Shutting the VOA? Medium enlightening the world about US is imperilled

DURING the 1990s, I worked for three years as an editor/reporter at the Voice of America (VOA), a US government-controlled broadcasting organisation that reaches 360 million people weekly with news translated into 48 languages.

My job at the Special English section of VOA was to edit news stories about education, technology, current events and other topics in America in intermediate and upper-beginner-level English, which were then read one-third slower than those in regular VOA English.

We used to receive letters from listeners from all around the world thanking us for the service we were providing them and enquiring about specific issues discussed in the broadcasts.