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Don't scale back VOA broadcasts

Helle Dale's excellent piece "Spreading the word" (Op-Ed, Wednesday) on the planned closure of a number of Voice of America radio programs emphasizes the significance of the VOA English-language shows. But the loss of the broadcasts in other languages might be as damaging.

I work for the VOA Russian service, so let me say a few words about it, but I speak only for myself -- not for the agency. Our influence in Russia has diminished in the last decade, mostly due to the shrinkage of our presence on the air (from 18 hours a day in the 1970s and 1980s to three hours now); however, we still have about 3 million listeners daily. Last Friday, I hosted our talk show and was overwhelmed with calls from listeners who were shocked with the news that the VOA Russian radio would disappear after 60 years in existence. They could not comprehend that the enlargement of the Iranian service requires such a sacrifice.

Iran regularly broadcasts anti-American propaganda to Russia on a large scale. For this reason alone we cannot retreat from such a huge battlefield of ideas, leaving it to Iran and to other destructive forces. China, North Korea and other foreign broadcasters are very active in Russia as well, and the mainstream Russian media is mostly against America and democracy.

SEMYON REZNIK

Springfield