THE CHANNEL
|
ISSUE 1 2014
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57
Almost every one of them has had a
life that is like a pilgrimage from
acceptance to non‐acceptance of the
circumstances that prevented them
from expressing their views or
learning facts about their societies
freely without intervention from
government forces of one kind or
another. I cannot describe the
mysterious process by which that
happens. The people who come to
work for us, they can’t help them‐
selves ‐ they work very hard under
tremendously complicated circum‐
stances but it is what they must do.
How do you reach audiences in Iran?
Our broadcasting in Persian accounts
for about 1/5 of our entire global
audience and we believe that our
measured weekly audience to
Radio Farda stands at just under
3m overall. Internet is growing in
popularity – we have 12m visitors
to our webpages every month
despite an official ban – but the
authorities filter it extensively and
also jam satellite distribution and
medium wave so shortwave
remains important to us. 1/5 of the
weekly Farda audience uses SW to
listen to programming.
We are constantly looking for
ways to find potential partners, and
we think the situation could change
with regard to a different kind of
attitude towards outside sources of
information. Our programming is
about Iran to Iranians not about the
US – we report on US matters when
they are relevant.
What about Russia?
The Putin leadership in Russia is
flooding the zone with essentially
government‐controlled things that
look like journalism and purport to
be the equivalent of the finest
broadcast networks in the world.
By supporting all kinds of new
media they make it harder for
individuals to pick things out. Our
Radio Svoboda is the leading inter‐
national broadcaster in Russia – it is
very stable now and led by a very
accomplished new chief editor.
What impact does your Pashto
Service have?
Radio Mashaal is one of our newest
services, it has been on air for three
years now, targeting youth and
countering extremism in the
regions along Pakistan’s borders
with Afghanistan. It is not so easy
to know a lot about what is
happening there. We have reason to
believe that about 13% of adults in
tribal areas listen to programming
via shortwave every week.
Do you see a day when the work of
the organisation is done?
Our issue is to be relevant in
people’s lives as they struggle with
transition. I think we will knowwhen
it is time to go ‐ we have in the past,
as we did in the Baltics, in then
Czechoslovakia, in Poland and so
forth. Self‐government is a very hard
thing to do, you have to work hard
at democracy every day. Most of
these democracies are relatively new
and we do not know how severe
the struggles may be going forward.
What are your priorities now?
The safety and security of people in
the field, that is the first thing
always. Second, a stable, lively,
engaged interest in our base of
support in the United States. I want
us to be focused on continuing to
learn how to do quality video that
has depth in it. Now that we have
mobile devices can we get enough
video and audio together on those
small devices to be a place of
reflection ‐ which is what radio can
be, in a way that is closer to print
journalism than to TV journalism in
my experience. I think that places
of reflection are desperately
important to people contemplating
their lives and saying ‘I am not
satisfied with what I have got’. We
want these values to be nurtured on
the new platforms in new ways. So
we are doing Google+ Hangouts,
creating a space which is authentic
and where citizens can watch and
participate. During the elections
last year, Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian
Service put a camera in a room
where the votes were being counted.
That became a mini sensation – that
had never been seen before. What
we do is not subversive, we are
watching what people themselves
are doing. We are doing what
journalism does: witnessing, then
we are bearing witness.
Kevin Klose, thank you.
▼
A young
Pakistani girl is
interviewed by
Mashaal Radio
about her
destroyed school
in Khyber tribal
district of
Pakistan
▼
Top
Google+
Hangouts used by
RFE/RL’s
Georgian Service
Above left
Radio
Mashaal’s Daud
Khattakmoderating
a debate between
parliamentary
candidates from
the Federally
Administered
Tribal Areas
Above right
Malala Yousafzai
interviewed by
Radio Mashaal a
year after she
was attacked by
the Taliban
