Relevance Today
To commemorate and congratulate VOA Georgia on its 65th anniversary, U.S. Agency for Global Media (known until 2018 as Broadcasting Board of Governors), an independent agency that aims to “inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy,” [1] released a resolution in 2016. This resolution aimed to honor the work that VOA Georgian Service has done since its inception on May 26th, 1951. The resolution details the role that VOA Georgian Services has played in being “a vital communications link with the Georgian people in support of freedom and democracy” and for its ability to remain “a respected source of objective and accurate news and information about Georgia, Eurasia, the United States and the world." [2]
On its 60th anniversary of VOA Service in 2011, Temur Yakobishvili, who served as Georgia’s Ambassador to the U.S. (2010 – 2013), said: "Without any exaggeration I can say that the VOA Georgian Service has played a big role in spreading America’s voice to the people of Georgia and making it possible for me to represent a sovereign nation here in the United States. VOA’s Georgian Service is as relevant today as it has always been in the past." [3]
VOA Georgian Services under Eurasian Division began operating in Cold War landscape, providing credible and evidence-based information through the Iron Curtain and Communism that lasted decades. Similarly to Radio Tavisufleba/Radio Liberty, Radio and TV Marti, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Network, VOA Georgian Services is protected under Firewall enforced by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Firewall emphasizes independence of journalists and broadcasters that is enshrined in law and demands of USAGM networks to adhere to the highest professional standards and “insulate… their content, and staff from political and other such influence." [4]
Maybe it was exactly this impartiality that worried communists. By the time VOA Georgian Service was launched in 1951, the Soviet government had already created a new profession to counter “western propaganda,” that of a systemic jammer. Transmitter Station Number 5, located near Bazaleti Lake in Georgia, was a secret network that was tasked with jamming VOA among other anti-Soviet propaganda, such as BBC and Radio Liberty. [5]The radio stations equipped with 80 kilovolts were strong enough to systematically jam Western news, says Afranik Tchkonia, a Georgian who served as the shift chief for Station #5. [6] Still, more than 30 million listened to VOA in the U.S.S.R. As Levan Berdzenishvili, Georgian Politician and Academic, remembers: “VOA Georgia was not only an alternate source, but it was also in principle the voice of the world. It was the only truth that was heard in the falsehood." [7] Gela Charkviani, Diplomat and Author, remembers that back then, the U.S.S.R “didn’t have good perception of what it meant to have soft power."[7] It was with this cultural and social soft power that VOA played its significant role in breaking down the Soviet regime.
To this day, VOA Georgian Services not only provides access to evidence-based information, but it staffs panels and discussions to facilitate peace-building efforts between Georgia and the United States. For example, in 2018 Georgian Services organized a panel featuring: David Bakradze (Ambassador of Georgia to the U.S. from 2016), Kurt Volker (U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations and Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO) and Paul J. Saunders (Executive Director of the Center for the National Interest). The panel was dedicated to the 10 years after Russia’s war in Georgia of August 2008 and allowed for not only reinforcing Georgia’s sovereignty over its Russian-occupied territories but also discussed the role that the U.S. can play to maintain substantive dialogue with Georgian and Ukrainian allies in this volatile region. [8] The recording of the panel is available on the Embassy of Georgia to the USA and VOA pages.
References
1. “The History of U.S. Civilian international Broadcasting.” U.S. Agency for Global Media, https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/history/
2. “Resolution Honoring the 65th Anniversary of Voice of America’s Georgian Service.” June 23rd, 2016. Broadcasting Board of Directors (now, U.S. Agency for Global Media). https://www.usagm.gov/wp-content/media/2016/07/Resolution-VOA-Georgian-65th-Anniversary.pdf
3. “VOA Georgian Service Marks 60th Anniversary.” May 25th, 2011. Kyle King. VOA Public Relations. https://www.insidevoa.com/a/voa-georgian-service-marks-60th-anniversary-122682889/178534.html
4. “Firewall.” U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/firewall/
5. “The Soviet villagers who blocked Western radio broadcasts.” April 11th, 2018. Rayna Demytrie. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-43730458
6. “პროფესია - ჩამხშობი” (Profession: Jammer). June 1st, 2020. Zaza Tsuladze. VOA Georgian Services. https://www.amerikiskhma.com/a/5444372.html
7. « ამერიკის ხმა » : რადიოს ეპოქის დასასრული (Voice of America : The End of Radio Epoch). August 20th, 2018. Zaza Tsuladze. VOA Georgian Services. https://www.amerikiskhma.com/a/voice-of-america-georgian-service-radio-ends/4535907.html?withmediaplayer=1
8. “Ambassador Bakradze Discusses the August War at VOA.” August 14th, 2018. The Embassy of Georgia to the United States of America. https://georgiaembassyusa.org/2018/08/14/ambassador-bakradze-discusses-10-years-after-the-august-war-at-voa/. “ცივი მშვიდობა: 10 წელი რუსეთ-საქართველოს ომიდან” (Cold Peace: 10 Years from Russo-Georgian War). August 14th, 2018. VOA Georgian Services from Washington, D.C. https://www.facebook.com/amerikiskhma/videos/1163868603750930/