Page 18 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2012

international broadcasting ‐ the
words driving this are ʹinnovationʹ
and ʹintegrationʹ. Right now, we
have five different broadcast
entities that have been operating
kind of semi‐autonomous. We are
trying to bring them together as
much as possible in many different
ways, and we want to be able to
share some of the great content that
they produce each day across all
platforms and across all different
entities in the Agency.
We think there are streamlining
opportunities and efficiencies for us
in reorganising our staff here at the
headquarters. And we are also
studying the feasibility of perhaps
consolidating the three grantees:
RFE, RFA and MBN. At the same
time we want to make sure that we
emphasize the growth of new
media and social media in our
strategic thinking. And we are
trying to take notice of the fiscal
realities here in trying to do more,
more efficiently, with fewer
resources. In November we
announced an updated global
audience of 187m, an increase of
22m from last year. We aim to build
on that success by driving further
innovation as well as integration
across our media properties and
delivery platforms.
Does this mean a global newsroom
for all US international broadcasting?
Letʹs be clear ‐ this is a virtual
newsroom that is going to be
charged with gathering and
collating all the great content that is
produced on a daily basis, finding
the most compelling material,
translating it and making it
available on all different platforms,
to all of the other entities in
international broadcasting ‐ not
only here, but to our partners
globally and also the outside world.
We donʹt see ourselves as
competitors to CNN or AP or
Reuters. We are staying true to our
mission, trying to serve the
countries that donʹt have press
freedom. We want to ʹengage and
connectʹ with our audiences. We
want to establish citizen journalists,
we want to do crowd‐sourcing. We
want to find ways to give these
people a voice in their countryʹs
activities and we want to be able to
share it around the world. We see
supporting freedom and
democracy as a derivative benefit of
doing great journalism and
delivering fair, accurate and
balanced news.
What's the outlook?
I think my primary wish is for more
dollars, to use across the board. We
have terrific opportunities for
audience growth in Africa as radio
is still a very powerful medium in
many parts of Africa, and we could
certainly use more short wave and
FM outlets there. I was in Dubai,
Abu Dhabi, Kuwait earlier this year
and marvelled at the number of
news stations available to people in
that part of the world. We have to
find ways to compete, by getting
away from the legacy platforms.
We are way behind the curve in
TV and satellite distribution, and
an investment in all the new media.
This is a great institution. It is one
of the things that this US
government funds that most people
in this country donʹt know about. I
think it is important that we let
people know that we are more
active and more relevant than ever.
We are going to keep our eye on
the people that need us most
desperately.
Richard Lobo, thank you.
THE CHANNEL | IN CONVERSATION
ww
w.bbg.gov
▼
Alhurra’s
Tarek El-Shamy
reporting from
Tahrir Square
18 | ISSUE 1 2012 | THE CHANNEL
Innovation Commission here at the
Agency where industry leaders
share cutting edge ideas. We are
aiming for audience engagement
and crossover between radio,
television, web and mobile. Weʹd
like to see more mobile providers
engaging with our networks to
share content and leverage our
distribution systems through
partnerships. Partnerships are key
to our strategy. And the content
and programmes we provide are
key to keeping subscribers loyal.
VOA is looking to start a pilot
project in the northern Nigerian city
of Zaria in partnership with a
mobile provider to provide phone
owners with health information on
low cost phones. The information
draws on radio call‐in programmes
with doctors. The objective is to
eventually include development of a
SIM application with health
information that is locally relevant.
We would like to see more
partnerships aroundmobile health the
world over. Research has shown the
demand for health related content
exists in the developed world as
much as the developing world.
In many countries where we
work, the mobile web is the best
place to focus our energies. And
our content is smart phone or
simple phone ready. We probe the
use of cellphones in our national
survey research in nearly 60
countries every year in great depth
and itʹs astonishing how young
audiences/users are. In places like
Afghanistan where the illiteracy
rate is about 72%, our RFE/RL
Radio Azadi service uses intelligent
voice recognition to reach
audiences with audio messages as
opposed to text messages. There are
various ways to leverage mobile
phones even in the most
underdeveloped markets to reach
audiences but at the same time, one
has to look carefully at the research
to understand what the actual
opportunity is.
What is the main thrust of your
new strategic plan?
The BBGʹs new five‐year plan is
designed to grow and reform US
“We would
like to see
more
partner-
ships
around
mobile
health the
world over