The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) today released its FY 2013 budget request, which contains a set of strategic measures to advance its core mission and meet the challenges of the changing global media environment within current spending constraints.
“In these times of fiscal austerity, the BBG faces tough choices,” Board members said in a message to agency employees. “And we are not alone: Every branch and each element of the federal government has had to take a hard look at itself to achieve efficiencies without sacrificing its essential work on behalf of our country.”
Noting the extraordinary coverage in the past year of the Arab Spring, conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, ferment in Iran and Russia, the struggle over Tibet and other developments in China, the humanitarian disaster in East Africa, and human rights in Cuba and around the world, the Board affirmed, “US international broadcasting will continue to serve people the world over who lack access to accurate, credible news and who need lifeline information. Our record audience of 187 million people in 2011 attests to the importance and success of your work. “
For FY 2013 the BBG has requested more than $720 million for US international broadcasting, a decrease of 4.2 percent from FY 2012. This request supports US foreign policy priorities and is grounded in the five-year strategy adopted by the Board in October 2011. The proposals in it include retooling to reach strategically important audiences from Cuba to China and build out the agency’s digital infrastructure.
The request contains $9 million in increases that would:
- create weekly television programs and related new media efforts for Egypt
- add satellite TV broadcasts to Central Asia
- elevate and expand social media
- emphasize innovation across media platforms, and
- revamp content and delivery to be more competitive.
It also contains $11.6 million in censorship-fighting Internet circumvention funding to continue the deployment of emerging technologies and partnerships with cutting-edge experts, developers and in-country networks.
The FY 2013 budget request includes programme, transmission and staffing reductions at the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and the International Broadcasting Bureau, in part through efforts to restructure operations and end duplication. While four broadcast languages are proposed for elimination, the budget request preserves broad-based service in diverse vernacular languages to meet the needs of BBG audiences worldwide. The request also cuts more than $21 million in administrative and technical support costs throughout the agency and grantee organizations.
Board members acknowledged that some of the proposed changes will create anxiety, if enacted, and present very difficult circumstances for the men and women involved, but they affirmed, “We will do everything possible to limit the impact on our employees through a combination of agency buyouts, early-out authority and reducing positions via attrition.”
The BBG FY 2013 budget request is available for download (PDF 5.9Mb)
(Source: Broadcasting Board of Governors)
Andy Sennitt adds: Taking a quick look at this very detailed document, I note the following points concerning MW/SW:
Taking all transmission and language service reductions into account, the budget request proposes to discontinue the use of shortwave and mediumwave except for Cuba, China, North Korea, Burma, Iran, Tibet, Uyghur, FATA (Afghan-Pakistan border region), Pakistan, Afghanistan, Belarusian, Russian to the Caucasus, Russian, Turkmen, Khmer, and Africa.
The Poro, Philippines tansmitting station would close and discontinue 10 positions. This one megawatt station [on 1170 kHz] currently provides only five hours per day of mediumwave transmission to audiences in Southeast Asia, and the potential requirements for this station will be reduced in FY 2013. The Agency plans to maintain and develop FM radio, television, satellite, Internet, mobile services, and other platforms that are more effective for serving target audiences currently served by Poro.
Major cuts in the VOA Newsroom
My attention has also been drawn to a plan to ‘Consolidate and Reorganize Central News and English Divisions’ which, if implemented, would save $5.660 million:
“As part of this budget request, VOA’s Central News will accelerate its transition from a large scale producer of English-language content, much of it based on wire services, to a much leaner newsroom, producing original content, and a short menu of top stories. Central News would also act as a clearinghouse for original content produced by VOA language service journalists.
“VOA Central News will be at the heart of a global newsroom for all US international broadcasting entities. Under this budget, VOA will continue successful efforts to produce content for web and other digital platforms (including audio and video) for targeted English-speaking audiences. Radio functions and corresponding staff would be consolidated. Learning English would absorb Special English functions, and take on a broader strategy of producing effective American English teaching products for a global audience. Seventy-one positions will no longer be required under this proposal.”
My source in Washington comments that the plan “contains some of the most devastating cuts to VOA ’s Central News operation in decades, impacting English language reporters, along with multimedia staff.”
on Feb 14th, 2012 at 03:35
This is an election year. And unlike the BBC, RNW and others. The VOA can be a very hot potato with US politicians. Not all democrats support Obama, so it could happen and has happened in the past when it came to a vote it backfired.. Of all the BBG services that one that is seen as a waste is Radio Marti. But the problem is the Cuban vote in Florida. And politicians don’t want to upset that state which is very important for them. I know that a few months ago Mitt Romney praised the VOA, and said cutbacks would not happen on his watch.