21 mar Lacayo’s participation as an IV grantee to be directly reflected in his reporting on political and international topics
Enemies of the State Department?
� We expect Mr. As he moves upward in his career, our improved ties with him would mean a potentially important friend in positions of editorial influence.� [Editor's Note: Mr. Lacayo's name has been changed to protect his identity.]
The State Department had chosen the Venezuelan journalist to visit the U.S. under what is known as an IV grant � a cultural exchange program started in 1961 . Last year, the department brought some 467 journalists to the United States at a cost of about $ 10 million, according to a State Department official who requested anonymity.
FAIR's MacDonald says that the ? � visits serve to build ties between the visiting foreign journalists and institutions that ... are extremely uncritical of U.S. foreign policy and the corporate interests it serves.�
The State Department funds media development through several of its bureaus, including the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), as well as through its regional bureaus and embassies worldwide. It also funds foreign journalists through another section called the Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Most importantly, the State Department usually decides where other agencies, such as USAID and NED, should invest their media development funds.
(The State Department did not respond to In These Times' requests for information about its media development budget, but the 2007 CIMA study shows that in 2006 , DRL, for instance, received almost $ 12 million for media development alone.)