<i> A look at noteworthy addresses in the Southland.</i>
Chase Untermeyer, director of the Voice of America, spoke Wednesday at the Marriott Hotel in Century City on “International Broadcasting in the Post Cold War Era.†His speech was sponsored by Town Hall of California. From Untermeyer’s address: On the Voice of America’s Mission “Our mission did not change with (the end of) the Cold War. . . . The Voice of America is ... to give the news of the world and individual countries, including the United States, in an accurate, objective and comprehensive fashion. So we are, at base, a news organization, a very proud one, with correspondents in 27 different locations around the world and we broadcast the news in 47 languages
“The 1st Amendment of the Constitution sets up freedom of speech and freedom of the press. What it says, in effect, is that a privately owned radio, television station, newspaper or magazine is absolutely free to be inaccurate, unobjective and noncomprehensive, if it so chooses. Now I’m not saying that the American press deliberately tries to be otherwise , but the fact is that they are free to be whatever way they want, as long as they satisfy their owners and their public. And it would be absolutely unconstitutional for the United States Congress to pass a law saying that these entities must be accurate, objective and comprehensive.
“But it is permissible for the Congress to do, as it did in the charter of the Voice of America, to say that the U.S. government’s own broadcaster should follow those standards and, as such, our journalists are held to a standard, a legal standard, much greater than that of any private journalist. Now I’m not going to tell you that that makes them automatically far better than any private journalist, but it does set a very important standard that is enforced.â€
On Broadcast Content in the Post Cold War Era
“One of the major changes that’s taken place, since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the change of the world order, is for us to broadcast more practical information about democracy and free markets. . . . We’ve discovered that in Eastern Europe, in the former Soviet Union and in Africa, and in other countries where there are new democracies, you have to tell people the how-to-do-its as well as the philosophy (of democracy). So we have programs on how to organize political parties. Or how to run a meeting by Roberts Rules of Order. How to start a school board, how to start a small business and get a bank loan. Or how to keep books. All sorts of very practical information which people in those societies very much need. And these particular messages, that are in the form of short features, are now among the most popular things that we broadcast into the countries that used to be communist.â€
Looking Ahead Monday: Jaime Serra Puche, minister of commerce and industrial development for Mexico, on “The North American Free Trade Agreement,†noon, Biltmore Hotel. Sponsored by Los Angeles World Affairs Council. Call 213-628-2333.
Wednesday: Dr. Rony Brauman, president, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), will speak on “Populations in Danger: The Medecins Sans Frontieres Response,†7:30 p.m., Marriott Hotel in Century City. Sponsored by Los Angeles World Affairs Council. Call 213-628-2333.
Announcements concerning prominent speakers in Los Angeles should be sent to Speaking Up, c/o Times researcher Michael Meyers, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053
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