Voice of America and Radio Marti shutdown.

[a727469]

The key word was that the government did well in past VOA funding but not anymore as I stated. Things have changed.

We should all agree that silencing non-tax supported media is a very bad thing no matter how much we disagree, unless they are actually breaking a current law.

Reaching areas lacking infrastructure with our message, as long as balanced is fine but I would love to see some type of data showing where this has helped us directly in the USA. Some of these areas, in spite of all our work, still hate us.

After all these posts, no mater what our belief, it comes down to a simple (or difficult) cost versus benefit analysis. Like our own personal budgets, we only can afford so much and then we must stop spending past our means.

 

[buddrousa]

As I stated my only take is there are more was to get a msg out.
Like I said a Model A is still a car but it is not practical for everyday use.
The Countries that do not want its Citizens to hear our msg are still blocking it in their Countries.

 

[T680]

Who determines “truthful”? These days each group (left, right, center). defines what the truth is to them and tries to convince others. Yes, there should be a variety of viewpoints available but the government should not be the only source for the truth. It appears that each administration defines it differently.
As ditto1958 said, I prefer ideological balance and let the listener decide rather than a taxpayer funded resource telling me what they say is the “truth” . Unfortunately at this time, VOA and NPR have evolved from originally balanced to pretty much one sided and most of their listeners are of that persuasion. This would be fine if not tax payer funded since there are also many opposite sided commercial stations.
It’s funny but there would be no reason for this discussion if these were commercial non-tax supported stations😢🙂

Truthful would be described as verifiable, objective. Obviously you can't do that in all situations, especially with developing ones, but you could monitor the situation as it develops. That's the whole idea behind fact checking politicians. They used to be held more accountable, now one side revels in spouting a torrential amount of their version of the truth that is contradicted by objective information to the delight of their supporters.
I think you misunderstood what I said about broadcasting factual information too. I'm not suggesting the government be the arbitrary source here. I'm suggesting all sides get their say with all the sides subject to verification somewhat akin to what's done when writing a termpaper. Sometimes this would happen in real time like earlier when a politician stood in front of the egg section in a grocery store where the prices were marked and claimed egg prices were noticably higher. A free press would point this out and ask for clarification, something beneficial to the public. If you don't like that there are plenty of alternatives.

And the tax payer funding is kind of a joke too. My GF worked for the park district for years and people who were unhappy with things would often use that line when voicing their displeasure. Somebody figured it out, and the cost per person was really low, like $1.00 I'm not sure what it costs to run PBS, but there's been plenty of waste fraud and abuse in the nation's capital and Florida this year that I've seen that hasn't been mentioned yet that should pay for them to stay in the air for quite a while.

 

[T680]

As I stated my only take is there are more was to get a msg out.
Like I said a Model A is still a car but it is not practical for everyday use.
The Countries that do not want its Citizens to hear our msg are still blocking it in their Countries.

What kind of alternatives do you suggest?

 

[mmckenna]

We should all agree that silencing non-tax supported media is a very bad thing no matter how much we disagree, unless they are actually breaking a current law.

The 1st amendment should cover this, and should reign supreme.

After all these posts, no mater what our belief, it comes down to a simple (or difficult) cost versus benefit analysis. Like our own personal budgets, we only can afford so much and then we must stop spending past our means.

Right, however shutting down VOA to save money isn't the only reason they are doing this. As mentioned above several times, there are those that feel that some news agencies are not supportive of the current administration and needs to be silenced.

Silencing the media will never work, just like banning books never works.

VOA as a shortwave transmission can go away. The message can't.

 

[buddrousa]

Well you are using a better than VOA right now.
Internet
TV
Satellite
Social Media

 

[mmckenna]

And the tax payer funding is kind of a joke too. My GF worked for the park district for years and people who were unhappy with things would often use that line when voicing their displeasure. Somebody figured it out, and the cost per person was really low, like $1.00

Yeah, there's a lot of things like that where people get upset about the cost, but the actual per individual cost is quite low. I'm good with a dollar a year to support parks. I'm good with my taxpayer dollars going to support Sesame Street. I'm not good with my money to support people that absolutely do not need more money.

 

[PDXh0b0]

If they were looking for something else to listen to in SW now there are still plenty of stations broadcasting Brother Stair and the like for their propaganda.

Lmao! I tune in, but there's really nothing current, he always refers to Bush Sr.

WWCR is better

I wish Alex would get back on shortwave

Hal is to racist to listen too

 

[MUTNAV]

The 1st amendment should cover this, and should reign supreme.



Right, however shutting down VOA to save money isn't the only reason they are doing this. As mentioned above several times, there are those that feel that some news agencies are not supportive of the current administration and needs to be silenced.

Silencing the media will never work, just like banning books never works.

VOA as a shortwave transmission can go away. The message can't.

Got a rare disagreement here...
If I remember right, the VOA always said that it represented the
"Official views (or viewpoint) of the United States" if they can't do this....

Which always shocked me, since I was very used to statements that were the opposite.
(These comments do not represent any endorsement etc...)

It was never supposed to represent any other groups, opinions, or thoughts on any matter. Others can do their own broadcasts.

That being said, I'd still like being able to listen to them. When at various locations, even though there was AFRTS available that covered a wide range of views (the news channel rotated through all of the major outlets), I was still able to listen to VOA on a small AM radio for a 1/2 hour at a time and get some pleasure out of it.

I'll definitely miss WWV if it goes away, one of my longtime (but likely unachievable) goals was to be able to receive it any time of day, where I'm at. I even have maps so I can track the center of tropical depressions and hurricanes, and their movement. Yes the internet and various weather channels can be more up to date, but it isn't the same.

Thanks
Joel

 

[K3HY]

The 1st amendment should cover this, and should reign supreme.



Right, however shutting down VOA to save money isn't the only reason they are doing this. As mentioned above several times, there are those that feel that some news agencies are not supportive of the current administration and needs to be silenced.

Silencing the media will never work, just like banning books never works.

VOA as a shortwave transmission can go away. The message can't.

All that fake outrage about a 'Cancel Culture', was really just a reflection of themselves. It's about what they do, not what they say.

 

[K3HY]

I haven't heard VOA for ages, but I don't doubt they pushed the ideology of Manifest Destiny and American Exceptionalism for at least part of their existence. And for the people living in areas where the state sanctioned media was all that was available it would give listeners another viewpoint much like reading a variety of newspapers back when newspapers were a dominant force without any physical evidence or browser history to worry about.

I used to listen to propaganda on AM radio for amusement too. I listened to one show for a while thinking it was satire before I realized it wasn't. I used to listen to this other guy that usually sounded like he was about to fly into a fit of rage too while I brushed my teeth at night. I figured I'd need to start worrying if he ever ran out of things to worry about, it made it easier to drift off to sleep knowing there were enough things left to keep him wound up.

I remember the one that would call his followers 'Ditto Heads' and they would call in proudly calling themselves 'Ditto Heads'. Good times. LOL

 

[T680]

Well you are using a better than VOA right now.
Internet
TV
Satellite
Social Media

If you're replying to my question about alternatives those can all be blocked and manipulated too.

 

[T680]

Yeah, there's a lot of things like that where people get upset about the cost, but the actual per individual cost is quite low. I'm good with a dollar a year to support parks. I'm good with my taxpayer dollars going to support Sesame Street. I'm not good with my money to support people that absolutely do not need more money.

I remember one of her employees saying next time that happened he was going to give the person complaining here's your money back, give them $1.00 and tell them to keep the change. It was pretty funny.

 

[T680]

Lmao! I tune in, but there's really nothing current, he always refers to Bush Sr.

WWCR is better

I wish Alex would get back on shortwave

Hal is to racist to listen too

I'm one of those people who listened to shortwave in the 70's when I was a kid and remembered hearing interesting and exotic sounding programs that recently got a short wave radio and wondered what happened to those shows. I don't know if the rest of the religious shows are repeats like his or not, they all sound similar. Guilt, fear and don't forget to send in your donations.

 

[mmckenna]

Got a rare disagreement here...
If I remember right, the VOA always said that it represented the
"Official views (or viewpoint) of the United States" if they can't do this....

Official viewpoint of the United States is different than the official viewpoints of a specific political party, or a specific individual that wants control over everything.

Back on topic...
Maybe shutting down the VOA shortwave transmitters makes good economic sense. Or not. Time will tell. I don't think it's something that should be decided by one (or is it two?) person. Usually these things get debated and discussed in congress. That step seems to have been skipped.

 

[MUTNAV]

Official viewpoint of the United States is different than the official viewpoints of a specific political party, or a specific individual that wants control over everything.

It kind of has been though. No dissent allowed, even in the "open and free" press.

Best example is that anyone that questioned the official line (any of them, even the ones that kept on changing) about COVID, was shut down pretty hard.

I've noticed that more recently, the "clickbait" (that we've become accustomed to), has been (I feel) weaponized to anger or otherwise upset people. Almost to a religious point where people are feeling a dark cloud around them.

I don't think society, and our brains, have adapted to this continuous bombardment of information.

Radio wise, the news stories of the E-4Bs is a good example of trying to get people upset... for many people... a couple of stories about how the "doomsday planes" are moving around is very concerning, to us listening and monitoring Mil-air, it's more of a "so-what" they are always are doing this.

Fortunately, many of us can apply our hobby practices to this situation, for example with jammers / intruders on repeaters, or C.B., we realize that if it's getting us upset past a certain point, we stop listening (it's just a hobby, we need to know when to step away and take a deep breath). This idea was actually in a book Radio Transmitter hunting and direction finding and I found the section about stepping back extra interesting.

I don't know if the general public has this ability on a widespread basis.

Hopefully everything works out.

Thanks
Joel

 

[mmckenna]

This idea was actually in a book Radio Transmitter hunting and direction finding and I found the section about stepping back extra interesting.

I don't know if the general public has this ability on a widespread basis.

I agree. There seems to be those that can't accept a differing opinion, and everything turns into a fight.
Being able to step back, take a deep breath and disengage is a handy skill to have.

Hopefully everything works out.

Yeah, me too. The good news is that the constitution addresses most of this.

 

[kayn1n32008]

Krasnov cult members cheer him on...

Well when the cult has the combined IQ of a gnat, it's not surprising they cheer him on.

We're not even 2 entire months in...

 

[kayn1n32008]

The good news is that the constitution addresses most of this.

What happens when Krasnov ignores the constitution and does what ever he wants, and the 2 other executive branches choose to do nothing about it?

Sadly, the cult keeps cheering...

 

[T680]

Chinese state media hails Trump cuts to Voice of America

State newspaper gloated that the network has "now been discarded by its own government like a dirty rag".

www.bbc.com