Digital Innovations Help Deliver News Under Repressive Regimes

An all-star team from the Broadcasting Board of Governors hauled samples of the agency’s cutting-edge digital equipment to the Capitol Visitors Center on Thursday for a show-and-tell called “Innovating at the Speed of News.”

The idea was to have top officials and program managers mingle with reporters and technology buffs to explain the latest U.S. international broadcasting efforts at bypassing foreign censors and delivering solid news to societies in crisis.

Using Facebook, Twitter and customized mobile devices, “We’re doing everything we can to anticipate where our audiences are going,” said Dick Lobo, director of the BBG’s International Broadcasting Bureau. “It’s a brave new world for the BBG as it becomes a 21st century communications company” serving a growing worldwide audience of 200 million weekly.