VOA - A Biased, Sentimental Recollection.

• Author: Brown, Philip
• Position: Voice of America - Personal account

Title: VOA - A Biased, Sentimental Recollection

Author: Philip Brown

Text:

Editor's note: Created in 1942 as a U.S. government broadcasting effort to combat Nazi propaganda, VOA is now part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. VOA provides news, information, and cultural programming to worldwide audiences in more than 40 languages.

Throughout the barrage of news in 2020--the pandemic, the presidential election and transition, race relations, climate change, environmental disasters--the Voice of America also made headlines.

While multiple reports of outside interference may not have commanded the attention of the general public, they always interested me, partly because of the potential damage to VOA's well-deserved reputation for objectivity but also because of the soft spot I have in my heart for the institution.

My first-ever Washington DC job was in 1964 as a 23-year old summer intern at the Voice of America. I had spent the previous summer as a volunteer (Operation Crossroads Africa) in Nigeria; I had quite a bit of journalism experience and I fit in well as a news writer on the Africa desk, a small cadre of individuals who would pull copy off wire service tickers and other sources and adapt it for broadcasts to Africa.

The 1960's were a period of change and upheaval in Africa; everywhere from Ghana to Congo to Rhodesia, there were headlines. The newsroom was a miniature United Nations with various language services. It was a great learning experience and I truly provided a useful service. And big picture, I was also constantly reminded of--and became a true believer in--VOA's charter:

1. VOA will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive.

2. VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions.

3. VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinion on these policies.

Married and finished with my graduate studies, I returned to the Africa desk the following summer and worked at VOA until entering the Foreign Service in December 1965. It was exciting to meet the new Director, ex-NBC newsman John Chancellor. He was to VOA what Edward R. Murrow had been to the U.S. Information Agency (USIA)--a full-fledged newsman committed to truth and...