For Immediate Release
August 6, 2013

CUSIB Welcomes Ambassador Victor Ashe to Serve on Advisory Board
The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB – cusib.org) is delighted that former Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member Victor Ashe has agreed to serve on CUSIB’s Advisory Board.
CUSIB Executive Director Ann Noonan stated: “We are honored to have Victor Ashe, a distinguished public servant, former Broadcasting Board of Governors  member, former U.S. Ambassador to Poland and former Mayor of Knoxville, on CUSIB’s Advisory Board. All of CUSIB’s members have their own special gifts to bring to the table to help promote media freedom in nations where such freedoms are not permitted. Ambassador Ashe’s vast experience will help us advance our mission as a nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization committed to strengthening free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries with restricted and developing media environments.”
Victor Ashe issued this statement:

“I am honored to serve on this Board and appreciate their dedication to transparency and fairness. There is still much work to do for international broadcasting by the United States due to serious management issues which still exist.
I am hopeful the new BBG Board with the leadership of Jeff Shell will make the decisions necessary to move BBG forward. I also hope the President will move to fill the remaining Republican vacancy as well as the two Democratic seats which are filled but on expired terms.
CUSIB has been the trenches working hard to improve U.S. broadcasting and other media outreach to nations without free press. They were there when Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) faced a meltdown in 2012 pointing out the significant shortcomings.”

CUSIB Director and Co-Founder Ted Lipien stated: “We believe that Ambassador Ashe will find great freedom at CUSIB to work alongside our outstanding Board and be part of the team of CUSIB supporters of U.S. international broadcasting.”
Ambassador Ashe received the 2013 Champion of Free Speech Award from the New York Chapter of the Visual Artists Guild for his contributions as a Broadcasting Board of Governors member to the defense of media freedom. He also received the Glasnost Defense Foundation Award for his defense of glasnost in Russia.
For further information, please contact:
Ann Noonan, co-founder and Executive Director
Tel. 646-251-6069
Ted Lipien, co-founder
Tel. 415-793-1642