Voice of America..Not made in USA

[Bill, KD0HG]

 The Voice of America (VOA) is implementing plans to outsource eight news writing jobs to Hong Kong. The move has members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee up in arms.

The Chicago Tribune reports that VOA, a government-funded broadcast operation chartered by Congress to present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively while providing a consistently reliable authoritative source of news is planning to shift its overnight news service to Hong Kong. VOA management concedes that it will save $300,000 from the move, mostly in health care costs.

According to the Tribune, VOA hopes to have its Hong Kong staff in place within the next few months.

[W1UJR]

Interesting tidbit Bill, thanks!

Talk about outsourcing lunacy, Hong Kong to write VOA content?
Sometimes I wonder what our country is thinking. Closing down military bases in the middle of two wars, and allowing the VOA to almost “go dark” sure don’t seem like a recipe for success.

I know that I am not a “smart” politician, but it seems to me that the VOA, which was one of the better tools in our country’s Cold War toolkit, has been left to languish. Now more than ever, especially since we are fighting a "Hot War" against radial Islam, you would think that it is important to get America's message of hope and freedom to the rest of the world.
Yes, I know about the internet, but frankly shortwave still seems to be the cheapest, simplest, and most low tech medium to do the job. You don’t need a computer, phone line, cable connection or stable power supply to listen to the radio. In fact many of the very countries which need to hear the VOA’s message do not allow their citizens to use the internet, or block access to large parts of it.

The funding to keep the VOA strong and going has to be a drop in the proverbial bucket in comparison to all the other “Golden Fleece” programs.

Think a letter to my congresswoman is in order.

[Ed Nesselroad]

It's amazing to me how many Europeans I talk to, particularly Eastern Europeans, who lament the changes at VOA.  Many still regard it as a voice they can trust.  I wonder if they'll run a disclaimer...something to the effect of, "Made in Hong Kong?"

[ve6pg]

...DONT FORGET,HONG KONG WAS RETURNED TO MAINLAND CHINA,IN 1997....SK..

[wa2zdy]

PG beat me to it.  The news for the free side of the cold war is going to be written by the not-so-free side.  That should prove very interesting.  I can't imagine Radio Moscow having used American reporters back in the day.  Can you?

Only in America.

[wavebourn]

Let's wait for one more State to be United...

[k4kyv]

VOA management concedes that it will save $300,000 from the move, mostly in health care costs.

According to the Tribune, VOA hopes to have its Hong Kong staff in place within the next few months.

That's saying a lot about the state of medical care in the US and in China.  Not only are many private businesses dropping medical coverage for their employees because of the drastic increase in cost, now an agency of the federal government is outsourcing to avoid having to provide medical coverage to its employees.

In China, once touted as a communist paradise, for a large part of the population, medical care is non-existent.  No private or government-run medical plans at all.  Those who cannot pay receive no medical care.

[W3SLK]

Here is the letter I wrote to my Congressional Representative, Don Sherwood:

Dear Representative Sherwood, It is with much disdain that I contact you about a recent rumor/fact concerning our country's flagship radio station, Voice of America. The concern is that during the weekends and evenings, the news writing will be taking place in Hong Kong!? I feel that this is a national disgrace, and is going to harbour more discontent amoung the American people. It is bad enough when good paying jobs are leaving the country but when our government is leading the way? Imagine what this says to the rest of the world? Especially those who get their information about America from the VOA! I pray that you will stop this crazy notion and help restore the "VOA" back to its place of honor and dignity. Your humble constituent, Mike Sawyer Danville, PA

[David, K3TUE]

Here is the letter I wrote to my Congressional Representative, Don Sherwood:

I have something I wrote as well.  I'll be sending it today.

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

This is ridiculous.  A bad joke, but it's real.  Unbelievable!  What next?

[Bill, KD0HG]

Bacon, it's like the BBC hiring Joseph Goebbels as a consultant.

[k4kyv]

Click the link below for the Washington Post story.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55134-2005Apr14.html

[Bill, KD0HG]

That's a good one, Comrade Chester. I wonder if any of the experienced journalists they're hiring covered the Tianemen Square story for The People's Daily?

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

"Bacon, it's like the BBC hiring Joseph Goebbels as a consultant."

That's a bit of a stretch - comparing expat Chinese to a core member of the Nazi party. Wow!

Calling it outsourcing is a stretch too. According to the article, no US person will lose their job.

The Wash Post story is full of a lot of questionable editorializing and glaring omissions. For example.

"Then there's the notion, he said, of American taxpayer dollars providing jobs for noncitizens overseas."

This obtuse comment is laughable in that the State Department has been hiring Foreign Service Nationals (30,000 of them presently) in embassies and consulates around the world for years. These FSNs even get a retirement plan. Some of the FSNs might even be, oh no, Chinese. Oh my gosh!

Further, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty also hire foreigners. Why this is not mentioned in the article is puzzling. The reporter was either lazy or had an agenda. Then again, sensationalism and claims of outsourcing probably get more readers.

Here's another. "There's also the question of making sure everyone in Hong Kong has the requisite security clearances." Of course the reporter does not claim security clearances are needed, nor does he bother to check. Lazy! The positions very well may be Public Trust positions, which require a background check (usually a criminal database check), but these are not considered clearances in the formal sense since these people do not have access to classified information. So once again, using the wrong term - clearance - makes the story more sensation, but also more inaccurate.

The people being hired don't sound like raving Commies to me. Even the slanted article claims they are "expatriate English-speakers", meaning expatriate from mainland China, presumably. They will still be supervised by an American in Washington, so it's not like they can just start broadcasting Chicom propaganda on VOA.

It would be interesting to know if VOA transmitters and other tech equipment is installed and maintained only by US government employees (not a contractor) and exclusively US citizens.

Bottom line, the USG hiring foreigners, old news. VOA hiring foreigners, old news. The article seems like a hype job to me.

[Bill, KD0HG]

"Bacon, it's like the BBC hiring Joseph Goebbels as a consultant."

That's a bit of a stretch - comparing expat Chinese to a core member of the Nazi party. Wow!

OK, Steve, I did forget about Godwin's Law!
Let me put it another way:

What if 25 years ago the VOA had replaced their overnight Washington newsdesk staff with Moscow-based Tass News correspondents to produce their broadcast material? What has changed?

In my book, it raises issues of credibility. And even the appearance of possible impropriety or lack of credibility can be greatly harmful to a respected news organization.  You know that. So does CBS.

.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I'm with ya on your example. But your example is not comparable to what has happened with VOA. No where in the story is it stated the Chinese being hired have previously or currently work for a Beijing-based, government controlled news entity. Secondly, the entire news desk staff is not being replaced. The editor is still an American based in Washington. Third, comparing the relationship between the US and China today, with that of the US and the USSR of twenty-five years ago is apples and oranges, at best.

As to credibility, with whom? Maybe this hiring makes VOA less credible in your eyes, but you are not the target audience. The question is whether mainland Chinese find expatriates credible (or any other target countries). I can't answer this question, but this is really the issue.

One final question, I wonder if any expat Russians worked at RFE or RL twenty-five years ago?

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

It would be one thing if it was the VOA East Asian news bureau that was going to be in Hong Kong.  But it's quite something else when it is the VOA night news department that is going to be in Hong Kong.  This is ridiculous.

Why Hong Kong?  Why not Saipan?  At least it's an American possession of some sort.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

It's ridiculous because......?

Why not Hong Kong? Why not the moon? There's an American flag there.

[ve6pg]

...I DONT GET THIS EXPAT THING..THEY ARE STILL CHINESE.MAINLAND CHINESE.BEIJING  IS THE OWNER/OPERATOR.CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT,BUT HONG KONG IS AS MUCH PART OF CHINA AS ALASKA,OR HAWAII  IS TO THE  U.S. ...SK..

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Yes, but Beijing is not the owner/operator of VOA or its employees.

So, you are saying, someone who left China (ostensibly to get away from Communism) and is now living in Hong Kong (which was not part of mainland China during the bulk of their lifetime), are the same as the Communists living in Beijing for the past 50 years? Do I have that right?

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

Not a problem?  Actually, my objection is that this is just an outsourcing to avoid paying US salaries and medical benefits.  Saipan would have very much the same problem, of course, but at least it's not in the People's Republic of China.  The thought of a VOA world news broadcast coming from the PRC...  What, did they buy the VOA with the money we owe them?

This thread may belong in AM Inquirer politics, rather than QSO, too.

[W2VW]

Bush is behind all this. Follow the money trail. Halliberton is making money on no-bid contracts somehow too. Pull the finals out of those VOA rigs and check the serial numbers.  Herman Munster would have never allowed this.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Bacon:

You really have no objection then. I've already pointed out this is not outsourcing. No one has lost their job. The VOA has long employed personnel overseas (as has the rest of the USG). Just because they are not US citizens does not mean they will not get health benefits. Some of those employed in Hong Kong may, in fact, be VOA/USG employees. Others may be contractors, who's parent company very well may indeed include health benefits.

I'm not sure what is political about this. These are clear facts, no politics involved. Unless, of course, there's more to your objections than you are admitting.

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

Actually, people in the USA lost work hours, which is pretty much the same thing.  And those hours are now being worked by employees in the PRC.  I'd call that outsourcing.  And I object!  For a number of reasons.

Come on Steve, we all know that outsourcing is a political subject.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Sorry Bacon, but this subject is political to you because it fits your template. Such a template, however, is not a universal truth, and I will have no part of it.

I see no evidence of any VOA employee losing hours. Further attempts to politicize will be countered with facts.