Translated material
Ethereal Enemies
American propaganda chief asks for money to fight Russia
Chairman of the American Broadcasting Board of Governors Walter Isaacson (pictured) recently called Russia, Iran, Venezuela and China “enemies” of the United States. The order in which countries were listed was exactly this: Russia was mentioned in first place, which does not fit well with the “reset” policy proclaimed by the Barack Obama administration. Citing the painful legacy of the past will be difficult, since Isaacson, 58, is Obama's nominee. It was the current president who appointed him head of the government's foreign policy propaganda apparatus in November last year."We cannot allow our enemies to speak better to the world than we do," Isaacson said. After that, he listed the television channels he did not like - the Russian Russia Today, the Iranian Press TV, the Venezuelan TeleSUR. And “China is launching an international 24-hour news channel with correspondents around the world and is said to have allocated $6-10 billion for this to expand its activities abroad.” “We should appeal to the US Congress for the same amount,” Isaacson said.
The American Broadcasting Board of Governors controls the state radio stations Voice of America, Liberty/Free Europe and Free Asia, broadcasting in 60 languages, the Arabic-language television and radio channels Sawa and Al-Hurra, and the Spanish-language Marti. Their audience is about 175 million people, their budget is $700 million a year. From it, according to Isaacson, the work of reporters “in the most dangerous regions of the world” is funded, as well as American engineers who provide Internet access to people persecuted by the authorities of China, Iran “and other countries.”
“Now Isaacson’s first task, like any official of this level, is to increase the budget of his department. The task of his department is to promote democratization in various countries of the world, and therefore his opponents are those who interpret democratization differently,” Sam Green, deputy head of the Moscow Carnegie Endowment, explained to Vremya Novostei. Times are now in crisis, there is less money, so Isaacson “is more profitable to present his struggle in the most vivid and understandable terms for congressmen.” The foreign state media he mentioned “actually perform the same function in public diplomacy as his department in the United States.” “Isaacson's remarks are evidence that his views do not necessarily coincide with those of the government in the field of propaganda. US foreign policy, including its military-strategic component, does not define Russia and China as enemies of the United States,” the VN interlocutor emphasized.
The remarks by the head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors came at a celebration in Washington last week of the 60th anniversary of Radio Free Europe, whose contribution to ending the Cold War was praised by Isaacson. Information about the event and Mr. Isaacson's revelations was shared with the world by the Washington weekly Foreign Policy. “Sometimes they say,” the publication quoted the speaker, “that US international broadcasting is in a difficult position, since by law and tradition it has two different tasks that may contradict each other. The first and most important thing is to present news according to the highest standards of journalistic excellence. The second is to be part of US public diplomacy, to reliably tell the world about its policies and values.”
“Let me tell you, fellow journalists,” said Isaacson, who formerly headed Time magazine and CNN, whose ratings he significantly increased, “what I will defend, we will defend, is the primacy of the first of these tasks - - to be trustworthy journalists, since this is really the only way to fulfill our second task. This is only possible if you are trusted and tell the truth, because in the end the truth is on our side.”
Asked by Foreign Policy to elaborate on this point, Isaacson said that “nine times out of ten, the goals of US foreign policy and trustworthy journalism are the same.” As for the remaining 10% of cases, he “won’t hesitate” to promote “viewpoints contrary to U.S. foreign policy” in government media: “Our board’s role is to make choices for trustworthy journalism, just as it does in private Media... By doing so, we are more likely to help advance US foreign policy interests. If real conflict ever arises, our number one priority is to protect our reputation.”
The Broadcasting Board of Governors has nothing to do with private publications, Sam Green recalled in an interview with VN. But at the same time, “Isaacson and his colleagues are looking for journalists for public media in the same labor market as other publications.” These journalists, “well aware that they will not work in one place all their lives, do not want to be perceived as propagandists and for a future possible employer to doubt their objectivity.” For this reason, they “may not go to the media supervised by Isaacson, and therefore he makes it clear that their professional dignity and pride will be fully protected from any political orders.”