VOA boss bans note-taking at staff meeting

Gwen Dillard, director of Africa Division (VOA)

The controversy over censorship and maladministration at
the Voice of America (VOA) took a bizarre twist yesterday as the Director of
Africa Division, Gwen Dillard, forbid staffers from taking notes at a meeting
she held with employees at VOA Horn of Africa section, reliable sources told
Addis Voice.

Ms. Dillard, who was said to be visibly nervous during
the meeting, told a roomful of journalists and support staffers that she
decided to take the measure as she “was quoted verbatim” in an
Addis Voice investigative report, VOA
censorship chief revealed. The story alleges that Ms. Dillard has emerged
to be in charge of censoring the VOA Horn of Africa Section including the
popular Amharic service.

The Africa Division Director warned staff members that
leaking information on the internal matters of VOA again would have serious
consequences. After Addis Voice named Dillard “VOA censorship
chief” based on facts, she launched her own inquiry into the leaking of her
censorship orders to staff members.

Leaking information to journalists is as old as
journalism itself and is lawful in countries like the United States unless the
information is state secret that jeopardizes national security. Alemayehu Gebremariam, a
constitutional law attorney and professor of political science at California
State University, San Bernardino, noted that the Whistleblower Protection Act
prohibits retaliation against a federal employee for disclosing illegal or
potentially illegal conduct.

“It was for the first time in my entire life that I
attended a meeting where taking notes was forbidden. VOA is becoming a little
police state. After so many years as a journalist, I felt like a kid being
taken care of by a super-nanny,” said one of our sources. The source felt
that Dillard went too far to the extent of infringing upon the basic rights of
federal government employees.

“Some of us are proud of the freedom we enjoy as
American citizens. I find the whole situation disturbing,” another source
added.

The meeting that took close to an hour was mainly focused
on the content of the Amharic service. Dillard told staff to do more
people-focused programming and should cut down the number of issues and stories
that focus on political affairs. But some staff members pointed out that in a
country like Ethiopia, where people live under a repressive government,
politics pervades all aspects of national life. Some others also raised the
fact that the greater portion of VOA Amharic programs is nonpolitical and tried
to convince Gillard that coverage on politics should continue.

Dillard said that VOA would like to focus more on
nonpolitical matters and gave some instances. According to her, programs and
reporting focused on education, health and development would be more beneficial
to listeners. As an example, she said that a schoolgirl must have a chance to
talk about her interests and future aspirations. Dillard also said that
training would be made available to help journalists produce such
people-focused programs and stories.

Dillard noted that such an approach to VOA coverage was
not new and had already been communicated to former Horn of Africa Chief, David
Arnold, who was controversially suspended after he exposed the demands of the
Meles regime to banish a list of vocal critics from VOA airwaves. Despite the
fact that Arnold has been reinstated at VOA, he has been transferred to the
English section. Dillard said at the meeting that a new Horn of Africa chief
would start work within eight days. The new chief will be “very
interesting”, she informed staffers. 
  

“The main problem with our bosses is that they do
not still get it why VOA is a trusted broadcaster in Ethiopia. They have
ignored the fact that the popularity of the station is due to the fact that we
broadcast uncensored news and views to a nation that has long been silenced by
authoritarian rulers,” said the sources.

“If VOA decides to go down the drain to join the
propaganda outlets of the Ethiopian government by censoring news and opinions,
I do not think that people would be interested in its broadcasts. I am deeply
concerned over this direction that can make VOA irrelevant to most Ethiopians,”
the source added.

From June 21 to 28, three Broadcasting
Board of Governors and four senior VOA staff members, including Arnold,
visited Ethiopia, Southern Sudan and Nigeria. Though it was reported that the
delegation discussed matters related to the jamming of VOA transmissions to
Ethiopia, the greatest threat especially to VOA Amharic is internal censorship
and information filtering. VOA Horn of Africa service has faced one of its
worst crises after the suspension of David Arnold for telling the truth
accurately and the deletion of news files that contained no factual errors.

One of the orders given by Dillard to the Horn of Africa
section is not to broadcast any listeners’ comment on the current
controversy rocking VOA. On Monday July 18, one out of hundreds of comments on
the issue was aired. Addis Voice has later been informed that the July 18 audio
file was deleted from VOA Amharic webpage as bosses have appeared to be too
nervous to take criticisms and allegations against questionable conducts at the
station that are contrary to the missions of VOA.  

Ethiopian journalist Sisay Agena says he was shocked and disappointed to see the Voice
of America gaining bad experience from oppressive regimes. “It is sad to
know that Ethiopians are being censored by their own government as well the
Voice of America, a broadcaster which had the trust of the people of Ethiopia
for providing uncensored news and opinion,” he noted. 

Meanwhile, VOA has refused to answer some questions posed
by Addis Voice in relation to the censorship scandal that has ruffled feathers up
to the offices of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which is an agency
of the US government that oversees its civilian international broadcasting,
including the VOA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia
(RFA), Radio and TV Martí. The declared
mission of BBG is: “To promote freedom and democracy and to enhance
understanding through multimedia communication of accurate, objective, and
balanced news, information, and other programming about America and the world
to audiences overseas.”

On Monday, July 18, Addis Voice,
emailed a few questions to VOA Public Relations Department. Initially we were
told that the Acting Director and Executive Editor, Mr. Steve Redisch, should approve the replies. Despite the fact that
we have repeatedly called the PR office to get a reply the consistent answer we
have received is a short sentence: “We do not have an answer
today!” Our repeated efforts to speak to VOA PR Director, Mr. David Borgida, have not materialized.

Addis Voice hopes that VOA will soon provide honest answers
to the following questions waiting for answers.

———

Dear
Mr. David Borgida,

First
of all, I would like to thank you for your cooperation despite the fact that
the information I have been getting from VOA lacks details.