USAGM Watch Commentary
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has asked for waiving the mandatory quorum call on the nomination of Michael Pack to become CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Senator McConnell’s move may advance the final confirmation vote for Pack in the U.S. Senate.
Earlier, Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee led by Ranking Member Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) had opposed sending Pack’s nomination to the full Senate, but committee chairman Senator Jim Risch (R-ID) and Republican members by majority vote expressed approval for his confirmation to go forward. The vote on Michael Pack in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was along party lines.
Multiple management and programming scandals have been reported in recent years at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, previously known as the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). They were especially frequent and serious at the Voice of America (VOA) under executives appointed during the Obama administration. Some of them, including VOA Director Amanda Bennett, are still in charge. Federal surveys show record low levels of morale among agency employees. The Trump administration in its third year has so far no key executives at VOA or within the agency’s bureaucracy in Washington.
The current VOA management team under Bennett’s leadership has alienated Iranian-American and Chinese-American communities by allowing VOA to repeat propaganda from authoritarian regimes in Iran and China. Bennett strongly denies these charges. President Trump spoke critically about VOA’s current management and the White House issued highly critical statements.
A key aide to former CEO who was appointed during the previous administration and resigned last year, was sent to prison for stealing money from the agency. A vote in the Senate on Pack’s nomination is now expected.
New Voice of America Director Robert Reilly Promises to Resist Political Pressure
USAGM Watch Commentary In a message today to Voice of America (VOA) staff, new VOA director Robert Reilly, recently appointed by U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) CEO Michael Pack, promised that he will follow the VOA Charter and “will resist any political pressure from above that would compromise our mission and the integrity of […]
USAGM CEO Michael Pack, His Critics, Analyses by Former and Current VOA Journalists
USAGM Watch Commentary Michael Pack, Trump-appointed and U.S. Senate confirmed CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), is being criticized right and left, but his explanations are rarely mentioned in mainstream media reports, which generously repeat accusations and claims of his critics but omit to mention alleged conflicts of interest and accusations made […]
2016 Report Confirmed Problem of Political Bias At Voice of America
OPINION Trump USAGM CEO Michael Pack Was Attacked For Attempts to Focus on Problem by Dan Robinson It was May of 2016 and Amanda Bennett was only a few weeks into what would become a nearly four year stint as director of the Voice of America, among the “plum” jobs in Washington, D.C. Bennett was […]
‘Voice of One America’ on Voice of America is against US law
USAGM Watch Commentary Former Voice of America (VOA) acting associate director Ted Lipien, who is a co-founder and supporter of BBG – USAGM Watch, argues in an new Washington Examiner op-ed that most of U.S. mainstream media have mislead Americans about what is going on at the $800 million U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) […]
USAGM CEO Michael Pack Rehired Chinese American Journalists Fired by Former Management EXCLUSIVE
USAGM Watch Commentary Regardless of who wins the White House, Michael Pack, Trump-nominated and Senate-confirmed CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), has rehired three Voice of America (VOA) Chinese American refugee journalists who were fired by the former agency management over their dispute with former VOA director Amanda Bennett on the handling […]
Trump’s USAGM CEO Set to Rehire Chinese American VOA Refugee Journalists Fired by Former Management EXCLUSIVE
USAGM Watch Commentary Regardless of who wins Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election, Michael Pack, Trump-nominated and Senate-confirmed CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), is, according to sources, set to rehire three Voice of America (VOA) Chinese American refugee journalists who were fired by the former agency management over their dispute with former VOA […]
Voice of America Needed Prodding to Report on Hunter Biden New York Post Story
USAGM Watch Commentary It took prodding from outside journalists to get Voice of America (VOA) central English newsroom editors to post a news story about Twitter’s and Facebook’s blocks on the New York Post article about alleged e-mails from Ukraine related to Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. Even when VOA posted its first news item […]
Plaintiff In Press Freedom Lawsuit Fired Voice of America Journalists
USAGM Watch Commentary In her October 9, 2020 report, “Lawsuit Calls for Immediate Relief from USAGM CEO’s Actions,” Voice of America (VOA) “Press Freedom Reporter” Jessica Jerreat wrote that according to a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Washington on Thursday, “From the start of his tenure as CEO of the U.S. Agency for […]
Harsh Condemnations of Michael Pack at Hearing on USAGM and Voice of America
USAGM Watch Commentary House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat who has lost a recent primary election but is still in charge of the committee until January 2021, held an oversight hearing Thursday examining the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) and other […]
McCaul Statement on Subpoena for USAGM CEO Michael Pack
USAGM Watch Commentary The House Foreign Affairs Committee issued a subpoena for the testimony of USAGM CEO Michael Pack after Pack cancelled his scheduled appearance before the committee on September 24th. The agency said in a tweet that “A conflict arose with the original hearing date due to the evolution of pressing and unprecedented matters […]
