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From the Velvet Revolution to Putin’s Russia: Is the Need for “Free Media” Greater Than Ever?

November 14, 2014

Twenty five years after the Velvet Revolution, Europe today is whole and free, but democracy and prerequisite independent media are on the decline in much of the former Soviet Union and elsewhere. RFE/RL, VOA, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Network, and Radio Marti, all publicly funded by the U.S. Congress, attempt to fill the information deficit in nations across the globe. Two participants in that effort, A. Ross Johnson and Nenad Pejic, reflect on past success and present challenges. What Cold War lessons resonate today and what are the demands of the new media environment? And is the U.S. doing enough to bring objective information to authoritarian countries and unfree societies?

About the Guests

A. Ross Johnson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, adviser to the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Archive Project at the Hoover Institution, and senior scholar at the Wilson Center. He is also a former Director of Radio Free Europe.

Nenad Pejic is Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Editor-in-Chief for Programming with overall responsibility for content, marketing and distribution. Prior to joining RFE/RL in 1993 as Director of the South Slavic and Albanian Language Broadcast Service, Nenad held various positions with Sarajevo Television including, head of the news department, Belgrade correspondent, and Program Director. 


Hosted By

Global Europe Program

The Global Europe Program addresses vital issues affecting the European continent, US-European relations, and Europe’s ties with the rest of the world. We investigate European approaches to critical global issues: digital transformation, climate, migration, global governance. We also examine Europe’s relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our program activities cover a wide range of topics, from the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE to European energy security, trade disputes, challenges to democracy, and counter-terrorism. The Global Europe Program’s staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media.  Read more