USAGM WATCH
During his April 15, 2020 White House press briefing, President Donald Trump said that what is coming out of the U.S. tax-funded, U.S. government-managed Voice of America is “disgusting” and “a disgrace.” He called on Democrats in the U.S. Senate to quickly confirm his nominee Michael Pack to be CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) which oversees the Voice of America.
Current VOA Director Amanda Bennett, who was appointed in 2016 during the Obama administration, rejects criticism of her leadership and management. She disagreed with the White House statement last week accusing the Voice of America of promoting propaganda and disinformation from the Chinese communist government in Beijing. Bennett said that “VOA News depends on factual unbiased reporting. For example, VOA sources the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths both inside individual nations and globally from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Data from the graphic cited in the White House press release was drawn from Johns Hopkins, which is used throughout the world,” Amanda Bennett said. She did not know or failed to point out if she knew that John Hopkins’ data was based on what U.S. intelligence experts and skeptical journalists, including those working for Radio Free Asia (RFA), believe is unreliable and most likely falsified Chinese communist government data.
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 […]
VOA – ‘The voice of which America?’ by Juliana Geran Pilon
USAGM Watch Commentary By Ted Lipien I would like to wish BBG – USAGM Watch readers who celebrate these holidays, Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas. TED LIPIEN USAGM Watch readers may have seen former Voice of America (VOA) director Amanda Bennett’s Washington Post op-ed in which she attacks new Voice of America VOA diector Robert […]
Former Voice of America Head Robert Reilly Was Chosen By USAGM CEO Michael Pack To Return As VOA Director
USAGM Watch Commentary USAGM Watch has learned that former Voice of America (VOA) director Robert Reilly was chosen by Michael Pack, Trump-appointed and Senate-confirmed CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), to again assume the position of the VOA director which was left vacant after the resignation last June of Amanda Bennett. She was […]
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 […]
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 […]
USAGM CEO Promises Journalistic Freedom Under Voice of America Charter
USAGM Watch Commentary Michael Pack, CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, joined The Federalist Radio Hour Senior Editor Chris Bedford to discuss what The Federalist described as “public broadcasting’s failure to adhere to its objective standards and what his agency is doing about it.” Pack said that while he will never tell a […]
United States Agency for Global Media Arrivals and Departures
OPINION Analyzing US Government International Media United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) Arrivals and Departures By The Federalist After languishing in the nomination process equivalent of Purgatory for about three years, Michael Pack was confirmed by the Senate on June 4, 2020. It was a contentious process with Democrat Senator Robert Menendez doing everything […]
MALONE, BORGIDA, ROBINSON, ANONYMOUS VOA on Letter to Editor About USAGM CEO Michael Pack and Voice of America
USAGM Watch Commentary Two former Voice of America (VOA) reporters Jim Malone and David Borgida wrote in their Letter to the Editor of The Washington Post: Regarding the June 16 Style article “Top editors at Voice of America resign”: With the departure of leadership at the Voice of America, the new chief executive for international broadcasting, Michael […]
Current and Former Voice of America Journalists Look at Resignation of VOA Director Amanda Bennett
USAGM Watch Commentary By Current and Former VOA Journalists VOA Director Amanda Bennett and her deputy, Sandy Sugawara, resigned on Monday, a widely expected development as the federal agency that runs VOA transitions to a new CEO nominated two years ago by President Donald Trump and recently confirmed by the Republican-led U.S. Senate. In a […]
Voice of America Director Amanda Bennett Resigned Amid Accusations of Failing to Stop China and Iran Propaganda in VOA Programs
USAGM Watch Commentary UPDATE Voice of America Amanda Bennett and her deputy Sandy Sugawara have submitted their resignations on June 15, 2020 to the newly Senate-confirmed U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) CEO Michael Pack amid continuing accusations from China and Iran experts at U.S. universities and think tanks, leaders of Chinese-American and Iranian-American immigrant […]
Voice of America Director Amanda Bennett Says ‘VOA’s protest coverage…nothing short of extraordinary’ as New CEO Starts Work
USAGM Watch Commentary Michael Pack, President Trump’s appointee to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) was sworn in and assumed his position as USAGM CEO after his nomination was confirmed last week by the U.S. Senate with all but one among Democratic senators who voted opposing his appointment. The final vote in favor […]
U.S. Senate Confirms Michael Pack As Head of USAGM
USAGM Watch Commentary By Former Voice of America Reporters The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to confirm Michael Pack to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the $800 million a year agency that that runs Voice of America (VOA) and numerous other U.S. – government funded international media. The vote was 53 to […]
WHITE HOUSE on VOICE OF AMERICA (VOA) Why are US Taxpayers Funding a ‘Voice of the Mullahs’ in Iran?
USAGM Watch Comentary West Wing Reads page on the WhiteHouse.gov official White House website has a link to an op-ed article in the New York Post in which Brian Hook, the U.S. Special Representative for Iran, Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Director of the Policy Planning Staff, comments on […]
President Trump said Voice of America is run in ‘a terrible manner,’ is ‘opposite of the Voice of America’
USAGM Watch Commentary President Trump has renewed his criticism of the Voice of America (VOA) which is now managed by VOA Director Amanda Bennett who was appointed to her position during the Obama administration. On May 15, 2020, Trump responded briefly to a reporter’s question, saying that “I know that Voice of America is run […]
Ranking Member Menendez Statement on Michael Pack
STATEMENT BY SENATOR BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ) Ranking Member Menendez Statement on Michael Pack May 14, 2020 WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today issued the following statement on the nomination of Michael Pack to be CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Mr. Pack’s nomination has been held up […]
ALIREZA NADER Voice of America to Iran Has Self-Destructed
USAGM Watch Commentary Alireza Nader (@AlirezaNader), a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (@FDD), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute focusing on foreign policy and national security, has written an op-ed for Washington Examiner in which he argues that the Voice of America (VOA) Persian news network, which he describes as “once a […]
Amanda Bennett Is First Voice of America Director at War with Refugees From Communism and Iran EXCLUSIVE
USAGM WATCH COMMENTARY Amanda Bennett @abennett·Apr 9·16.7K Followers: “At the @VOANews, we love facts. The fact is Wuhan has ended their lockdown and this video shows exactly that.” 一土 @Jessie201907· Apr 11·14.9K Followers: “VOA has become a propaganda tool of the CCP, can you give yourself some dignity?” No Voice of America (VOA) director prior to current […]
Chinese Immigrant Objects to Voice of America Imitating Beijing’s Anti-U.S. Propaganda
USAGM WATCH COMMENTARY We have been contacted in the last several days by a young Chinese immigrant who finished his education and now works in the United States and wanted to let us know that the taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) in the $800 million (annual) U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is repeating propaganda […]
From ‘Dysfunctional’ and ‘Defunct’ to ‘Disgusting’ and ‘Disgrace’
COMMENTARY By The Federalist US Government International Broadcasting – US Agency for Global Media – Voice of America Collecting Ds from “Dysfunctional” and “Defunct” to “Disgusting” and “Disgrace The US Agency for Global Media (ISAGM or U-Sag-M, as I like to call it): finding new ways to get itself in trouble. It is adding to […]
