Historically, Voice of America served US diplomacy by countering Nazi and then Chinese and Soviet propaganda. In 1976, President Gerald Ford enshrined the principle of “accurate, objective, and comprehensive” broadcasting in VOA’s charter. VOA was now promoted as an independent news source in regions where censorship prevailed.
These principles are retained in the new bill, but VOA’s reports must also be “consistent with and promote the broad foreign policies of the United States.” There is clearly a danger that this new concept of “promoting” US foreign policy could affect VOA’s content.
… Like VOA in Iran, the local language services of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty constitute one of the very few sources of independent news and information in countries such as Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. These media could not continue to provide the same valuable service if they took their orders from the US government.