New personnel and high-quality content the focus of BBG board meeting
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) met yesterday at its Washington, D.C. headquarters to assess the work of its five networks.
Board Chairman Kenneth Weinstein opened the meeting by welcoming Heather Nauert, Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, to her first meeting as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s representative on the board.
Nauert expressed her support to the Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service journalists whose families are being held in reeducation camps and her sympathies to those affected by the bomb blast in Kabul that killed three Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalists. She also praised the BBG’s first-rate journalists and acknowledged the importance of more collaboration and communication between the BBG and U.S. Department of State.
BBG Chief Executive Officer and Director John F. Lansing swore in new Office of Cuba Broadcasting Director Tomás P. Regalado. The former City Commissioner and two-term Mayor of Miami, Florida, spoke about his experience as a journalist and the need to provide unbiased news and information to Cubans.
Board Chairman Kenneth Weinstein thanked outgoing Deputy Director Jeff Trimble for his 21 years of dedication and service in U.S. international media and presented him with a career achievement award.
In addition to the personnel announcements, several projects caught the Board’s attention, including exclusive news coverage of the Armenia uprising, a groundbreaking collaborative project by the BBG networks on global Chinese infrastructure expansion, and a comprehensive compendium of the recent oppression of Uyghurs in western China.
“The changes in collaboration, quality of content, and coverage over the past few years are remarkable,” noted Governor Michael Kempner. “The arc of success is nothing less than extraordinary.”