Ambassador Perry's Speeches

Voice of America Launch (11 Oct 08)

Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for taking time out of your weekend to join us at this event.

In 1942, the world was on the brink of massive transformation.  The world was at war -- monarchies and colonial empires were crumbling, western economies had crashed, and were being reborn in the modern industrial age, people were being emancipated, new nations were being born, and international relations took on unprecedented importance in the lives of individuals.  For the first time in recent history, people were paying attention to events around the world, and they were doing it on the radio. 

Voice of America aired its first broadcast seventy-nine days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into the war.  The United States had been thrown for a loop; our world as we knew it had ended.  As Americans tried to figure out where we would fit in the new world, we realized that information was power, and that the information our friends and our enemies around the world were digesting was too often contrary to the advancement of freedom and democracy.  The Voice of America would be a source of accurate information in 25 languages, promising truth and objectivity in a sea of news polished and packaged to maintain public misconceptions. 

Over its 66 year lifespan, VOA has grown larger in a world that grows smaller all the time.  Today, anyone with a computer can be a journalist, and anyone with a cell phone can be a broadcaster.  Reliable sources of accurate information are hard to find, and harder to distinguish.  In this city of about a million people, there are dozens of radio stations, nearly 50 registered newspapers, and even more news sources on the internet.  How is the average Freetonian to figure out what’s true and what isn’t.

The people of Sierra Leone have been without a VOA broadcast for too long.  The people of Sierra Leone deserve the same access to objective information that VOA’s 134 million weekly listeners take for granted.  Information is indeed power, and I am happy to say that the United States is back in the game of empowering the people of Sierra Leone.

Thank you.