The Ship of U.S. International Broadcasting Adrift Again

The shock of U.S. International Broadcasting CEO Andrew Lack’s resignation on March 3 could be felt all the way from the broadcasting complex’s main office to the State Department. From The New York Times and The Washington Post to cable and network news, Lack’s departure made waves.

Lack briefly held a post that had been created only last year to improve the underperforming and often mismanaged group of U.S. civilian broadcasting services, which includes Voice of America (VOA), Radio and Television Marti, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Sawa, Radio Free Asia, and Alhurra Television.

Skeptics had wondered if one man, even one with as much media management experience as Andrew Lack (a former NBC and Bloomberg News executive), could accomplish the Herculean task of sorting out the U.S. broadcasting services. But no one expected him to depart after just six weeks in the job.

Despite appeals from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and State Department leadership to stay in the job, Lack returned to NBC to oversee damage control in the wake of the Brian Williams scandal—the NBC anchor was suspended because of his penchant for embellishing stories. Lack may have decided NBC’s problems were the easier to deal with.

Today, competition—even warfare—in the global information space is more intense than ever, and the U.S. government is trying to catch up. Russian and Chinese governments have set up their own global news networks. In Ukraine and other border states, Russia is conducting a fierce propaganda war. And in the Middle East, the social media recruitment campaigns of terrorist groups have produced new and highly toxic weapons in the “battle for hearts and minds.”

Meanwhile, strategic plans for U.S. broadcasting continue to be problematic. The BBG in its 2014 budget proposed eliminating English Worldwide as a news service. The board also wants to cut VOA’s central 24-hour newsroom, where content is produced before being sent to the 43 individual language services for translation. Also constantly on the chopping block are editorials explaining U.S. policy, which are disdained by management and many reporters, who dislike being associated with the U.S. government (even though it pays the budget of close to $750 million a year).

In technical terms, BBG strategic decisions have caused continued reductions in traditional radio, particularly shortwave, in favor of more expensive satellite television programming, websites, and broadcasting via the Internet. In a world where of audiences range from those with no or limited access even to electricity to those with smart phones and Internet connectivity, a spectrum of media are necessary for a comprehensive strategy.

The search will now begin for another broadcasting CEO. More important, however, reform of U.S. international broadcasting received the endorsement of Secretary of State John Kerry in a Congressional hearing on February 25. Congress had an inconclusive go at reform legislation last summer with the U.S. International Communications Reform Act of 2014, H.R. 4490. The need is as acute as ever.