給美國之音中文部的祝賀信
-- 魏京生
曉夏和中文部的所有朋友們，先向大家道個歉。
本來已經計劃好了和大家一起慶祝美國對中國廣播70周年的，偏偏我的運氣不總是那麼好。這已經不是第一次，在計劃好的時間裡汽車或者在機場就要出問題。時間還特別湊巧，總是前一天。沒辦法，只好給大家道個歉。
我特別想過來和大家一起慶祝，有兩個原因。
我們這幾代中國人，有很多是聽著美國之音的廣播成長起來的。當我們不再是容易欺騙的小學生的時候，就有朋友悄悄地告訴我們，有個說真話的電台叫美國之音。不過聽這個電台會被抓起來送去勞改，罪名叫做偷聽敵台。
但還是有很多人不怕這個嚴重的罪名。他們從美國之音的廣播裡獲得信息，辨別什麼是真的，什麼是騙人的。我父親這個老共產黨也知道。在我被捕之後，他只能從美國之音里了解到我的真實信息，以及他想知道的更多的信息。
我所在的監獄裡的老警察們到北韓去旅遊。他們回來後感觸最深的就是兩條：一條是那兒的情況和我們文革時候差不多，人們都像瘋子一樣；第二條就是人們最想得到的禮物，就是一個僅值十塊錢的短波收音機。這是因為金家的獨裁政權不許人們擁有短波收音機。北韓人也和中國人一樣，想得到在一般的媒體上得不到的信息。
我們這幾代，幾國的人對美國之音的感情，就是因為可以從它這兒得到真實的信息，從官方媒體聽不到的信息。用美國國會的語言說，就是言論自由的補充。每一個媒體都有自己的特色，它吸引自己特定的受眾，靠的是自己的特色，而不是去和其它媒體的長處競爭。
你們新來的台長David Ensor告訴我：他最關心的就是一件事，如何找回自己的聽眾。最近幾年對美國之音的批評也和台長先生關心的問題一樣。老聽眾們們之所以遠離美國之音，就是因為現在的美國之音不但有很多替共產黨辯解的聲音，而且失去了政治評論第一台的風格，遠離了言論自由的補充這個原則。
你們想和娛樂台競爭他們的強項嗎？那是不可能的。德克薩斯的烤牛排，或者紐約第五大道。需要用美國納稅人的錢去介紹嗎？其實各國民營媒體會做得更好，還不用花納稅人的一分錢。一個歷史悠久並得到廣泛信任的政治評論媒體，沒必要去搶人家的生意吧。
有些人當然希望美國之音的一半變成港台大陸的八卦媒體，而另一半變成中共軟實力發言的平台。據說，這樣就可以得到中共政府的寬容，進入中國市場。而這正是美國之音的新老聽眾們最憤怒的事情。我想，美國的納稅人們知道了這種憤怒，他們也一樣不能接受這個現實。
順便說說，我已經被你們的聽眾們罵了好幾年了。他們說你們的電台為甚麼變成了共產黨的吹鼓手。所以我只好再一次向大家道歉。在這個祝賀的美好時刻說了這麼多逆耳的說辭。這是因為我覺得再不進行重大改革，再不回到自己曾經輝煌的道路上來，就對不起千百萬信任你們的人。
感謝大家多年來對我的幫助。從十七歲開始懷疑共產黨，我就開始收聽美國之音，獲益匪淺。謝謝。
魏京生
2011年12月5日
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Congratulatory Letter to Voice of America's Chinese Services
-- Wei Jingsheng
Dear Sasha and all the friends at the Chinese branch of VOA, first I must apologize.
I had already planned to celebrate the 70 years of Voice of America broadcasting to China with all of you, but my luck was not always so good. This is not the first time that in the planned time frame, I got into trouble with my car or at the airport. In particular, this time the time coincidence was right before the departure back to Washington DC. So I have no choice but to apologize to everyone.
I particularly wanted to come over and celebrate with everyone for two reasons.
Many of our generation of Chinese people grew up while we were listening to the Voice of America (VOA) broadcasts. If we were not the primary school students who were easy to deceive, there were friends who told us quietly that there is a radio station called Voice of America which tells the truth. But listening to this radio station could result in arrest and being sent to labor camps on charges of "secretly listening the enemy's radio stations".
But there were still many people who were not afraid of this serious charge. They obtained information from the broadcast of the VOA, and thus were able to identify what is true and what is a lie. Even my father, a senior member of the Communist Party, knew that he could only learn the true information about me after my arrest, along with other information that he wanted to know, from the Voice of America.
The police from the jail I stayed in traveled to North Korea. After they came back, there were two issues that touched them most: one was that the situation there was almost like the Cultural Revolution period in China, when people behaved like madmen. The second was that the most desired gift in Korea was only 10 dollars worth of a short-wave radio. This was because the dictatorship of the Kim dynasty did not allow the people to have short-wave radios. North Korean people are just like the Chinese people, and want the information that they could not get in their average media.
The feeling that these people of our generations in several countries have towards the Voice of America comes from the fact that we could get real information there, which was not available from our official media in our own countries. Using the language of the U.S. Congress, it is complementary to freedom of expression. Each media has its own characteristics. It attracts its own specific audience, due to its own characteristics, rather than competing with the other media in the areas where those others have merits.
David Ensor, your new director of VOA told me he is most concerned about one thing, that is how to get the audience back. In recent years, criticism towards the VOA are in line with the question of Mr. director. The reason why the old audience drifted away from the VOA is not only because there are many voices now on VOA which argue for the Communist Party, but also because VOA lost its style of political news and commentary which ranked it number one. It departed away from the principle of being a supplement to freedom of speech.
Does VOA wants to compete with other entertainment stations in what they are good at? It is not possible. Do we need to use U.S. taxpayers' money to introduce Texas grilled steak, or New York's Fifth Avenue? In fact, other private media will do better, without spending this money from the American taxpayers. Really, there is not a need for you, as a media of political news and commentary that is historic and widely trusted, to compete for other people's business.
Of course, there are some people who certainly hope that half of the VOA will become the gossip type media of Hong Kong and Taiwan, while the other half becomes a platform to speak by the soft power of the Chinese Communist Party. It is said that doing so will enable VOA to get the Chinese government's tolerance, and to enter the Chinese market. Yet, this is also the thing that both old and new listeners of VOA are most angry about. I think that if the American taxpayers were aware of this anger, they will not accept this reality either.
By the way, I have been scolded by your audience for several years. They asked me as why VOA has become an advocate for the Chinese Communist Party. So I have to once again apologize to everyone. I have said so many unpleasant remarks at this beautiful moment of congratulations. This is because I think that if you do not have a major reform, if you do not return to your once glorious path, you are in debt to those tens of millions of people who trust you.
Thank you for helping me over all these years. I have been listening to VOA since I was seventeen years old when I began to doubt the Communist Party. I have greatly benefited from that. Thank you.
WEI Jingsheng
December 5, 2011
