In this week's episode of This is Democracy, I had the honor of sitting down with Dr. Mark Pomar—one of the foremost experts on international broadcasting and U.S. public diplomacy—to discuss the historic and ongoing significance of Cold War-era radio platforms like Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe (RFE), and Radio Liberty (RL). These institutions once defined how the United States communicated freedom, facts, and pluralism across iron curtains and authoritarian borders. Today, they’re being dismantled before our eyes.
Mark reminded us how these radios served as powerful instruments of soft power and democratic outreach—platforms that didn’t simply broadcast U.S. propaganda but conveyed real, fact-based journalism that often included criticism of the United States itself. That credibility, he noted, was their greatest strength. During pivotal moments like Watergate, or Reagan’s infamous "we begin bombing" gaffe, VOA told the truth. That honesty built trust with audiences in repressive regimes where access to accurate information was otherwise impossible.
Zachary opened the episode with a moving poem, “Radio Liberty,” evoking the quiet, transformative power of American radio signals slipping across barbed-wire borders into the ears of listeners in totalitarian states. Mark brought the poem to life with a story from Hungary, where post-Cold War leaders gifted former broadcasters with a piece of barbed wire preserved in resin—a literal artifact of how the radios helped dissolve tyranny.
We traced the origins of these stations—from Roosevelt’s wartime creation of VOA, to George Kennan’s postwar strategy for confronting the Soviets with RFE and RL, and their essential role in preserving cultural identity and human rights in places like Ukraine, Georgia, and the Baltics. These stations gave voices to the voiceless, and a platform for dissidents and truth-tellers when it was dangerous to speak out.
And now? These lifelines of freedom are under siege. The Trump administration has shuttered funding, placing staff on furlough. Radio silence is now literal, and authoritarian regimes—from Russia to Iran—are celebrating the absence of the American voice in the global information sphere.
Yet, the radios were never just a Cold War tool—they are democratic institutions that need defending today. We must pressure Congress, educate young people, and preserve the memory and mission of these platforms. It’s not about left or right—it’s about ensuring truth has a channel. As Mark put it: to close these institutions is not just tragic—it’s a form of civic betrayal.
We closed with Zachary reading his poem once again, reminding us that even in the darkest nights, freedom whispers—if we choose to keep the signal alive.
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