Internews

InterNews is an "independent" (see Funding), non-profit organization which works to set up independent media all over the world. It's worked appears to be closely alligned with one of its more significant funders, the National Endowment for Democracy .

About

There appears to be very little information about Internews on the internet or in the mainstream media, but according to the Internews website:

Internews works to improve access to information for people around the world by fostering independent media and promoting open communications policies. Internews' programs are built on the conviction that providing people with access to vibrant, diverse news and information empowers them to make their voices heard and to participate effectively in their communities.

Internews was founded in 1982 by David Hoffman, Kim Spencer and Evelyn Messinger with the goal of using media to alleviate Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union . (Kim Spencer has since become President of Link TV and Evelyn Messinger heads Internews Interactive.) Internews' first project was organizing “spacebridges” – video conferences linking American and Soviet studio audiences.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, independent TV began to emerge in the former Soviet Union and Internews began its work training media professionals, producing local radio and television news, and advocating for fair media laws and policies. In the past decade, Internews has also been working for an open and democratic Internet and liberalized telecommunications laws, and it has developed special programs for training journalists how to cover HIV/AIDS effectively (Local Voices), and how to report on conflict (Reporting for Peace). Meanwhile, Internews has expanded its activities into Africa, Asia and the Middle East. [1]

The two pillars of American democracy - free enterprise and free media

Internews president David Hoffman sums up his aims:

"How do we win the war of ideas? Resist the temptation to control the message. Depend instead on two pillars of American democracy - free enterprise and free media. The federal government should support the role of private enterprise in meeting the challenge. Private enterprise is better equipped to win hearts and minds than anything that governments produce. While there may still be a need for U.S. broadcasting for strategic reasons, the bulk of public funding should go towards local, private broadcasters. Use our traditional diplomatic muscle to encourage and support legal reforms in the Muslim world, which are moving these societies out of the darkness of anti-Western and anti-Semitic scapegoating into the modern world of global communications. Let the marketplace take it from there."

Source: David Hoffman and Helle Dale, "Winning the war of ideas ; Washington should back private broadcasting," The Washington Times, 24 June 2005.

Funding

In 2004, their budget was $27 million, 80 percent of which came from the U.S. government.

"Hoffman insists that Internews turns down money from any source if it carries a requirement to promote an American geo-political agenda..."

Source: Dale Keiger, "The Long, Strange Trip of David Hoffman," The Washington Times, June 2005.

"Roughly 20% of Internews funding comes from a broad range of standard philanthropic outfits... Among these are the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Kellogg Foundation, the John D. and Katherine T. Macarthur Foundation and others. Just the kind of donors you’d expect for such an idealistic endeavor. George Soros has also fed the kitty and is one of Internews’ most ardent supporters. But as we go on down the list we notice other interesting entries, ones we don’t typically equate with such egalitarian concerns. Among these are AOL/TimeWarner, GE, the Ford Foundation, Microsoft and the Rockefeller Foundation."

"Also appearing on this lengthy support list of anti-government-media-control mavens are a swarthy gaggle of government agencies from all over the world, including France, Russia, Germany, Austria, Canada, Britain, Sweden and Greece. But the long list of U.S. governmental agencies is hard to miss as well. Unesco, the U.S. Information Agency, the U.S. Office of Transition Initiatives (part of the U.S. Agency for International Development, a major Internews funder) are but a few."

"In the 1990s, Internews began to attract serious money. George Soros and his Open Society Institute became supporters, as did, eventually, the Knight Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and dozens of others. USAID had made the large grant to establish the Russian independent television network. Evelyn Messinger secured a large sum from the National Endowment for Democracy to study independent media in Eastern Europe. Internews secured $8 million to set up a media center, a news agency, and broadcast and print outlets in Ukraine."

Source: Jeremy Baker, "Who is David Hoffman and... what is "Internews"?," USA Mediamonitors, Jan 2004.

Directors and Staff

For full biographies of all staff, see links below

Directors

Manana Aslamazian – Executive Director - Internews Russia
Kathy Bushkin – Co-Chair, Executive Vice President and COO - The United Nations Foundation
Greg Carr – Director - Carr Foundation
Lorne Craner – President - International Republican Institute
Wade Greene – Rockefeller Family and Associates
David Hoffman – President - Internews Network
Ellen Hume – Director - Center on Media and Society, University of Massachusetts Boston
Congressman James Leach – U.S. House of Representatives
David Michaelis – Director of Current Affairs - Link TV
Pat Mitchell – President and CEO - Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
Peter H. Pennekamp – Co-Chair Director - Humboldt Area Foundation
Raisa Scriabine – International Development Consultant
Sanford Socolow – Vice Chair - Executive Producer - Cronkite Productions, Inc.
Kim Spencer – President - Link TV

Source: internews.org.

Officers

David Hoffman – President - Internews Network
Jeanne Bourgault – Chief Operating Officer - Internews Network
Annette Makino – Senior Vice President for Communications - Internews Network
Don Allen – Vice President for Administration/Acting Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer - Internews Network

Source: internews.org.

Key Staff

Nadia Alami – Regional Director - Middle East and North Africa
Don Allen – Vice President for Administration and Acting Chief Financial Officer
Jeanne Bourgault – Chief Operating Officer
James Fahn – Executive Director of Earth Journalism Network
Mark Frohardt – Regional Director - Africa
Karen Frost – Director of Finance
David Hoffman – President
Mark Hubbard – Senior Analyst
Eric Johnson – Executive Director - Internews International
Oleg Katsiev – Regional Program Manager - Central Asia (bio forthcoming)
Ron MacInnis – Project Director, Health Journalism
Annette Makino – Senior Vice President for Communications
Persephone Miel – Regional Director for Europe and Eurasia/Director for Program Development
George Papagiannis – Director of Media Development
Kathleen Reen – Regional Director - South and Southeast Asia
Marjorie Rouse – Director of Global Initiatives
George Sadowsky – Executive Director, Global Internet Policy Initiative
Ivan Sigal – Regional Director - South and Central Asia
JoAnne Sullivan – Director of Development
Sarah Tisch – Chief of Party, dot-GOV Project
Bob Walls – Director of Human Resources