Tuesday, April 17, 2007

A closer look at Voice of Tibet


CHINA [TIBET non] VOICE OF TIBET (Voice for the voiceless).

Background.
Voice of Tibet is an independent radio station and was founded on May 14th 1996. Since then, Voice of Tibet has been airing daily programmes on shortwave to Tibetans, Tibetan exiles in India and Nepal. Voice of Tibet was the brainchild of a group of Tibetan Journalists who find the
restrictive control of Chinese authorities to provide news for the common people. It has its main office in Oslo and was started with the financial assistance of three Norwegian NGO's, namely Norwegian Tibet Committee, Human Rights House and World View Rights.

Objectives.
Voice of Tibet is a voice for the voiceless people inside Tibet. Its objectives are to provide a channel for unbiased information and news to the Tibetans living under Chinese oppression in Tibet, to help preserve the threatened Tibetan culture, to educate the Tibetans in internationally acknowledged human rights, to inform about democracy and the democratic
institutions of the Tibetan exile community and to help prevent conflicts and discrimination.
Radio Broadcasts.
Everyday VOT broadcasts a thirty-minute news service in Tibetan language followed by a fifteen-minute service in Mandarin. The Mandarin Service was started on December 10, 1999 to reach the Chinese audience.

The daily broadcasts are divided in to two parts: News and feature story. Recently in conjunction with the forty-fifth anniversary of Tibetan democracy, VOT started two new transmissions targeting the exile population in India and Nepal.
Broadcast Schedule.
Voice of Tibet broadcast directly to the Tibetan Province in China from 1100 to 1145 on 17560 via Tashkent. This broadcast frequency varies depending on the Chinese jamming. The broadcasts for the Tibetan exiles are scheduled from 1400-1430 on 17550 via the Radio Netherlands relay station in Madagascar. Both broadcasts are jammed by the Chinese
authorities; however the broadcasts for the Tibetan exiles offer better reception and less jamming providing an opportunity for Dxers to monitor.
Audience Relations.
Voice of Tibet maintains a listeners forum to respond to the valuable feedback. Suggestions and programme comments are greatly valued by the production team. Mr. Karma Yashi is the chief editor of Voice of Tibet.
Voice of Tibet also appreciates reception report from Dxers and they are verified with exotic QSLs having the picture of Tibetan national animal "the Yak". Nowadays the reports mailed to Norwegian office are rarely replied with a QSL, since the headquarters is only involved in raising the necessary funds. Since the programme production and audience relation department exist in the Dharmasala, the best bet to verify VOT is to send a report to the Indian office.
Audience Relations, Voice of Tibet, Narthang Building, Gangchen Kyishiong, Dharmasala-176215, Himachal Pradesh, India.
E-mail reports may send to: voteditor @ gov.tibet.net Website: www.vot.org
(Compiled by T. R. Rajeesh for WDXC-UK, with courtesy to Mr. Karma Yashi of VOT and M. Shamim of Kerala, WDXC-UK April Contact magazine)
BC-DX #803)