An Enduring Voice

By training their radio reporters how to use video cameras, Voiceof America is broadcasting television news programs all over theworld.

Using Sony’s DSR-PD150, Greg Flakus, Voice of America’sbureau chief in Mexico City, tapes an interview with a localresident.

“Here speaks a voice from America. Every day at this time wewill bring you the news of the war. The news may be good. The news maybe bad. We shall tell you the truth.”

With those words, William Harlan Hale introduced Voice of America toa worldwide radio audience on Feb. 24, 1942, less than three monthsafter the United States entered World War II. Now in its 62nd year ofbroadcasting, VOA continues today in its tradition of balancing itsaims of presenting the policies of the U.S. government to the world andserving as an accurate and objective source of news.

Ironically, the Voice of America is silent in its homeland becauseof the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act, which prohibits VOA from broadcasting inthe U.S. Nevertheless, with a worldwide audience of 94 million peopleand broadcasts in 53 languages, VOA is perhaps more important than everas the U.S. confronts another adversary in the face of growinganti-American sentiment around the globe.

“It's a critical time for VOA, just as it was during the ColdWar,” says Thaddeus Pennas, health programs coordinator in VOA'soffice of development. “We grow more important all the time,particularly because the vast majority of the world lacks free accessto news and information. Because of our ability to broadcast directly[via satellite], VOA serves as a vital lifeline to many parts of theworld.”

From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., VOA broadcasts 1,000hours of news, information, and educational and cultural programmingeach week. The majority of VOA's broadcasts are radio transmissions,however, in the mid-1990s VOA began producing television programs.Today it feeds a variety of news, feature magazines, and live call-inshows via satellite in 14 languages.

Rather than hire camera operators, VOA relies on its radio reportersto shoot footage for its video productions. To date, VOA has trainedand equipped approximately 35 reporters to shoot video. The reporterscarry a MiniDV camera — typically a Sony DSR-PD150 or Canon GL1— with them on assignment. If the story warrants televisioncoverage, the reporter shoots it, using a tripod for stand-ups. Audiofrom the MiniDV camera can be used for the radio report.

Robert Bryan, VOA's chief of videotape operations, says VOA's use ofradio reporters has allowed the broadcaster to significantly expand itsTV operations in the last five years, and says the long-term goal is tohave at least 100 MiniDV cameras in the field. “The cameras takepretty good pictures,” Bryan says. “They don't take abusereal well, and you have to be careful the way you mic and light. Butyou can teach someone to be a fairly competent shooter with a smallercamera. And we could never give out a standard field package to everyradio reporter. It would be too expensive.”

Once the video footage is shot, Bryan says the reporters typicallymail the MiniDV tapes to VOA's offices at the foot of Capitol Hill.However, he says for breaking news, VOA has the capability to broadcastlive via satellite.

After the tapes arrive on the news desk, they are sent to one of 13edit suites to be cut into a newscast, news magazine, or one of VOA'sspecialty programs. Bryan manages the edit suites, which include sixAvid Media Composer systems, two Avid Xpress 3.5 systems, one AvidNewscutter, and four Ampex ACE 25 linear systems for crash-and-burnediting. He says the edit rooms are busy from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. eachweekday, feeding a daily cycle of foreign language newscasts and aweekly cycle of five one-hour and four half-hour news magazines. Oncethe programs are completed, they are uploaded to a satellite, allowingVOA's 1,300 affiliate stations around the world to access them 24 hoursa day, seven days a week.

Despite VOA's prohibitions on broad-casting in the U.S., satellitereceivers and the Internet have exposed a growing number of Americancitizens to VOA's radio and television broadcasts. To view some ofVOA's television broadcasts, visit www.voa.gov.

Cody Holt is a freelance writer based in the Midwest. Email him atcodyholt@kc.rr.com.