS

Richard Richter

In his recent article about the VOA, Ungar makes a reference to Radio Free Asia (RFA) that might be construed negatively. In its nine years of operation, RFA has steadfastly followed the principles of good journalism. Its central purpose is to broadcast news and information about its target countries that is blocked by government censorship or the denial of free expression.

At first, Asian and some American news organizations were skeptical about RFA's intentions. But now RFA stories are regularly cited and treated as though RFA were a wire service similar to the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. RFA knows that credibility depends on strict adherence to good, factual, fair journalism.

Ungar's brief reference to RFA could leave the impression that it is the recipient of lavish appropriations from Congress. That is certainly not the case, and its barely adequate funding is spent wisely. Just ask the Chinese listeners who regularly thank RFA for informing them about news events in their own country.

RICHARD RICHTER is President of Radio Free Asia.

FAIR AND BALANCED?

Philomena Jurey