Voice of America

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Voice of America
AbbreviationVoA
FoundedFebruary 1, 1942; 82 years ago (1942-02-01)
TypeInternational state-funded broadcaster
HeadquartersWilbur J. Cohen Federal Building
Location
Director
John Lippman (acting, since October 2023)[1]
Budget (Fiscal year 2023)
US$267.5 million[2]
Staff (2021)
961[3]
Websitewww.voanews.com Edit this at Wikidata

Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest of the U.S.-funded international broadcasters.[4][5][6] VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content in 49 languages, which it distributes to affiliate stations around the world.[7] Its targeted and primary audience is non-American. As of November 2022, its reporting reached 326 million adults per week across all platforms.[8]

VOA was established in 1942, and the VOA charter was signed into law in 1976 by U.S. President

independent agency of the U.S. government.[11] Funds are appropriated annually under the budget for embassies and consulates. As of 2022, VOA had a weekly worldwide audience of approximately 326 million (up from 237 million in 2016) and employed 961 staff with an annual budget of $267.5 million.[2][12][13]

Voice of America is seen by some listeners as having a positive impact while others like lecturer Faizullah Jan of Pakistan's

Languages

The Voice of America website had five English-language broadcasts as of 2014 (worldwide, Learning English, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, and Tibet). Additionally, the VOA website has versions in 48 foreign languages.[17][2]

Radio programs are marked with an "R"; TV programs with a "T":

  1. Afan Oromo R
  2. Albanian R, T
  3. Amharic
    R
  4. Armenian T
  5. Azerbaijani T
  6. Bambara R
  7. Bangla R, T
  8. Bosnian T
  9. Burmese R, T
  10. Cantonese
    R, T
  11. Creole
  12. Dari Persian
    R, T
  13. French R, T
  14. Georgian R
  15. Haitian Creole R
  16. Hausa R
  17. Indonesian R, T
  18. Khmer R, T
  19. Kinyarwanda R
  20. Kirundi
  21. Korean R
  22. Kurdish R
  23. Lao R
  24. Lingala R
  25. Macedonian T
  26. Mandarin R, T
  27. Ndebele
  28. Pashto
    T
  29. Persian R, T
  30. Portuguese R
  31. Rohingya
  32. Russian T
  33. Sango R
  34. Serbian T
  35. Shona R
  36. Sindhi
  37. Somali R
  38. Spanish R, T
  39. Swahili R
  40. Thai R
  41. Tibetan
    R, T
  42. Tigrinya R
  43. Turkish T
  44. Ukrainian T
  45. Urdu
    R, T
  46. Uzbek R, T
  47. Vietnamese R, T
  48. Wolof
  49. English R, T

The number of languages varies according to the priorities of the United States government and the world situation.[18][19]

History

American private shortwave broadcasting before World War II

Voice of America headquarters

Before World War II, all American

shortwave transmitters.[21][22] Experimental programming began in the 1930s, but there were fewer than 12 transmitters in operation.[23]

In 1939, the U.S.

Good Neighbor Policy, but which some broadcasters felt was an attempt to direct censorship:[24]

A licensee of an international broadcast station shall render only an international broadcast service which will reflect the culture of this country and which will promote international goodwill, understanding and cooperation. Any program solely intended for, and directed to an audience in the continental United States does not meet the requirements for this service.[25]

Around 1940, shortwave signals to

Nazi propaganda.[23] Initially, the US Office of the Coordinator of Information sent releases to each station, but this was seen as an inefficient means of transmitting news.[20] The director of Latin American relations at the Columbia Broadcasting System was Edmund A. Chester, and he supervised the development of CBS's extensive "La Cadena de las Américas" radio network to improve broadcasting to South America during the 1940s.[26]

World War II

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