Voice of America Under Attack by Trump Administration

In a meeting a year ago President Trump gave his view of journalists quotThese people should be executedquot Trump said quotthey39re scumbagsquot Well aware the president expects fawning to be their default setting the news media have largely ignored his private namecalling It39s easy to see why Whether in press conferences or media scrums Trump39s animosities always are front and center as are the ad hominem attacks that accompany the word salads he delivers to journalists in place of serious repliesTrump39s homicidal hyperbole also has produced a notable yawn To be sure the yearold barroom threat pales by comparison to the corruption and incompetence also recounted by former national security advisor John Bolton in his White House memoir And after years of attacks on the press that Trump equates journalism with the adoration delivered by Fox News and One America News Network is hardly a surprise Still predictable bullying behavior or not to ignore the consequences of Trump39s antagonism toward the media would be a mistakeAs previewed in my February 2017 column headlined quotCould the TrumpBannonAiles Network be the Voice of Americaquot the reason why is playing out at the Agency for Global Media AGM There Trump39s minions are purging the professionals who run the umbrella institution for US news and information services In a White House known for firing all but the most obsequious his hatchet men are distinguished by only one trait unmitigated sycophancy in obeying their master39s voice At AGM they39re installing Trump39s version of a handfed press reshaping the outlets comprising Voice of America It39s all happening coincidentally just in time for his 2020 election campaignAs a news asset VOA and its surrogates are impressive They include Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty which focus on Russia and east Europe Radio Free Asia broadcasting among other places to China Korea and Vietnam and multiple news services that target countries inbetween as well as Cuba and the Arab world Their product is news from reporters who often work on turf that make journalism a dangerous business It39s what VOA does for 80 years the VOA collective has earned credibility in countries where its networks are the only free pressIn fact credibility long VOA39s strength remains its core contribution to America39s soft power today During the Cold War its reporting on world affairs as well as events inside the Soviet bloc challenged Moscow and its totalitarian regimes The evidence their backhanded compliments then massive jamming of VOA39s broadcasts that continue in 21st Century digital formfrom Xi Jinping39s Great Firewall and North Korea39s sealed media ecosystem to Vladimir Putin39s war on Russia39s independent press whose reporters deign to investigate his regimeAdmittedly for Trump39s toadies seeing value in quality journalism would be a stretch It39s also a concept Trump himself is illequipped to grasp Case in point an April VOA story reporting on Wuhan39s successful easing of its coronavirus lockdown sparked his White House to attack the VOA as a Chinese fifth column Small wonder the facts didn39t sync with Trump39s 2020 campaign mantra labeling China the source of all evil VOA chief Amanda Bennett a Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter explained publicly that the Voice was chartered to report all sides of any story Her tutorial didn39t help By midJune she was goneBennett and Sandy Sugawara her deputy and a former Washington Post journalist were only the first defenestration39s Both ostensibly quotresignedquot after Trump reportedly goosed the Senate Republicans in May to confirm Michael Pack a conservative film maker The nomination had moldered for two years among other reasons because of an ongoing investigation into Pack39s alleged financial improprieties Pack wasted no time cleaning house firing VOA39s network chiefs as well as other senior officials three weeks after the Senate39s partyline nodPack has piously intoned his reverence for the Voice39s journalistic standards reporting and reputation His Orwellian languageamp8212the press release on his arrival implied VOA cadre greeted the firings with cheering in the hallsamp8212make the platitudes less than plausible as do the political appointees he is putting in place Indeed the new arrivals raise questions not only about the professional management of VOA39s operations but also its future as a credible news gathering organizationTake the governing boards for VOA and its surrogates Pack has ousted all their incumbents putting in place a handful of people whose backgrounds suggest a meteoric rise from burgerflipping and bachelor39s degrees to the boardroom Among them are a junior press spokesman at the Office of Management and Budget a prolife antitransgender rights activist and an attorney for the Liberty Council designated an antiLBGTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center In addition to their ideological homogeneity none sport credentials in journalism or broadcasting relevant to managing OGM39s 200 million in media enterprisesThe inexperience and political cast of Pack39s selectees differs dramatically from VOA39s management history decades of board members who offered seasoned bipartisan oversight It suggests what39s coming next Pack himself telegraphed the move This month he announced VOA quoteditorialsquot would be featured more prominently Pack explained he has quotstreamlinedquot their production truncating quottimeconsumingquot interagency review Translation expect the White House to provide the party lineamp8212or campaign messagingamp8212and VOA to peddle its viewsA Trump defeat in November that sends Pack packing obviously will help cauterize the wounds from his management by meat axe Meanwhile how VOA39s professional news reporting fares remains to be seen VOA39s audiences abroad will know soon enough For example from Russian repression in Chechnya to China39s oppression of its Uighur minority Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia have provided invaluable stories Only time will tell whether Trump39s disinterest in both human rights travesties will affect how Pack39s VOA reports such newsTrump isn39t the first elected leader to see journalists as his enemies or to try to get a grip on their work Shortly after the installation of Germany39s newly elected government 90 years ago the Reich Minister of National Enlightenment and Propaganda consolidated the country39s 4000 daily and weekly newspapers and 7000 periodicals into the Reich39s Press Chamber The arrangement enabled the ruling party to deliver its guidance daily to editors who faced arrest prosecution if their reporters39 copy failed literally to toe the lineThe Reich Minister Josef Goebbels put it this way The press he said must be quota pianoamp8230in the hands of the governmentquot Goebbels took guidance from his boss who considered the news media to be quotloathsomequot calling them quotthe lying pressquot A century ago or not the sentiment and the language have an all too familiar ringPhoto courtesy of Kent HarringtonClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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Voice of America Under Attack by Trump Administration

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Kent M. Harrington

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Voice of America Under Attack by Trump Administration

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