| Boom Box USA: Surrogate Broadcasting as a Tool of U.S. Soft Power
Gedmin, Jeffrey
Foreign Affairs, September/October 2009, v88, #5, online edition
"Government-sponsored surrogate broadcasting of accurate and reliable news remains the most effective and cost-efficient way to promote democracy and advance U.S. security interests in countries lacking independent media. The objective of surrogate broadcasting programs, such as Radio Farda in Iran, is not to overthrow a foreign government -- 'when informed citizens are free to choose,' Gedmin writes, 'they invariably choose freedom over tyranny and prefer decent, accountable government to the arbitrary whims of authoritarian leaders.' Surrogate broadcasting plays a role in Afghanistan, countering the Taliban’s own information war, and in Russia, where public opinion toward the U.S. and toward democracy is ambivalent."
Jeffrey Gedmin is President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Go to the
article at:
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/print/65426
A2/05-09. Posted December 1, 2009
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