Literacy, US International Broadcasting, and the Wilson Center

"In any given week, from North Korea to Iran and across the Middle East, from China to
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar, through Africa and India to Russia, Belarus, Central Asia and Cuba, 165 million people—equivalent to more than half the U.S. population—tune into the radio and television programs of U.S. International Broadcasting (USIB) by satellite, Internet and in some cases cooperating local radio stations.

After more than half a century, Congressionally-funded U.S. broadcasting remains the leading edge of American soft power—the principle [sic] means by which the United States speaks directly to less free and impoverished nations."

--A. Ross Johnson and R. Eugene Parta, A 21st Century Vision for U.S. Global Media, wilsoncenter.org; image from

Question to the above learned authors: How do we "communicate" with the outside world if we can't even use our own language properly?