The most talented and interesting journalist in the world, which is really exciting. How did you get this job . Ms. Bennett they were looking for a new director, and i have been in journalism my whole life. I have some international experience, and ive run organizations, and i think we both thought it was a good fit that we could do well by each other. You and executive editor of bloomberg news, you were executive editor of the philadelphia inquirer. This is a government job. How will it be different . Its journalism. Journalism is the same, no matter who practices it. We have the obligation by charter to tell americas story. America,e voice of after all. What that means is we have a giant beat. I know how to cover a beat. Journalists know how to cover beats. Can you be objective in this position . As far as i know, the governing law of this organization has always been that we will tell the truth. Good news, bad news, we will be fair, honest, credible. What attracted you to coming here . Of things. a couple one is, as i say, there is an Amazing Group of journalists here who report and write from the United States and from their own countries in their own languages, but also, think about what is going on in the world right now. The mission of voice of america was just to tell americas story in places where they cannot hear americas story. I cannot think of anything more important to do as a journalist now. When you were contemplating taking this job, what were some of the things you were thinking . Or, i would like to do this i think we could do this better . Ms. Bennett when you talk to people outside, you hear calls to get more on the train because ideas to fantastic communicate with people. Every News Organization in the world is struggling with making this happen. The opportunities are fantastic. We are broadcasting and writing and reporting all over the world, and the world is very quickly adopting all kinds of communicating. I think our ability to use those forms of communication will just multiply our ability to communicate with people. Bennett, in your view, how does the away how does voa support democracy . How does it improve our image around the world . I dont know if improved is the right word. Ms. Bennett first of all, the voice of america, when you report on the beat that is america, you let people know the good things and the real things about this country. Also, theres another aspect that is really important, and that is we are incredibly fortunate that we live in a country where we have constitutionally protected weedoms of the press, where can write and report things without fear of retribution, and just by exhibiting and practicing those values, i think its a really powerful message to the people of the world about how important those kinds of freedoms are and what you can accomplish when you have those freedoms. Voa adirector of political position or a career position . Ms. Bennett it is a white house position. It reports to john lansing, who reports to an independent board of directors. Qwest did you need congressional approval . Ms. Bennett i did not. Does it end in the president s term ends . Ms. Bennett it doesnt. The job reports to the board, and the board is a continuing entity. Amanda bennett is the brandnew director of the voice of america. [video clip] hello, africa. What is the broadcasting board of governors . It is a board of governors appointed by the president , confirmed by the senate, who oversee the media entities known as the voice of america. Radio free asia, Radio Free Europe, the office of cuba broadcasting. What is your job . Mr. Lansing im the ceo of all of that, if that is even possible. What is the coordination . The coordination has never been better. When i came in back in september, we formed the First International coordinating committee, which takes all five networks collectively and forms a group, and they report to me. Collaborate on efficiency, to operate more efficiently, but theymore importantly, pe coordinate strategically. In many cases, we are the only presence and impact that could be felt from a free press. Hotspotsre some of the you are concentrating on today . Lansing russia and the russian periphery, china and the periphery around china. All of the violent extremism we think of as middle east, but it is really sort of a stateless problems. It cant emerge in europe, as we have seen recently. Cuba and iran. 775 million a year in budget. About 750 million right now. We hope to move it up, yes. Is it enough . It is never really enough for the job we had. I hope we are doing a good job spending that money in service of a free press, but we are up against competition. Russian media out spends u. S. Media significantly, as does china. Statesponsored media. We are also against competition trying to stop our work, trying to at times shut down our satellite signals into these down on trying to clamp our internet distribution. Its not only the money spent by the competitive media, but also the money that other competitors in the world use to try to stifle our work. As someone who came out of the private enterprise world and worked in tv in that regard, what are some of the most effective platforms that you have here . Mr. Lansing historically, this all began with a radio in the postworld war ii era, but increasingly, in the last three to five years, we have seen social media, Digital Mobile social media platforms being the most effective means for communicating in parts of the world where a free media is really difficult to find, and it also allows us, i think, to reach younger audiences, maybe future leaders, that can help shape some of these countries aat lack press freedoms in positive way in the future. If you walk around this building here and independence avenue, we effectively have 42 different newsrooms, each one a different language. We broadcast 24 7 in 42 different languages around the world. You will see work being done in certain parts of the world where it really requires radio and even shortwave radio because theres no access. Im thinking like north korea or tibet. In other parts of the world, it really is a chance to leapfrog traditional media to secondgeneration media. Across all of subsaharan africa, we are seeing a dramatic increase in the use of mobile phones and social media platforms, not just allowing us to send a single message to the audience through that platform. It allows us to create a conversation among one another in those areas, and we are the facilitator of that conversation. One of our goals, for instance, in iraq and syria is to raise the voice of moderate muslims that are being stifled by all the extremism in that region. The middle east Broadcasting Network launched a very Innovative Program called raise your voice where there is a managed facebook conversation around a single question recorded by Tv Documentary and a radio callin show, and people get on the platform we create and talk with one another and raise the voice of people that want to do something about all the violent extremism and the recruitment of isis. It is evolving from a world where we are sending a signal that originates in one place to where we are getting to a place where the platform we provide allows people to talk to one another and have greater impact in that part of the world. We are in your building just a couple of locks from capitol hill. What is your connection, relationship, work with congress . Mr. Lansing frequently. Hardly a week goes by that im not meeting with someone on capitol hill. Appropriated dealers and authorizing committees, and they are very supportive. I have been on the job about seven or eight months. I have had the opportunity to meet with several of the whotors and congresspeople support our work, and it gives us a chance to talk about how we are evolving, changing, coordinating, being more strategic. How we are using taxpayer dollars to align ourselves with u. S. Foreignpolicy through the expression of objective journalism and demonstrating the inue of objective free press parts of the world that simply do not have it. John lansing is the ceo of the broadcasting board of governors, and the Mission Statement for this group is to inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy. Thank you for your time, sir. Mr. Lansing thank you, peter. What is current time . Usen it is a television program, and its uniqueness comes from that it is produced by two different entities, voice of america and Radio Free Europe. Voice of america is headquartered in washington, d. C. , and Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty is headquartered in proud, so it is a transatlantic show. Both sides. Ors on we have an anchor in washington and an anchor in prod, and they talk to each other. Between two of them, they are trying to cover everything that interesting to the target audience, and the target audience is russianspeaking would like to think all around the world, but it is targeted to the neighboring countries, countries that are neighboring russia, former. Oviet union areas now independent countries, for a long time, as you know, but still having a very sizable russian speaking population, who consume news, mostly delivered statesponsored television programs. So the view of reality that they get is, lets say, a little skewed. ,o by targeting these people plus the satellite goes online said, we areme also available to anyone who speaks russian all over the world, and also, of course, the people who live in the russian federation. When you watch russian today, the rt network, what is your reaction . Very skillfully and very expensively produced propaganda. I would say a lot of professionals work there and produce highquality material, and maybe if you take each separate one of them by its self a lotould seem all right of times, but being put together , it creates a whole alternative reality that is presented to the in english and in spanish, i believe. I dont know what else. German, maybe. Arabic. Current time a news program . Does it accentuate the u. S. Point of view . That is how we kind of separate our uniqueness in terms of sharing with Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty. They are based in prague. They had a Large Network of reporters all over europe and in russia and in the countries is beingrrent time shown. We come from washington, so they cover local events. On ther u. S. Perspective events that are taking place in the target area. In the middle of a president ial campaign here in the United States. What kind of reporting does current time do on that . Ms. Van dusen we do extensive reporting on the u. S. Election. It is such an exciting topic for russian audiences. As you know, in russia, they for the lastputin iw many years, and people feel like our kind of cynical on elections. Kind of no matter what you do, its what they decide on top. Watching the u. S. Election campaign is extremely exciting. We have reporters who go to primaries, two caucuses, to report from the street, who are conventions. We run packages about television stories, about republicans, democrats, young, old, i mean, the whole American Society that is invigorated, participating, actually feeling like they have something to do with who the next president will be. I think it is a very important topic for us. We will have people going to live from all over the country. They go live and be there, be present, get that excitement and get that specific american angle on things. In the countries that we are , we are partnering with the channels that actually run current time in their program setting. It goes on air every day, say, at 7 00 p. M. In ukraine. Now joining us here on the communicators while we are at board ofcasting america is a representative from the ukrainian language service. What do you do . Gongadze we are doing a little of everything. We broadcast on the air and use different media to do that television, social media, different types of broadcasting, different types of shows, news shows, russian language shows because it is a war and we are accommodate the russian speaking population in the ukraine. How did you get here . Ms. Gongadze i came here about 10 years ago from ukraine. Voice of america wanted to expand their presence in the ukraine. Because i was from the ukraine, they invited me, and i said yes. Husband, ause my journalist in ukraine who created the first internet newspaper in ukraine he was murdered in ukraine. Against theght ukrainian government, i felt in and had twome point small kids, and i decided that its not safe anymore to stay in the United States government gave me support and gave me a chance for a new life. Is your message getting through to the ukraine . And what is that message . Message i my would say my mission is to to build bridges between my country, the United States and my country, ukraine. , and i both are mine feel very related to my nation, to ukraine. At the same time, this country gave me a new life, so i want to connect. That is the major thing. I want to give them more about the world around me in ukraine because we are broadcasting to ukraine, and i see that our message is heard, as we are basically serving a surrogate studio for all ukrainian tv channels. None of ukrainian media have representation here in the United States. Basically, if they reach to us for help and we are covering all lot of. Stories, a international stories, and a lot , somerican politics stories we are playing a very vital role for ukrainian media, and not even givinging, but them standards. Stillian media is developing and theres a lot of dependency on oligarchs, and oligarchs are trying to use their Media Outlets as a tool in their hands. , we areare doing unbiasedhem how to do television or information. Your ceo described you as tom ways of ukraine. What is your reach you have been gone for 16 years. What is your reach like now . Ms. Gongadze we had 7 Million Viewers for one of our. Elevision shows basically, it is around 18 . With other shows, we have around 18 of the ukrainian population. Our viewers are informed people who are educated and they want to know more. Director of the office of cuba broadcasting, known more familiarly as a radio and tv marti. When did that get started . It first started 30 years ago. Why . Because it was needed to provide information to the people of cuba. Shortwave radio is still used to. His day out of our three platforms, digital, radio, and television, radio is still the one that is very, very useful. You go into cuba more often becausesocial media sites like ours are blocked by the government, but facebook is not. Where is your tv production facility, and how does that end up on cuban satellite or cuban tv . Gonzalez we are based in miami, florida. It all started here in washington. That it few years ago was moved to miami. Is television signal. Ntended to get into the island some affiliation because people have directv in cuba. Go by directv in the United States, and they go back to cuba and provide a service in the neighborhood. They snake the signal of the directv, and they have a lot of the miami channels. The last but most important as the cubans do i do not know if you are familiar, but there is a thing that is how humans get to see television, you burn into a dvd the programming from anywhere, and that is how you distributed. Now that u. S. Policy toward cuba is changing, is the mission changing . Ms. Gonzalez no, i do not think the mission changes in anyway because cuba has not changed in regards to the reason we are there. All of that has not changed. When you have a region where there is no freedom of speech or there is no access to information and that hasnt changed at all since we started improving relations. You cover the president s visit . Ms. Gonzalez two things. On ae cover the region daily basis is we have the Biggest Network of independent journalists in cuba. The years we have been in business, we have been creating , anposturing journalism independent journalism, but ironically, with all the , the government does not recognize an independent journalist, so they were declining it. Mean . T does Marti Gonzalez our countrymen, jose marti, one of the biggest thinkers. He has great quotes, but one of the ones i use on my email address is i havent in spanish in my mind, so im translating the first duty of a man is to be able to ink by ink two think by himself. What do you do here . Rebroadcast to persia. Big is the persian speaking population . Our main audience is iran, but afghanistan, to take a stand, and the kurdish area also. Long has the persian Language Division been around . It started during world war ii. Our brand has been known to iranians for 17 years now and started as a radio service. Help advance the allied interests among the persian population and among the persian speaking population. The internet in iran is tightly. Ontrolled and heavily filtered tens of thousands of websites are blocked, and even the most popular ones social media, facebook, twitter and so forth and we know that for a fact because our website is blocked. People have to go through Virtual Private Networks to come in and get to our website just to make sure that big brother is not watching and they can get to what we have. Restrictive society, the same as china as far as the internet is concerned, and Freedom House also ranks iran in their last annual report at the bottom of freedom of far as the internet is concerned. Despite all the difficulties, or blocking of popular sites and so forth, our website last year just last year in 2015 jumped 46 as far as views were concerned. Mainly, that was thanks to the jcp away, the nuclear deal, and the heated political debate going on in this country. We are moving forward with our internet, despite the difficulties that iran is creating, and im sure it will continue. You have an watching you have been watching the communicators at the voice of america. More of our tour next week. I want to introduce you to the gentleman on my right, who is bob rosenkranz. Bob was our first chairman and through in the first seed money to get cspan started back in 1977, believe it or not. And august, 1977, Bob Rosencrans and his Business Partner with the first Cable Partners to agree to support the idea for cspan. At that time, only about 19 of American Homes were wired for cable. Ns, who passed away this week, wrote a check for 25,000. With that seed money, cspan created the infrastructure to send out cabletelevisions first live views of the u. S. House of representatives to some three point 5 million homes. Erved by 350 Cable Systems let the public understand what goes on in washington, what the issues are and how to deal with them. I think above all, the mission here at cspan has been just that, and we are very proud of that. Ns steered thea Nonprofit Network through its early challenging years and continued to serve the network until his death, most recently in the role of chairman emeritus. We believe the nation can only benefit from more exposure to the process, to educate our people both the young and old, and give us all a feeling that we are participating in this process that carries our nation forward. Thank you very much. Tonight, cspans issue spotlight looks at police and race relations. We show president obama at the Memorial Service for five Police Officers shot and killed in dallas. President obama when the bullets started flying, the men and women of the Dallas Police they did not flinch, and they recklessly. T South Carolina republican senator tim scott giving a speech on the floor about his own interactions with police. Scott the vast majority of the time, i was pulled over for nothing more than driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood or some other reason just as trivial. Our program also includes one familys story about an encounter