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<p class="MsoNormal">I do hope his visitors in Tulsa get to know one another. And also after the event, over a beer, across from one another, where they can really have a conversation.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From: </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Friam <friam-bounces@redfish.com> on behalf of Tom Johnson <tom@jtjohnson.com><br>
<b>Reply-To: </b>The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com><br>
<b>Date: </b>Saturday, June 20, 2020 at 12:07 PM<br>
<b>To: </b>The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [FRIAM] USAGM, VOA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I just posted on Facebook that I fear this is potentially the most Goebbels-esq move in the Trump years. If Trump can be defeated, it will take a decade at least to restore some of our positive presence amongst many around the world.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">TJ<br clear="all">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
============================================<br>
Tom Johnson - <a href="mailto:tom@jtjohnson.com" target="_blank">tom@jtjohnson.com</a><br>
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA<br>
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)<br>
<a href="http://nmfog.org" target="_blank"><b><span style="color:#0B5394">NM Foundation for Open Government</span></b></a><br>
<b><span style="color:blue">Check out <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671" target="_blank">
It's The People's Data</a></span></b> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">============================================<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">On Sat, Jun 20, 2020 at 12:20 PM Steve Smith <<a href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com">sasmyth@swcp.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I was caught off guard this morning when I saw these latest headlines:<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jun/18/voice-of-america-independence-fears-after-trump-ally-purges-senior-officials" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jun/18/voice-of-america-independence-fears-after-trump-ally-purges-senior-officials</a><br>
<br>
I went straight to USAGM's website to get oriented on the full scope of<br>
USAGM, of which I have only been vaguely aware. I have heard plenty of<br>
anecdotes about Voice of America during WWII and Radio Free Europe<br>
during the Cold War as well as Armed Forces Network (especially during<br>
the Vietnam War). I was shocked (but not surprised) that the website<br>
was already reflecting the "new management" and if I were not so lazy<br>
(incompetent), I might go search for a snapshot from yesterday/last-week<br>
of the website and see *just what all* was changed with the changing of<br>
the guard.<br>
<br>
I'm hoping Tom (and others) have some better understanding of the<br>
implications of this.<br>
<br>
As a child (6-12 years) my parents allowed me use of their classic<br>
(circa 1950) Zenith "Wave Magnet" Transoceanic multiband short-wave<br>
radio in my bedroom. We lived in an isolated location in the mountains<br>
of western NM where there was no "normal" radio (or TV) reception. The<br>
ionosphere provides an interface for RF to reflect off of allowing<br>
"skip" of signals around the curvature of the earth, oftentimes<br>
*multiple* skips allowing *literally* reception from nearly halfway<br>
around the world. In more of a technical fascination with this idea<br>
than with the sounds and in fact, voices and even messages coming out of<br>
the speaker in front of the warmly glowing tubes as I tweaked the tuning<br>
dial and waved the "magnet" (removeable antenna) around, I *did* listen<br>
to what was dribbling out of the speaker (turned way down to avoid<br>
disturbing the household).<br>
<br>
WWV (time) was the most reliable signal to find (on several bands?),<br>
partly because it was so easily recognized. I doubt I knew what<br>
languages I was hearing, but there were any number of foreign language<br>
broadcasts fading in and out. I was most fascinated by the BBC which<br>
(like WWV) seemed to show up on multiple bands, and possibly also<br>
because these sources may have been (and were sometimes identified) as<br>
coming from the south Pacific. I don't think I ever actually heard the<br>
voice of Hanoi Hannah, or even knew of her. I occasionally picked up a<br>
whiff of Radio Free Europe or one of it's affiliates elsewhere in the<br>
world, but never enough quantity to really follow much they were saying<br>
(and I *was* just a kid). What I understood was that THIS was the US's<br>
voice to the world (or the other side of the Iron Curtain?). The BBC<br>
world service was perhaps *most* fascinating because British English of<br>
course, but also because I seemed to understand that they were not<br>
"censored" by the same assumptions our own media would be. I thought<br>
that because the BBC served so many colonial/commonwealth regions that<br>
their message would somehow be "cleaner" or provide better "parallax"<br>
than our own (implied to be?) singular voice. Meanwhile i was getting<br>
my first/only taste of broadcast news "on the hour" whilst trying to<br>
listen to KOMA, KOA, or more interestingly one of the Pirate stations<br>
along the US/MX border. I didn't know what 50,000 Watts meant, but It<br>
was pounded into my head by the announcers.<br>
<br>
I was careful what I said to or asked of my parents, because like many<br>
parents of that era, they could be fickle. While they seemed to *want*<br>
me to play with their radio, I knew implicitely that they wouldn't like<br>
that I sometimes took the back off the radio, defeated the lockout<br>
switch and layed in bed watching the tubes glow like they were TV, and<br>
trying to "visualize" the radio signals impinging on the "wave Magnet"<br>
and flowing through the wires, being rectified (a term I learned later)<br>
and amplified by those glowing tubes before feeding the speaker. I<br>
also knew that what I might be hearing coming out of the speaker might<br>
not be something they wanted me to hear. I did ask them about he<br>
various foreign languages which made me acutely aware that the whole<br>
world (or the whole technologically advanced world) were not English<br>
speakers. I also asked them about the BBC which lead them to explain a<br>
lot more about the Commonwealth and British Colonial power (past and<br>
present). <br>
<br>
When I asked them about Radio Free ?Europe, they were a little cagey... <br>
indicating that their message wasn't intended for the US ears... it was<br>
specifically crafted for the "poor fools living behind the Iron<br>
Curtain", they tried to indicate that because of the conditions of<br>
people living under the iron fist/boot of the Soviet Union were so<br>
sparse, so dire, and because they had no access to "open information", <br>
we had to be "careful" what and how we told them. I think they likened<br>
it to helping a starving person recover, giving them only the smallest<br>
amounts of the blandest food (water and crackers) to start out, and<br>
build them up. It seemed reasonable. I also didn't ask them why the<br>
BBC seemed to talk about all kinds of things that I wasn't hearing in<br>
the 5 minutes of news from the AM Mega Stations I could sometimes get. <br>
I guessed it was because The UK commonwealth was so geographically<br>
spread, they were worried about a broader array of issues (which was<br>
likely true) but I Intuited that the BBC and the CBC were saying things<br>
about the US that the US would never say about ourselves.... nothing<br>
terribly harsh or critical... just things that probably didn't make us<br>
look that good. Most of what I heard was really a jumble of ideas, of<br>
names and places I knew little of... but I think I was sensitive to the<br>
"shape" or the "tone" of these different sources. I couldn't watch<br>
their lips/jaws move though.<br>
<br>
The first thing I ran into on *today's* version of the USAGM website was<br>
that it was implied that their content was "illegal to consume in the<br>
US" up until 2013 with the Smith-Mundt modernization bill. Best I can<br>
tell, what that bill really did was allow USAGM resources to make their<br>
materials available to domestic outlets. But as with my parent's<br>
description, I do imagine that the content is significantly different<br>
(hopefully not directly contradictory) with that which is pointed<br>
inward. Aside from the President's Press Secretary (and the equivalent<br>
for the other branch's offices?) that we don't have a strong (overt)<br>
message shaping out of our government? <br>
<br>
- Steve<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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