Remarks by Marc Nathanson, former Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, on New Developments in the War on Terrorism by U.S. International Broadcasting
Thank you all very much for coming today to hear about the new developments in the War on Terrorism by U.S. international broadcasting entities after September 11th.
First, I want to welcome my fellow governor, Norm Pattiz, who is here with me today. Norm is chairman of our Middle East subcommittee and the father of MERN.
Also joining me are Bob Reilly, the director of the Voice of America, and Tom Dine, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is based in Prague.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors — the BBG — is responsible for all U.S. non-military broadcasting, including radio, TV, satellite, and Internet delivery. Created as an independent agency nearly three years ago, the BBG supervises VOA, RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia, WORLDNET Television, and Radio/TV Marti. Altogether, we broadcast to more than 100 million people each day in 65 languages to 90 countries.
Today, I want to focus on one country — Afghanistan — and tell you about our international broadcasting initiatives that are helping to rebuild that country, and, hopefully, promote peace and democracy.
Other countries have pledged a lot of media assistance to the Afghans since the Taleban were expelled, but we