USAGM Commentary
This BBGWatch.com (USAGM – BBG Watch) video is about the Voice of America (VOA) Urdu Service one-sided social media presentation of a Joe Biden campaign video which violated the VOA Charter (U.S. law) and may influence how some Muslim Americans vote in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The Voice of America Charter (U.S. Public Law 94-350) says that “VOA 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.” After several days on social media, the Voice of America removed the VOA Urdu Service Biden video. There are more than 390,000 Urdu speakers in the United States, many of them U.S. voters. Many of them live in Michigan. Some of them follow VOA Urdu Service programs on social media and other Internet platforms.
Is such partisan electioneering by VOA’s federal employees at U.S. taxpayers’ expense a threat to American democracy?
While Voice of America audience is primarily abroad, VOA websites and social media pages attract online traffic from the United States, although it is not huge. The VOA English-language content, however, gets a significant portion of its web traffic from the United States.
The Voice of America is 100% funded by U.S. taxpayers and is part of the federal government. VOA’s budget in FY2019 was $250 million. USAGM’s budget, which included VOA’s budget but also additional support for VOA programs and funding for other USAGM entities, was $798 million in FY2019.
A month before the U.S. presidential election in 2016, the VOA Ukrainian Service posted a one-sided anti-Trump video which some inside and outside critics described as an unprecedented violation of the VOA Charter. The service added Ukrainian subtitles and VOA logo to a video, in which Hollywood actor Robert De Niro called Trump “punk,” “dog,” “pig,” “con,” “buls**t artist,” “mutt,” “idiot,” “fool,” “bozo,” and “blatantly stupid” and condoned physical violence against him.
This may have been the first time in VOA’s history that such a one-sided partisan attack on an American politician was broadcast by VOA without any balance or context. It may have also been the first VOA program in which physical violence against an American politician was condoned without any criticism or challenge. The video was eventually removed after outside critics protested to the Broadcasting Board of Governors and VOA management. These abuses and violations were almost completely ignored by mainstream liberal media outlets such as NPR, CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post which are now accusing Trump-appointed USAGM CEO Michael Pack of trying to introduce pro-Trump propaganda into VOA.

All of this happened under the former VOA and USAGM senior management. Some of its members departed before Trump-appointed Michael Pack took charge of the agency in June 2020 and some others were replaced by him shortly thereafter.
Michael Pack’s arrival did not put a stop to all violations of the VOA Charter in favor of Democrats and Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy. Even after Pack took over in June, the VOA Urdu Service produced a one-sided pro-Joe Biden presidential election campaign video composed of content originally created by Biden’s supporters and designed to win votes for him among American Muslim. When the video, which violated the VOA Charter, was discovered, it was taken down by VOA’s new interim management selected by Michael Pack.
But, as reported on June 25, 2020 by Alex Ward in VOX:
“If Joe Biden wins the presidency, he’s promising at least one staffing change: firing the CEO of a US-funded global media agency who’s accused of trying to turn it into a propaganda shop aligned with President Donald Trump’s ideology. Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for the former vice president’s campaign, said Biden will oust Michael Pack from his Senate-confirmed position at the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) soon after entering the White House. The reason is simple: Biden believes Pack is trying to turn one of the world’s largest media networks into something akin to Breitbart or Trump TV. ‘Michael Pack is decidedly unqualified,’ Bates said, ‘and his actions risk hijacking invaluable, nonpartisan media institutions that stand up for fundamental American values like freedom and democracy in the world.’ USAGM is a government department that oversees five media organizations: Voice of America, Middle East Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.”

Link: https://bbgwatch.com/bbgwatch/will-voice-of-america-campaign-video-help-biden-win-michigan/
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
SIDEBAR: Where 2016 Consultant Report Recommendations Missed The Mark
USAGM Watch Commentary EDITOR’S NOTE: A USAGM staffer reacts to key aspects of the Executive Summary of the 2016 consultant report solicited by and submitted to former VOA director Amanda Bennett. The full report, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, has not been found and produced by the agency despite repeated requests by journalists. Bias in […]
USAGM & Transition Team Work Plan and Requests EXCLUSIVE
USAGM Watch Commentary USAGM Watch has received a copy of “USAGM & Transition Work Plans and Request,” which was reportedly sent to the senior management of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) by the Biden USAGM transition team headed by Richard Stengel, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs during […]
Voice of America Between A Firewall and Accountability
USAGM Watch OPINION and COMMENTARY By Ted Lipien What is more important: protecting Voice of America (VOA) U.S. federal government employees and contractors working as journalists from policy influence of administration officials, or protecting U.S. citizens and foreign audiences from foreign propaganda and U.S. domestic partisan bias when VOA directors, managers editors and reporters help […]
Native Americans, 2020 Elections, and Voice of America
USAGM Watch Commentary Many U.S. news media outlets have reported that President Trump may have lost at least some states in the 2020 presidential election and Democratic Party candidates may have won some congressional and state races because Native Americans voted overwhelmingly against Trump and against Republicans. In politics, politicians usually get what they deserve, […]
Exposing’Rot’ at USAGM May Be More Likely in Liberal Media with Trump Out and Biden In
USAGM Watch Commentary Liberal U.S. media outlets, or if one prefers to call them left-leaning, were reluctant to investigate and expose journalistic abuses and violations of government laws and regulations at the $800 million U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which had occurred under the previous Obama era leadership, because such investigations and reporting might […]
Biden Ignored VOA and RFE/RL in His Article on Russian Propaganda, Needs to Reform USAGM
USAGM Watch Commentary While President-Elect Joe Biden has been a strong longtime supporter of U.S. international broadcasting, especially Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) which is incorporated in Delaware, his home state, and is expected to continue to support U.S. media outreach abroad, he was apparently not impressed in 2017 by the former senior […]
My Question for Voice of America
OPINION By Ted Lipien I don’t engage in U.S. partisan politics and do not support one U.S. presidential candidate over another. As of Friday morning, November 6, 2020, we still don’t know who will win this year’s U.S. presidential election although Biden is reported to have a slight lead in vote counting in Pennsylvania, where […]
Will Voice of America Campaign Video Help Biden Win Michigan?
USAGM Commentary This BBGWatch.com (USAGM – BBG Watch) video is about the Voice of America (VOA) Urdu Service one-sided social media presentation of a Joe Biden campaign video which violated the VOA Charter (U.S. law) and may influence how some Muslim Americans vote in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The Voice of America Charter (U.S. Public Law 94-350) says […]
Voice of America Newsroom Was Certain on Election Night 2016 Hillary Clinton Would Win
USAGM Watch Commentary The day before U.S. Election Day this year, the heads of the tax-funded Voice of America (VOA) central English newsroom sent out an e-mail stating that VOA newsroom managers, editors and reporters, who are U.S. federal government employees and in some cases government contractors “have worked very hard, planning, coordinating, assigning and […]
Obama-Biden White House Used Voice of America for Political Publicity with No Protests from VOA, Liberal Media or Congress
USAGM Watch Commentary There were no protests from the Voice of America (VOA) English central newsroom reporters, liberal media or most members of Congress when officials working for then Vice President Joe Biden in the Obama White House used VOA and its journalists for political publicity in Ukraine and in the United States with the […]
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 […]
Outgoing HFAC Chair Eliot Engel Calls for Firing of USAGM CEO Michael Pack
USAGM Watch Commentary Representative Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), outgoing Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, called for Trump-appointerd and Senate-confirmed CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) Michael Pack “to resign or be fired.” Engel Statement on USAGM Officials Breaching the “Firewall” and Targeting VOA Journalist October 5, 2020 Bronx, NY—Representative Eliot L. […]
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 […]
Domestic Propaganda By Voice of America Can Skew Election Results
OPINION By The Federalist Partisan domestic propaganda by the federally-funded and government-managed Voice of America (VOA) can skew U.S. election results. Congress should take action to defund all Voice of America programs which violate the VOA Charter ban on such domestic propaganda activities by federal employees and contractors. There was a time when VOA had […]
Voice of America Election News 1996 – 2020 Went From Balance to Bias
USAGM Watch Commentary The U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) in the $800 million U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) used to follow its VOA Charter in reporting on U.S. presidential elections. The charter, which is U.S. law, mandates that “VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present […]