Voice of America: Speechless

One common trait of totalitarian regimes and banana republics: Control of the media.

 

Trump political appointee Michael Pack, who has directed Voice of America since June, has been busy dismantling all semblance of journalistic integrity at the agency. Now he has rescinded rules designed to protect VOA journalists from political interference.

 

“‘I am stunned,’ former Voice of America director Amanda Bennett told NPR early Tuesday morning. ‘It removes the one thing that makes Voice of America distinct from broadcasters of repressive regimes.’”

 

Pack also fired VOA general counsel David Kligerman in August. Protection from political interference “‘is what differentiates the Voice of America and the other USAGM-funded networks from the state-sponsored propaganda of Russia, China, Iran and others,’ Kligerman said.”

 

—See David Folkenflik, media reporter, “U.S. Agency Targets Its Own Journalists' Independence,” National Public Radio, Oct. 27, 2020. Image: 1951 VOA poster.

 

 

• Editorial Comment: So much for that.

 

 

See also, Paul Fahri, “Trump appointee sweeps aside rule that ensured ‘firewall’ at Voice of America,” Washington Post, Oct. 27, 2020.  

Former VOA officials “saw irony in the notion that the agencies — whose broadcasts are designed to counter foreign government’s official censorship and propaganda — would themselves be subjected to oversight and potential censorship by a political appointee of the U.S. government.”

 

 

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