There is no way of sugarcoating the bitter reality; something is really rotten at the Persian Service of the Voice of America.

For the propaganda arm of the lone superpower, the Persian Service offers, at best, a clumsy high school level TV production.

There is no shortage of seasoned journalists, at least the ones who have stuck around, there are also ample number of potential journalists who need to learn to leave their political baggage and differing agendas at home.

There is a popular self-deprecating school of thought that basically says Iranians are not good at team work. Ergo, what is happening at VOA is not out of the ordinary. Of course the product offered by the Persian Service of the BBC debunks that nonsense. 

VOA needs to have a competent and professional management team who know a thing or two about Iranian mindset, journalism, radio, TV and most of all, basic common sense. Just speaking Persian does not cut it.

Letting Rudi Bakhtiar with extended experience and worldwide name recognition slip through their hands is just dumb management.

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Above is a blog posted on 24-Oct-2011, few months later Rudi Bakhtiar was invited back. The latest news is with the yet another recent shake up at VOA Persian service, Rudi is out, again, so is the executive editor Kaveh Basmenji.

Sadly, VOA management continues to stink to high heaven. Maybe there should not be so many family members, husband & wife, boyfriend & girlfriend working there. Something needs to be done, U.S. Congress, HELP!