On Monday, leadership at VOA changed almost entirely. The Senate confirmation of President Trumps appointed head of USAGM Michael Pack was followed by the resignation of two top executives, Director Amanda Bennett and Deputy Director Sandy Sugawara, both deemed experienced independent journalists.
In her farewell message, Bennett said, "Michael Pack swore before Congress to respect and honor the firewall that guarantees VOA's independence, which in turn plays the single most important role in the stunning trust our audiences around the world have in us."
Pack, a conservative filmmaker who previously ran the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is also an ally of alt-right icon Steve Bannon and under investigation for potentially channeling money from a nonprofit to his film production company. He has already fired four directors across the organizationa purge that does little to ease concerns about editorial meddling. These firings include: Bay Fang of Radio Free Asia; Jamie Fly of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Alberto M. Fernandez of Middle East Broadcasting Networks; Emilio Vazquez of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting; and Libby Liu of the Open Technology Fund.
Though those fired by Pack show no distinction along party linesFernandez and Fly were both Trump appointeesthe replacements of their bipartisan boards are now largely filled by Trump administration appointees. Packs decision has been criticized by congressional officials as an attempt to change the nonpartisan nature of the news outlet.
Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement on Wednesday saying, The wholesale firing of the agencys network heads, and disbanding of corporate boards to install President Trumps political allies, is an egregious breach of this organizations history and mission from which it may never recover.
Brett Bruen, director of global engagement on President Barack Obamas National Security Council, said that VOA does notpresent a Republican or Democratic voice to the world, He added that VOA has always put forward an American, a credible voice.
Founded in 1942, VOA is the largest US international broadcaster, delivering news and information to an estimated weekly audience of 280 million people. Its name comes from President Franklin Roosevelts speechwriter and American playwright, Robert Sherwood, who in 1939 prophesied:
"We are living in an age when communication has achieved fabulous importance. There is a new decisive force in the human race, more powerful than all the tyrants. It is the force of massed thought--thought which has been provoked by words, strongly spoken."
The force of mass thought would be represented by VOA, whose charter also states they will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions.
VOA is not a device of the government; it is, in fact, created to be a tool to amplify and share American voices to people around the world. Key to the purpose of VOA is its firewall, which prohibits interference by any US government official in the objective and independent work the journalists do. The firewall protects VOAs ability to make final decisions on what stories to cover and how to cover it, even if it is government-owned.
VOA is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media and is government-funded, but its core mission has always been to provide reliable and accuratethis also means unbiasednews.
The USAGM, previously called the Broadcasting Board of Governors, was founded to counter propaganda from countries with repressive regimes, offering its audience independent and reliable sources of news. It currently oversees VOA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia, ensuring that content on these platforms remain independent of political influence.
On the Voices of America website, there is a specific header for Press Freedom. The page monitors news of media repression in foreign countries and states that VOA is committed to press freedom around the world. Looking at this page after the events of the past week, one might suggest VOA start at its home base, the US.
In April, the VOA ran a story about the reopening of Wuhan, China, where the COVID-19 outbreak first emerged. After months of lockdown, the city reopened with a light show, which VOA documented and shared on social media.
This story was condemned by Trump and his social media director Dan Scavino Jr. The White House website ran an article under the headline Amid a Pandemic, Voice of America Spends Your Money to Promote Foreign Propaganda. Scavino chimed in, tweeting, American taxpayers paying for Chinas very own propaganda, via the U.S. government-funded Voice of America! DISGRACE!!
At a news briefing on April 15, Trump only had bad things to say about the broadcaster. "If you heard what's coming out of the Voice of America, it's disgusting. What things they say are disgusting toward our country," Trump said. "And Michael Pack would get in and do a great job."
VOA also received criticism for using widely watched and reputable data from Johns Hopkins University tracking COVID-19 cases and deaths around the world. The White House accused VOA of creating graphics with Communist government statistics to compare Chinas coronavirus death toll to Americas.
These attacks took the VOA executives by surprise. Rarely have they been called out by an administration in this fashion.
Im afraid I cant tell you what prompted it, said Bennett, then Director. I dont actually know. It just came out of the blue.
Though these attacks took Bennett by surprise, the Trump administration had been planning to make significant changes at VOA since 2018. Packs nomination to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media was stalled for two years.
It may be too early to tell what will come of Packs changes, but the direction he is taking VOA and USAGM may undermine their entire purpose. As head of USAGM, Pack is prohibited from interfering in VOA editorial processes. But as he has shown, he can dismiss and hire new members, those who can change the content and stories produced.
The voices of America might now be the voice of the American government. And this change will be noticed around the world.
In 1942, in its first broadcast, announcer William Harlan Hale said, We bring you Voices from America. Today, and daily from now on, we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good for us. The news may be bad. But we shall tell you the truth.
The world was listening then as America fought Nazi Germany and a leaders grasp for tyrannical power; the world is listening now.
Read more:
The Voice Of America Is Not The Voice Of Trump - The Pavlovic Today
- Neighborly discord in the Galwan Valley - Observer Research Foundation [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Why human beings are so irrational, and never learn podcasts of the week - The Guardian [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Canceling Joe Rogan Would be the Left's Worst Nightmare - Here's Why - CCN.com [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Down with symbols - The News International [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Neil Gorsuch Stuns the Nation, Does the Right Thing - The Nation [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- The Voice of America Will Sound Like Trump - The Atlantic [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- License to Analyze Media - The Dispatch [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- New Boss May Test Voice of Americas Credibility - The New York Times [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Destroying the Statues of Slavers to Rewrite History - Morocco World News [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- What to Cook Right Now - The New York Times [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Philly residents call for Taney Street to be renamed - PhillyVoice.com [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Wizards Ends Their Relationship with Terese Nielsen - Hipsters of the Coast [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Magic: The Gathering Ends Relationship With Controversial Artist - We Got This Covered [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- How game theory not chaos rules the Trump White House - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- What we know about the 'Boogaloo Bois,' the far-right group tied to killings in Santa Cruz and Oakland - San Francisco Chronicle [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Four Years Embedded With the Alt-Right - The Atlantic [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Influence of COVID-19 Crisis on Global Right-Wing Agenda - Valdai Discussion Club [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Approves Issuance of Fines for Refusing to Wear Facial Coverings - Redheaded Blackbelt [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- Far Right Reading List Shows Link Between Its Literature and Real-World Violence - Truthout [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- America Is in the Grips of a Fundamentalist Revival - The Dispatch [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- New Zealand police warned of another mosque threat before Christchurch shooting massacre - Reuters [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- The saffron swastika - The Express Tribune [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- Banned by PayPal and YouTube, this alt-right comedian is back on PayPal and YouTube (updated) - The Daily Dot [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- Why White House Catholics are concerned about Trumps Catholic tweets - Catholic News Agency [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- GAA's tiresome culture war insults and ignores players - RTE.ie [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Review: Rabbit Hole hops into the Internets greatest failures and successes - The Charlatan [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Colleges are flimflamming college students and parents about reopening in the fall (opinion) - Inside Higher Ed [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- New Conservatives defend Western culture as 'greatest in the world', warn NZ 'sliding toward socialism' - Newshub [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Fire Island Partier Who Flouted COVID Rules Says He's Not Sorry, Reveals Himself to Be QAnon Follower: WATCH - Towleroad [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- 'Draining the swamp' and other metaphors - Idaho State Journal [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Fire Island partier who flouted coronavirus rules refuses to apologise: 'I'm not going to fall for the lab-made virus' - PinkNews [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Slate Star Codex and Silicon Valleys War Against the Media - The New Yorker [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Alt-Weeklies Face Total Annihilation. But Theyre Thriving in the Chaos. - The Ringer [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Dana Canedy, the New Head of Simon & Schuster, on Facts, Diversity, and the Future of Publishing - The New Yorker [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- The fallacy of white privilege and how it's corroding society - New York Post [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Facing America's History of Racism Requires Facing the Origins of 'Race' as a Concept - TIME [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Stone Shares Meme With Roots In Alt-Right To Attack Judge - TPM [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- When it comes to modern slavery, many of us turn a blind eye - iNews [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- How to add alt text to images on Twitter so that they can be read with screen readers - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- A decade of emoji: How aubergines and crying faces connected us all online - The Independent [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- A Dreyfusard from the Right - Twilight of Democracy - Visegrad Insight [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- The Man in the Antifa Mask: Who he is and why he regrets showing up at a Coeur d'Alene protest with a crowbar - Pacific Northwest Inlander [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Best of Philly: Heres to the People Who Protested - Philadelphia magazine [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Lincoln the Emancipator: The Civil War & the Continuous Battle against Northern Negrophobia (Part 1 of a two-part series) - Milwaukee Courier... [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- The Fascist Messaging of the Trump Campaign Eagle - Hyperallergic [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- AOC on League of Legends: Right-wing Twitter is childs play compared to inting 13-year-olds - VG247 [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- MSNBC's Joy Reid Makes Cable Network History With the Debut of "The ReidOut" - Vogue [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- NY: Hundreds of free Uber e-bikes coming to WNY for proposed 'transportation libraries' - MassTransitMag.com [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- What is alt text on Instagram? How to add alt text - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- What is the deal with 'woke' culture and writing letters? - The National [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- The Return of the Cooch - Bacon's Rebellion [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Anti-Greta and the challenges faced by young activists | Forge - ForgeToday [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Anti-maskers bring their misinformation to Halifax - Halifax Examiner [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- MSNBCs Joy Reid Makes Cable-Network History With the Debut of The ReidOut - Vogue [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Is This Roger Stone and Proud Boys Flashing a White Power Symbol? - Snopes.com [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Trump's pick to head Office of Personnel Management spread 'satanic' conspiracy theory, called Democrats party of 'Islam' and 'gender-bending' -... [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- Joe Rogan Is Spreading Transphobic Hate Speech and It's Putting Lives in Danger - Men's Health [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- 'Pure Invention': How Japan's pop culture became the 'lingua franca' of the internet - The Japan Times [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- Redefine Meat wants to disrupt meat industry with 3D printed Alt-Steak - Food Dive [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- How it feels to survive Silicon Valley and a pandemic - Engadget [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- New Mexico's thin blurred line (The thin blurred line) High Country News Know the West - High Country News [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- Artist Canyon Castator Is Making The Apocalypse Palatable - Interview [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- Does Tucker Carlson hate America? - The Independent [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- How to add alt text in Excel to make images accessible - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Why Portland Became the Test Case for Trumps Secret Police - The Nation [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- What IS your point? - The Bear Insider [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- What is alt text in WordPress? How to add image descriptions on your web page to improve accessibility and web - Business Insider India [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Herman Mashaba: Why he might draw the crowds at election time Chuck Stephens - BizNews [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- How Brooks Brothers Became a Symbol of What Not to Wear to the Revolution - TownandCountrymag.com [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Hillsdale Must Join the National Reckoning on Race - The Bulwark [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- What is alt text in WordPress? How to add the accessibility feature - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Pittsburgh-based Steelers reporter quits PennLive in protest of site calling a Nazi rally "peaceful" - PGH City Paper [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- 'You Do the Right Things, and Still You Get It' - The New York Times [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Who wants to cancel cancel culture? The voiceless or the privileged? - Coconuts [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Amazon compared to heroin dealer as Bezos, Zuckerberg, Cook and Google CEO accused of squeezing out com - The Sun [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Courtney Love hopes Jeffrey Epstein burns in hell after her name appeared in his address book - The Independent [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Elon Musk has finally confirmed whether his take the red pill tweet was a Trump endorsement - indy100 [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]
- The Lakers Hold On to Beat the Clippers in Thriller - The New York Times [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]
- The Fight review: A jubilant look at changing the world for the better - Evening Standard [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]
- Mike Foltynewicz clears waivers, sent to Braves alternate site - Sports and Weather Right Now [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]