...the venerable Voice of America radio and TV network ... is under a congressional mandate to broadcast news abroad objectively.

Alan Heil, a 36-year veteran and historian of VOA [Voice of America], who retired in 1998, ... and many VOA staffers also cite the reassignment July 1 of VOA news director Andre DeNesnera as evidence of an effort to undermine VOA's objectivity. Heil says DeNesnera had fended off attempts by VOA director David Jackson to downplay negative news from Iraq and highlight positive developments over the past year.

Jackson, a Bush appointee and former Time reporter, denies trying to skew the daily news report.

--USA Today, July 12, 2004

Voice of America is broadcasting right next to us in front of Hillary's speech, letting us know that the "central theme" of the night is "Bush-bashing". From any reasonable standard, the night's been remarkably light on Bush-bashing - but saying the words with Hillary as a backdrop creates an image whose narrative is already crafted and will only be reinforced, regardless of the truth.

--Jesse Taylor, blogging for Pandagon from the Democratic convention

I caught only bits of Gore's speech and Carter's, but the Clintons sure didn't do any "bashing" -- no ad hominems, no nastiness, just policy differences deftly (in Bill's case, brilliantly) laid out.

(Yes, Bill was terrific. The right-wingers like to say that for Bill, "it's all about him," but that's just nonsense -- the speech was all about running the damn country. Clinton used his own story, but he used it cleverly, as a jumping-off point -- I didn't serve in Vietnam, but the guy who should be elected President in November did. I'm wealthy now, and why does the guy who is President now think I need a tax cut when the country needs shared sacrifice? Just summarizing the speech ruins it -- it flowed effortlessly. It's what Kerry has to do for himself -- pull the strands together and make the notion of voting for him rather than Bush make sense to people. Damn, I hope he can do it.)