Broadcasting Board of Governors | Voice of America
Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Middle East broadcasting efforts like Radio Sawa will continue to broadcast through the U.S. government’s partial shutdown, the overseeing Broadcasting Board of Governors says. News programming is “deemed ‘foreign relations essential to national security,’ ” a post on the BBG’s site says.
Reached by phone, Voice of America Director of Public Relations Kyle King said, “VOA has enough staff on hand to continue with all our programming.” (King said he had been furloughed and planned to be in for only four hours Tuesday.)
In its post, BBG said it “will cover breaking news and high-priority live programming.”
The current broadcasting distribution schedule will remain in place, while the numbers of support personnel are reduced. Internet and new media operations will continue as necessary for overseas audiences.
The BBG’s operations plan for the shutdown estimates that essential personnel “represent approximately 59.8% of the BBG workforce or an estimated 964 staff.”
