In a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington Jeff Gedmin, President of RFE/RL, talked about the motives behind American smart power in general and RFE/RL in particular: pragmatism, idealism, American values / universal values and enlightened self- interest. The speech provided plenty of examples about the successes and challenges RFEE/RL journalists face. My favourite one is this little story about two reporters in Afghanistan where RFE/RL has 67 percent of the market:
By the way, you know, we have security problems in Afghanistan and you can’t make light of these sorts of things, but it’s still a little bit amusing. We had two journalists that we pulled out recently, brought to Prague to cool things off a little bit, who were being threatened by the Taliban. They were being threatened with beheading, as they do. You know what they wanted? They didn’t want us to stop broadcasting. They wanted equal time. We’re coming after you, beheading you if you don’t give us regular time on your show. Well, we must be reaching somebody. We must be having some effect.