The US government broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) has decided to shut down its daily 90-minute short-wave radio capsule in Hindi citing budgetary cutbacks, and the emergence of TV and the Internet in India as the leading media to disseminate news. Private FM radio stations have also affected its listenership, according to Jagdish Sareen, editor, VOA Hindi.
The decision, taken by the President-appointed Broadcasting Board of Governors, is pending with the US Congress for final approval. Says Brian Mabry, senior public affairs advisor at Voice of America, Along with VOA Hindi, our services in Albanian, Bosnian, Serbian, and Russian will also stop. Instead, he says, We will pursue a strategy of reaching our audience through TV programming. Currently, VOAs 30-minute television capsule in Hindi is aired on Aaj Tak. Sareen says he may have to lay some of the 13 staff members and the 20-odd freelance reporters he has across the US and India. VOA Hindi has been broadcasting continuously since July 1, 1954, says Mabry, and it was one of the our toughest decisions. He adds, US international broadcasting efforts are designed to prioritise those regions that lack democracy or are still making the transition to democracy. India, however, is a different market, VOAs management feels. India has a sophisticated media market, says Mabry. We are responding to changes in the market. Our audience in India has choices. Some years ago, we stopped programming in European languages for the same reason. ++++++++++++++ Source:http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1033246 ++++++++++++++ Jaisakthivel, Chennai. Send instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- World Radio TV Handbook 2006 is out. Order yours from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823059367/hardcoredxcom/ ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list [email protected] http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html
