A New Kind of Diplomacy
Gene King
Gene (Eugene H.) King is Program Manager of The Voice of America, the radio service of the U.S. Information Agency. His more than 20 years' experience in radio has been with several independent stations, two commercial networks, and the U.S. government's information program in Europe. Mr. King has also lectured at Harvard, New York University, and Columbia School of Journalism; and he has been a member of the faculty of Boston University. The succeeding article was given as a talk by Mr. King last spring at the Institute for Education by Radio-Television, Columbus, Ohio, as part of a general evening session on "Some World-Wide Aspects of Broadcasting."
. ….
For a radio man, my present job on The Voice of America is just short of Heaven. "Short" because there are problems, to be sure. We practically always, for example, have budgetary troubles. The Voice of America, last year, had only a little over sixteen million dollars; when I add that with that we cover the world, what I mean by budgetary troubles is understandable. There are a number of industrial firms which spend twice that a year on advertising. All in all, private business in the United States spends nearly eight billion dollars a year on advertising, and a goodly percentage of it goes into radio and television.
Americans generally believe in advertising, but it took us a long time to appreciate that advertising had a place in our international relations. Assistant Secretary of State George Allen, former United States Ambassador to India, has called U.S. Information Agency activities "a new kind of diplomacy." He has pointed out that, in the past, diplomats dealt only with the officials of other countries. Now we know that widespread public understanding of our foreign policies and objectives is necessary to their success. President Eisenhower has put it this way:
It isn't enough for us [the United States] to have sound policies, dedicated to goals of universal peace, freedom and progress. These policies must be made known to and understood by all peoples throughout the world.
"All peoples throughout the world" is a large order. Making United States policies "known to and understood by" these people is a considerable job. But it can be done. Modern communication techniques have given us the tools with which to do it.
I have, naturally, a slight bias in favor of radio; but honesty compels me to admit that there are areas where radio, today, is not the most effective communication technique. India, for example, has only about one million receiving sets. In a country of 370 million people, this situation reduces the effectiveness of radio. Those million receiving sets are important. We must not ignore them. But to reach the great masses in India, we have to supplement radio.
Radio, however, is our chief technique for penetrating the Curtains. For that reason about three fourths of The Voice of America broadcasts are beamed to the Communist orbit. Budgetwise, we spent about ten of our sixteen million dollars last year on these programs.
Last year, The Voice of America moved its studios from New York to Washington. The move was made under a Congressional directive, and created problems. But, organizationally, the new location is more efficient; and the psychological value of "This is Washington" is important. Our studios are now housed in a building just at the foot of Capitol Hill, in the very shadow of the great, gray Capitol dome.
The move from New York, which got under way in the spring, was completed November 1, 1954, without any interruption of the broadcasting schedule. This required some doing since we have more than 75 separate programs a day. Broadcasts are made in 38 different languages. The new layout has 14 studios; and, with that kind of a schedule, they are occupied almost continuously. It sounds like Babel in old Shinar or, at least, Bedlam; but it isn't. It is a very smooth working operation.
In addition to the studios, there are ten recording rooms with equipment to make 40 discs or tapes simultaneously, ten tape-editing booths, a recording control center, and the master control room. The rest of the nearly 100,000 square feet of space allotted to us is occupied by editorial offices, music and transcription libraries, and other offices required to keep The Voice of America in operation 24 hours a day.
To give a few more technical details, The Voice of America has a network of 78 transmitters, including 30 short-wave stations in the United States which are operated for us by private broadcasting companies. Overseas,
Relay facilities overseas are also leased from the B.B.C. in England and from local broadcasters throughout Western Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. To combat "jamming," we have, in addition, afloating relay station in the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter "Courier," now stationed in the Mediterranean.
The Voice of America's daily program includes 301/2 hours of direct broadcasts and 64 hours of repeat programs. To counter Soviet jamming, these are recorded at overseas relay bases and repeated on short-, medium-, and long-wave. Jamming is, of course, one of our problems. The Communists spend more on jamming than we do for the entire Voice of America operation.
We give the U.S.S.R. and the Soviet-controlled areas about 761/2 hours daily. Despite all efforts to prevent, The Voice of America does get through. We have conclusive evidence of that. Josef Swiatlo, former head of the Communist secret service in Poland, tells us that The Voice of America is the most effective instrument employed by the free world in combating the spread of communism and in keeping hope alive in the hearts of the peoples behind the Curtains. He reports having attended sessions of the Polish secret police where the topics of discussion were The Voice of America and how to keep the Poles from listening. Nevertheless, according to his report, the broadcasts are heard; and they are effective. We have literally thousands of similar reports. Practically all escapees and defectors, in fact, report having listened. And that goes for the U.S.S.R. as well as Communist China and the satellites.
Generally speaking, the programs consist of news, news analyses and features, political commentaries, press reviews, round-table discussions, documentaries, and special events. The breakdown between news and the other programs is generally fifty-fifty. We have found that The Voice of America audiences, particularly behind the Curtains, are eager for news. They want to know what is happening in the world. They want facts and not propaganda.
Sometimes, of course, news and features can be included in the same broadcast. Recently, for example, we have noted that Communist diplomatic officials throughout the free world are making a concerted effort to
On March 2, we answered the above in a broadcast. We just gave the facts: the number of Americans, about 500,000, who had applied for passports last year and the 378,000 Europeans who came to the United States during the same time. We posed a few questions about the number of Soviet citizens who had stepped from behind the Iron Curtain in the same period. We also asked about the number of visitors to the U.S.S.R., Communist China, and the satellites. Then, we included a few remarks about those who had left the Curtain countries without visas, having fled to freedom at the risk of their lives. This kind of program we would ordinarily term a feature, but it did have a news angle in light of the current Communist campaign.
To give another example, we recently had a lot of fun with an international quiz program. Daily, Monday through Friday, we directed a question at some particular Communist paper or radio station. On Saturdays, The Voice of America obligated itself to repeat the answers received. The program stretched over several weeks. We are still waiting for the first Communist reply. Of course, our questions were a bit ticklish to answer. One, directed to Radio Tirana and three Albanian newspapers, asked why bread in Albania was still rationed after ten years of Communist rule. Czechoslovakia was asked why the store shelves of the country were empty if Czech factories, as reported in the Communist press, were producing so much. The Communist silence is understandable.
Outside the Curtains, there is no difficulty about our audience. The letters that pour into each of the Agency's 210 posts in 79 countries bear witness to The Voice of America's appeal. A 15-year-old lad has written our Cairo post recently that he is poor and adds, "Of course, I do not have a radio." Because of his poverty and his youth, he cannot sit in cafés and listen. But he has found a way to hear The Voice of America. A neighbor in the adjoining apartment has a radio, and by placing his ear to the intervening
I have found that letter particularly moving. Throughout the world, there are many walls between the United States and other peoples—walls (as in this lad's case) of poverty, walls of prejudice, walls of ignorance, walls that we know as the Curtains. But they are not impenetrable, as this letter writer and many thousands of others bear witness.
The Voice of America coöperates, of course, with other Agency media in publicizing United States foreign policies. One major Agency project this past year has been President Eisenhower's proposal for world coöperation in the advancement of the peaceful use of atomic energy, which was first announced in his speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations, December 8, 1953. The President had not finished speaking before The Voice of America was on the air. The story was carried first in English and, later that day and the next, was repeated on all of our foreign-language broadcasts. It was given the most thorough follow-up of any story ever handled by any radio broadcasting service. We devoted program after program to developments; we still are, in fact; and we will continue to do so.
In addition, the Wireless File, a daily 7,000-word news bulletin of the Agency's Press and Publication division was transmitting the full text of the President's speech before he had left the United Nations rostrum. Our overseas posts were supplied with reprints of articles on the subject appearing in United States publications, roundups of editorial comment, special features, news pictures, leaflets, and pamphlets.
And the Motion Picture Division swung into line with full newsreel coverage and a series of special documentary films prepared either in our shop or by private producers. These films are now being shown throughout the world.
As a part of the coöperative effort, the libraries of our 157 information centers overseas and of the binational centers set up special shelves of books on the subject. Lectures were arranged by specialists sent abroad under the Department of State's Educational Exchange Program. Exhibits were opened to the public in a number of the larger cities: Rome, Brussels,
Our Office of Private Coöperation has arranged for United States business firms to include highlights of the President's speech in their overseas correspondence. Other projects are under way by which American private individuals and groups—business, civic, religious, etc.— can coöperate in telling the "Atoms-for-Peace" story abroad.
In one way or another, we estimate over a billion persons this past year heard of the United States's proposal on the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Give us a little more time, and it will be "all peoples throughout the world."
The present U.S. Information Agency is just a little over two years old. It was created as of August 1, 1953, by President Eisenhower and was given independent status and complete responsibility for all United States nonmilitary overseas information programs. These included those previously handled by the Department of State and the Mutual Security Agency.
The new Agency has benefited, of course, by the experience of its predecessors. We are convinced that now we have an organization that can handle the job. In the increased venom of Communist attacks on the program, we see evidence that we are handling it. World-wide, the Communists have recently stepped up their efforts, have been reorganizing their propaganda apparatus and have been pouring in increased funds. They recognize that they have a fight on their hands. The Communists have made propaganda a major weapon in the campaign for the establishment of a Communist world order. In 1953, it has been estimated, they poured over three billion dollars into the fight. This estimate is undoubtedly conservative, and we know that they are spending more now.
We do not propose to try to match them in the volume of their effort, but we think we are superior in determination. President Eisenhower is very insistent that we stick to truth, and we agree with him. But, the fight isn't going to be won overnight. I have heard the figures 40 to 50 years used. It could be so.