Voice of America Persian News Network

Voice of America Persian News Network (VOA-PNN) is a governmental international broadcaster of the United States of America in Persian language. Its headquarters are in Washington D.C. It started to broadcast its programs on 18 October 1994 with a one-hour television program. Its radio programs started on 22 November 1979 with 30 minutes broadcasting per day.

VOA Persian
Country
United States
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
OwnerU. S. federal government
ParentVoice of America
EstablishedJuly 2003[1]
Launch date
18 October 1994 (TV)
22 November 1979 (Radio)
Former names
VOA Persia Service[1]
Budget
$23.78 million (FY2010)[1]
Official website
Official website
LanguagePersian

Managers

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Hooman Bakhtiar, Voice of America Persian Service producer, 2016.

The first manager of the VOA-PNN was Ahmadreza Baharloo. Later managers were Kambiz Mohammadi, Shila Ganji, Behrouz Abbassi, Behrouz Souresrafil, James Glassman, Hida Fouladvand and Ramin Asgard. The current manager of the VOA-PNN is Setareh Derakhshesh.[2]

Programs

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As of July 2007, VOA-PNN broadcast 1 hour of radio programming a day, 7 hours a day of original programming for television, and a website.[1]

Original series

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Interview with Abdolmalek Rigi

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In April 2007, VOA-PNN conducted a phone interview with Abdolmalek Rigi, the leader of Jundallah (which was later designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2010 by the U.S.)[3] and introduced him as the leader of the "popular resistance movement".[4][5] Following the event, Iran accused the U.S. of supporting terrorists by giving them the opportunity to speak.[6] The New York Times Magazine quoted Mehdi Khalaji as "[VOA administrators] do not seem to be able to distinguish between journalism and propaganda. If you host the head of Jondollah and call him a freedom fighter or present a Voice of America run by monarchists, Iranians are going to stop listening".[7] The act resembled the "hallmark of ideological objectivity" in VOA, and was criticized as an "irresponsible American embrace of violent regime change", according to Suzanne Maloney.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Boon, Kristen; Huq, Aziz Z.; Lovelace, Douglas (2012), Global Stability and U.S. National Security, Terrorism Documents of International and Local Control, vol. 123, Oxford University Press, pp. 375–376, ISBN 9780199915897, ISSN 1062-4007
  2. ^ تلویزیون فارسی صدای آمریکا
  3. ^ "US Designates Iran Opposition Faction a Terrorist Group", Voice of America, 2 November 2010, retrieved 24 March 2020
  4. ^ "Iran Jundullah leader claims US military support", BBC, 26 February 2010, retrieved 24 March 2020, April 2007 Mr Rigi appears on Voice of America radio
  5. ^ Black, Ian (26 February 2010), "Execution of 13 for terror attacks reveals Iran's next move: intimidation", The Guardian, retrieved 16 July 2009, ...there was fury when Rigi, Jundullah's leader, was interviewed on the (government-run) Voice of America in 2007 and described as the leader of a "popular resistance movement".
  6. ^ Haider, Kamran (5 April 2007), Iranian speaker says U.S. supports "terrorists", Swissinfo, archived from the original on 5 December 2007 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Azimi, Negar (24 June 2007), "Hard Realities of Soft Power", The New York Times Magazine, retrieved 24 March 2020
  8. ^ Maloney, Suzanne (2015), "Public Diplomacy in a Vacuum", in Wiseman, Geoffrey (ed.), Isolate or Engage: Adversarial States, US Foreign Policy, and Public Diplomacy, Stanford University Press, p. 182, ISBN 9780804795555
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