Chicago — In a meeting today with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors and the president of Radio Free Asia discussed the BBG’s plan to strengthen U.S. international broadcasting through the Voice of America’s Tibetan service and RFA.
“We discussed the importance of not simply maintaining our programing, but also expanding our reach and positive impact,” said Michael Meehan, co-chair of the BBG Strategy and Budget Committee.
“The Tibetan people go to great risk to hear our programing, and I reassured His Holiness that the BBG is fully committed to the highest quality news and information both inside and outside Tibet,” Meehan said.
RFA President Libby Liu also attended the meeting.
Last week the board unanimously approved a renewed strategy for broadcasting to China that will be reflected in the ongoing dialogue with Congress about the agency’s proposed FY 2013 budget.
The agency is developing alternatives that take into account the roles of RFA and VOA Tibetan Radio, along with VOA Cantonese TV programming and VOA satellite TV capability in China.
At the April meeting of the BBG Strategy and Budget Committee, the board asked key senior staff to form a working group to devise a holistic solution for reaching audiences throughout China, including Tibet.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency supervising all U.S. government-supported, civilian international broadcasting, whose mission is inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy. BBG broadcasts reach an audience of 187 million in 100 countries. BBG networks include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Martí).
