National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting – The Oxygen of Democracy Lecture Series

Journalism: The Oxygen of Democracy

SS+D is a proud sponsor of the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting – The Oxygen of Democracy Lecture Series.

Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 from 7 – 9 pm at the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting – 8070 Tylersville Road, West Chester, OH 45069.

Voice of America acting director Yolanda López and VOA Eastern Europe Chief Myroslava Gongadze will be guests at a virtual Q&A forum Thursday, Oct. 20 as part of the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester’s “Journalism: The Oxygen of Democracy” series.

López will speak briefly and field questions on a big screen at the museum about global press freedom and managing an international news organization in multiple war zones around the world. Then the audience will view short VOA news clips from Gongadze’s recent trip to Ukraine and ask her questions onscreen.

The journalism series is held the third Thursday of each month through Jan. 19. Remaining dates are Nov. 17; Dec. 15; and Jan. 19.

A Barcelona, Spain native and veteran journalist and producer, López is the recipient of three Emmy awards. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.

Gongadze is VOA Eastern Europe Chief and former chief of the VOA Ukrainian Service. Most recently a Neiman Foundation Fellow at Harvard University where she studied disinformation, Gongadze has also been a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at George Washington University. She earned a law degree from Ivan Franko National University.

She has won many awards for her reporting on events such as the Euromaidan and Orange Revolutions. Awards include the Order of Princess Olha, third class, a Ukrainian civil decoration bestowed on women of outstanding personal merit.

She contributes to National Public Radio and her writing has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Journal of Democracy, and many Ukrainian publications.

“U.S. citizens are lucky to have many opportunities to access accurate news,” said Jack Dominic, museum director. “In countries where government censors and controls media, VOA is one of the few–and sometimes only—international broadcaster providing people with accurate news.”

Admission is free, but seating is limited to 100 people.

RSVPs are requested by Tuesday, Oct. 18. To RSVP, email admin@voamuseum.org or call (513) 777-0027. Donations will be accepted.

VOA is the largest U.S. international broadcaster and reaches a weekly global audience of more than 311 million people in 48 languages in nearly 100 countries. VOA programs are delivered on multiple platforms, including radio, television, web and mobile via a network of more than 3,000 media outlets worldwide. The news organization is funded by the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an independent federal agency.

VOA news from around the world can be accessed at www.voanews.com.

The VOA Bethany Relay Station in West Chester was known for its high-powered rhombic antenna system, which transmitted VOA news to Europe and northern Africa during World War II and South America during the Cold War to countries that lacked a free press. Bethany Station was decommissioned by the federal government in 1994 and now houses the VOA museum.

For information, visit www.voamuseum.org. Museum hours are weekends from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, and free for children under 16. The museum is located at 8070 Tylersville Road.