webodec3ARCHIVEPreview
Open in TheBrain

voice of am VOA

==

see kari lake post doge cuts oann!

see michael pack stooge

420 trump target b/c of covid?

11 25

Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (.gov)

Ranking Member Shaheen Condemns Kari Lake’s Assault on U.S. Supported Independent Media in Hungary

“As President Trump welcomes Orbán to the White House, Kari Lake is seeking to erode the press freedom that remains in Hungary by claiming to...

.

2 weeks ago

KJZZ

Under oath, Kari Lake refuses to concede Arizona Senate, governor race losses

Under oath, Kari Lake refuses to concede Arizona Senate, governor race losses ... Kari Lake speaking with attendees at a meeting of the Arizona...

.

Sep 26, 2025

PBS

WATCH: Trump adviser Kari Lake testifies in hearing on U.S. agency that runs Voice of America

Kari Lake, the former Arizona newscaster turned Republican politician, testified that the U.S. Agency for Global Media is “rotten to the core”...

.

Jun 25, 2025

---

an 8 25

Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is trying to shut down government-funded media outlets she was tapped to lead, but NPR reports challengers want her to define her job title before she does it.

"The government does not operate on the whims of a ‘Kari Lake’ or even of a ‘Donald Trump’," said Democracy Defenders Fund attorney Norman Eisen, who is representing press advocacy groups in lawsuits against Lake over her effort to shutter Voice of America. "If you have a role in government, it has to be defined and documented," Eisen told NPR. "Who knows if that's a self-anointed title? One way or the other, this raises the most profound legal questions."

NPR reports the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has recently called Lake its acting CEO, but Lake may not be legally eligible for the job. That question could hold weight considering a federal judge voided directives affecting asylum rules in 2020 after finding Trump's appointment of the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was unlawful.

READ MORE: Trump's catastrophic collapse is real — and he may take us all down with him

NPR said it has “repeatedly asked the White House press office, Lake and another senior agency official” for documentation of Lake’s current role in the Trump administration, but has received no replies.

IFrame Content

IFrame Content

IFrame Content

"It's important to find out — is she really the CEO? How did she arrive there?" asked Grant Turner, who served as chief executive of USAGM during Trump's first term. "If she doesn't have that authority — and she's claiming to have the authority — then it's really just invalid. There's so many things that may come back to haunt Kari Lake and USAGM."

"Maybe she just wants to have a cool title to wave around," Turner says, "but if she really doesn't have true legal authority to have that title, then they're really just begging for problems."

Lake was a two-time unsuccessful MAGA candidate for senator and governor in Arizona before Trump announced his plan to appoint her director of Voice of America. The problem with that, said NPR, is federal law does not allow a president to unilaterally appoint a director over the agency. So Trump essentially dissolved the government advisory board set up by Congress to oversee Voice of America’s international networks and named Lake a “senior adviser” to run it.

READ MORE: Fox News abruptly ends interview with Texas Democrat after he turns question on host

The Atlantic reports Lake is now working to deport non-citizen Voice of America employees who hold J-1 visas.

Read the full NPR report at this link.

---

---

OMFG

mma

Kari Lake says Voice of America will push OAN content abroad. This is how network personalities discussed foreign policy since Trump took office.

Written by Jane Lee, Helena Hind & Isabella Corrao

Published 05/16/25

Trump adviser Kari Lake has announced that international broadcasting network Voice of America will include content from One America News Network, a pro-Trump propaganda network.

Since Donald Trump's inauguration, OAN personalities have pushed bizarre and inflammatory foreign policy commentary, including referring to Canada as “our vassal state,” calling Greenland ”the new Africa,” and pushing for a revival of “manifest destiny.” They’ve also run cover for Trump over his planned acceptance of a luxury jet from Qatar.

The Trump administration wants to feed content from OAN to Voice of America — after canceling contracts with existing wire services

OMGF DOGE AND RUBIO TRIED TO KILL MUCH OF IT?

an 525

Far-right MAGA conspiracy theorist Kari Lake was both disappointed and happy following the 2024 election — disappointed because she lost Arizona's U.S. Senate race to now-Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona), happy because Donald Trump was elected president instead of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. And Trump offered Lake a position, appointing her senior adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) — which supervises Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting as well as Radio Free Europe.

Now, according to Lake, VOA is partnering with One America News (OAN) — a far-right cable news outlet that, like Newsmax, prides itself on being to the right of Fox News and Fox News and considers itself more pro-Trump than those channels.

OAN is known for promoting conspiracy theories: After Trump lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, OAN pushed the false and repeatedly debunked claim that the election was stolen from him.

READ MORE: 'You see falls in politics — but not like this': DeSantis' star imploding amid fraud scandal

In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, May 6, Lake wrote, "United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is excited to announce a partnership with One America News Network (OAN) to provide newsfeed services to USAGM networks, including Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), Radio Martí, and Voice of America (VOA)….. This is an enormous benefit to the American taxpayer, who is the sole-source of funding for USAGM's news outlets, which broadcast only to international audiences."

IFrame Content

IFrame Content

IFrame Content

Lake added, "In my current role as Senior Advisor to USAGM, I don't have editorial control over the content of VOA and OCB programming, but I can ensure our outlets have reliable and credible options as they work to craft their reporting and news programs."

Lake's announcement is receiving a lot of reactions on X.

MeidasTouch's Ron Filipkowski tweeted, "Sure, why not wreck another great American institution that has been a beacon of light around the world for decades and replace it MAGA’s North Korean style media."

READ MORE:'Be more relatable': GOP begs Trump to stop talking about dolls

Awful Announcing's Ben Koo posted, "Absolutely brutal. VOA's reach is a very impressive ~330 million people a week. Outsourcing this content to OAN via an assist from Kari Lake..... just a really tough one to swallow. I recommend the 60 Minutes piece on VOA (available on Youtube) if unfamiliar."

RussOnPolitics' Russell Drew wrote, "Kari Lake turning Voice of America into a pro-Trump propaganda machine by piping in OAN content is insanity. VOA was meant to represent American values abroad — not far-right disinformation. This is how democracies rot from the inside. A nightmare move by a nightmare figure."

X user John Sellers wrote, "Goebbels lives."

Another X user, Harold Gallagher, posted, "Lake is unfit and unqualified. Bonafide Fox News Trash."

X user Julio Cesar wrote, "A former weather girl turned fascist grifter who spreads insane QAnon propaganda running VOA. What could possibly go wrong?"

Bannon: “The people of Voice of America ought to be on notice right now, under no circumstances start destroying documents”

12/13/24

mma

Steve Bannon praises Trump's pick of Kari Lake to lead Voice of America: “Edward R. Murrow, you're stepping into his shoes”

12/12/24 11:58 AM EST

  1. ### Kari Lake, Trump’s VOA pick, hates the “fake news” — and called Fox a “globalist network”

12/12/24

an 5 23

michael Pack, the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees Voice of America, was recently found responsible for several instances of misconduct, according to a federal inquiry, Rolling Stone reports.

Per NPR, the former President Donald Trump appointed leader, in 2020, "met with a career employee to discuss which senior leaders at the agency and the Voice of America should be forced out due to their perceived political beliefs," and "firing someone over political affiliation is typically a violation of federal civil service law."

Rolling Stone reports:

The Office of Special Counsel found that 'during his less-than-eight-month tenure CEO [Michael] Pack was responsible for numerous improper activities,' including 'abuse of authority, gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, or a violation of law, rule, or regulation.' The OSC's report concluded that Pack 'abused his authority and retaliated against career USAGM executives who engaged in whistleblowing.'

READ MORE:**'A ton of weirdness' is ripping apart the Republican Party: conservative**

Furthermore, according to Rolling Stone "the OSC found thatPack interfered with independent journalism at Voice of America and other outlets he oversaw; retaliated against executives who filed whistleblower complaints; and mismanaged and wasted funds by paying $1.6 million in a confidential, no-bid contract to a Virginia law firm to investigate USAGM executives. Pack also 'restricted employee communications with outside parties [and] failed to exempt legally protected disclosures.'"

Regarding what was said about employees' political beliefs, NPR reports an employee wrote "Hates Republicans" in a memo, while another said, "Openly despises Trump and Republicans."

David Seide, a lawyer "with the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit public interest law firm which has represented more than 30 whistleblowers at USAGM, VOA and its sister networks since Pack took office," according to NPR, said, "This report is remarkable in its breadth and depth and detail of the wrongdoing that was underway at these agencies in the last six months of the Trump administration."

https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/voice-of-america

no twt

President Donald Trump's appointed head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media is barred from making any further editorial or personnel decisions following a series of injunctions issued by a federal courtlate Friday, in what journalists called a major rebuke of the Trump administration's attempt to reshape government-funded news broadcasters.

In Washington, D.C., Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howellruled in favor of five USAGM executives who were fired or suspended in August at the direction of CEO Michael Pack, who took the helm of the agency in June and promptly dismissed several career officials in what was called a "Wednesday night massacre."

Current and former USAGM employees applauded the ruling, with chief strategy officer Shawn Powers tweeting that Pack "has repeatedly and intentionally violated the First Amendment rights" of journalists at the agency.

twt]

the five former employees sued to stopPack, a close associate of former White House adviser and Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon, from interfering in the editorial affairs of Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia, and other broadcasters which operate under the USAGM.

The lawsuit was filed after Pack opened an investigation into VOA's chief White House reporter, Steve Herman, over unspecified concerns that he displayed an anti-Trump bias. The plaintiffs and many other critics inside and outside of the agency saidPack violated the "firewall" between political appointees and the broadcasters' newsrooms which is meant to keep the organizations from becoming mouthpieces for the White House.

Progressive critics have long considered VOA a vehicle for U.S. government propaganda overseas, promoting American-friendly coverage of world events. However, the overt takeover by a Trump loyalist has raised alarm since June.

A month after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a party-line vote to run the agency, the USAGM announced it would not renew visas for foreign journalists, potentially sending dozens of reporters who have worked for VOA and other broadcasters for years, back to countries where they could be persecuted. The decision was attributed by many critics to the Trump administration's "xenophobia."

Under Howell's order, Pack will no longer be able to make personnel decisions for the remainder of his tenure, which is set to end in January when President-elect Joe Biden takes office. He also will not be permitted to communicate directly with editorial teams or investigate editors or their news stories.

Howell said Pack's investigation of Herman imposed "an unconstitutional prior restraint not just on Herman's speech, but on the speech of [Herman's editors] and journalists at VOA."

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik called Howell's ruling a "tremendous rebuke" of Pack's actions during his five months at USAGM.

fROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

https://theintercept.com/2020/10/05/voa-reporters-conflict-of-interest-memo

AMID ALLEGATIONS OF political interference at Voice of America, a Trump ally who heads the outlet’s parent agency has issued restrictive policy guidelines on conflicts of interest that would require journalists who are publicly critical of government agencies to recuse themselves from covering that agency. As an example, it says journalists who “like” a social media comment that “disparages the President” should recuse themselves from covering Donald Trump.

On Sunday afternoon, VOA staff were sent a memo on the policy dated October 2 by Michael Pack, a former conservative filmmaker who is currently the CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, the agency that oversees VOA. Pack was previously a close associate of former White House adviser and far-right activist Steve Bannon. The memo, which was first reported Sunday night by NPR, was accompanied by an updated “social media policy” that reflects Pack’s guidance.

Intercept spoke with three VOA journalists about the memo, all of whom requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly. The three journalists said the policy had sparked immediate concern that such a broad definition of “conflicts of interest” could be used to target journalists whose coverage VOA management deemed too critical of the Trump administration. Two of the journalists also expressed concerns that Pack’s guidance ran afoul of the agency’s “firewall” — a legal requirement that VOA remain free from government interference, including from USAGM.

A spokesperson for USAGM did not respond to multiple requests for comment,

[doc]

all three journalists also described an increasingly aggressive internal review process, in which VOA managers review rank-and-file journalists’ coverage for evidence of political bias. On Sunday, NPR reported that VOA’s longtime and scrupulously neutral White House reporter Steve Herman was the subject of such an internal investigation into whether his coverage of the White House was biased. Two journalists at VOA told The Intercept that a number of other investigations have taken place of less high-profile reporters, often resulting in reporters being told to provide more airtime for right-wing viewpoints.

“Conflicts of interest are not limited to those involving the recipient of money, ownership of stock, or gifts. The rule is broader,” the memo says. “Simply put, it is a conflict of interest for a journalist to participate personally and substantially in reporting on an issue: (1) in which they have a personal interest or (2) have publically personally expressed a political opinion.”

The conflict of interest policy outlined by Pack goes further than typical journalistic ethics policies, which usually stress neutrality or objectivity but do not characterize voicing a single opinion as a conflict.

The memo goes on to say that public criticism offered on any issue is grounds for recusal from reporting on that issue. The memo offers as an example if a VOA journalist “publicly criticizes the U.S. Department of Justice’s leadership for, among other things, implementing the policies and protecting the prerogatives of the Administration,” they “must recuse themselves from reporting on the Department and the part of the Administration implicated by the criticism.” The memo also says that staff should not cover any issue in which they are affected by government policy, giving the example that J-1 visa holders should “recuse themselves from any story involving J-1 visas.”

The memo cites the New York Times’s Ethical Journalism Handbook and the Washington Post’s “Policies and Standards” Page, which respectively contain language about “neutrality” and “fairness.” But the CEO’s memo turns minor violations of journalistic objectivity — a malleable concept to begin with — into a punishable offense. And, against the backdrop of Pack’s tenure at USAGM, employees worry that the broad standard lays a groundwork that could be used to punish journalists or water down coverage of the Trump administration.

One VOA journalist told The Intercept that “this new guidance is so vague and so broad that it could be used to silence journalists for covering almost anything within their own countries. … If a journalist working in the U.S. on a J-1 visa can’t cover the J-1 visa issue, can a journalist in America who breathes air not cover policy about clean air?”

The memo says that other behavior, like “liking” a comment on Facebook, can be scrutinized as well. “For example, a journalist who on Facebook ‘likes’ a comment or political cartoon that aggressively attacks or disparages the President must recuse themselves from covering the President,” the memo says.

Bill Grueskin, a professor of professional practice at Columbia Journalism School, told The Intercept by email that conflict of interest policies typically define a “conflict” more narrowly. He gave examples like holding stock in a company you cover or having a spouse at the agency you cover.

“We can all be personally affected by almost any government action, whether it’s adjusting Social Security contributions or living near a national forest,” Grueskin wrote. “By setting such vague standards, VOA is opening up the possibility that these policies will be enforced arbitrarily, to harass reporters who don’t fall in line with the agenda their bosses are pushing.”

Pack’s memo has also raised concerns about VOA’s “firewall,” a policy that exists to protect VOA from outside government influence. VOA’s firewall is written into its congressional charter. Passed into law by the 1994 Broadcasting Act, the firewall “prohibits interference by any U.S. government official in the objective, independent reporting of news … free of political interference,” VOA’s website says. “The firewall ensures that VOA can make the final decisions on what stories to cover, and how they are covered.”

Thomas Kent, a former president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who also teaches at Columbia University, told The Intercept that the networks under USAGM, including VOA, have an obligation to set policies for fairness and neutrality. “The law says that the government and the head of USAGM should not be making editorial decisions and must respect the editorial decisions of all the networks. In that sense, I think that a memo of this sort should be coming from the heads of the networks, not the head of USAGM,” Kent said.

Related
How Voice of America Persian Became a Trump Administration PR Machine

**According to NPR, Pack’s memo has already been the subject of a whistleblower complaint filed by the Government Accountability Project alleging that it violates the VOA firewall by telling VOA leadership how to assign reporters to different stories and beat**s.

“The firewall is very clear. The USAGM CEO is not supposed to be sending out any kind of messaging about how news should be covered — how and by whom,” said a journalist interviewed by The Intercept. But another didn’t agree, saying that it was within Pack’s purview to send “best practices,” not specific instructions, for journalists to abide by.

One VOA journalist told The Intercept that the memo will contribute to a “culture of fear” under Pack and that employees have worried their past social media “likes” might come under scrutiny. “This feels like they are going after us,” the journalist said. “The example that was given in the letter was quite specific. It’s certainly making a lot of people nervous, including myself.”

**Since Pack became the head of USAGM in June, he has been accused of trying to politicize coverage at VOA.** Shortly after his confirmation, hefired the heads of four media organizations under USAGM’s purview, including the heads of Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. Pack later gave an interview with pro-Trump news outlet The Federalist, in which he speculated that the groups he oversaw would be “a great place to put a foreign spy” — a comment some in VOA thought could subject their overseas colleagues to reprisals. And in the same interview, while stressing that he would not tell specific journalists what to report, he nonetheless said it was his job “to drain the swamp, to root out corruption and to deal with these issues of bias.”

Pack’s comments caused controversy at VOA, and a group of 14 journalists at VOA signed a letter denouncing the actions and remarks about spies. One source told The Intercept that Pack’s past comments are an important factor in how VOA employees are viewing the new guidance.

“Given Pack’s past comments saying that there is an inherent left-wing bias in VOA and … that his job is to correct that bias, this kind of sudden emphasis on our social media policy very much makes me think that they’re looking at some of our social media profiles online to substantiate those claims.”

omfg

https://www.startribune.com/senate-panel-advances-trump-pick-to-head-voa-other-outlets/570661342/

m Pack, now a nominee to lead the United States Agency for Global Media, which oversees the Voice of America, in Washington, on Feb. 9, 2006.

WASHINGTON — A bitterly divided Senate panel voted along party lines Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s choice to head the Voice of America and other U.S. government-funded international broadcasters that have been the subject of harsh criticism from the White House.

After rejecting eight Democratic requests to postpone the move, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent Michael Pack’s nomination to the full Senate on a 12-10 vote. Pack is Trump’s choice to run the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA and its sister outlets like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Cuba-oriented Radio and Television Marti.

Democrats oppose the nomination of Pack, a former associate of Trump political adviser Steve Bannon, in part because of questions about his past business dealings. Recent criticism of VOA from Trump and the White House has intensified their concerns about his nomination.

Trump has pushed for Pack’s confirmation while launching unprecedented attacks on the Voice of America, the venerable broadcaster created during World War II to air independent news and promote American values to the world, for its coverage of China’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Democrats fear that Pack, a conservative filmmaker and former educator, could turn the organization into a Trump propaganda machine funded with more than $200 million a year in taxpayer money. Trump has mused about his desire to control a media outlet.

Pack has dismissed concerns he would allow that to happen, but the recent furor has reignited those concerns. The top Democrat on the committee. New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, and other Democrats said the vote should be delayed because Pack has not yet answered questions about discrepancies in tax returns related to a non-profit organization he runs.

Yet, the uproar over Voice of America and its recent coverage of China’s handling of the pandemic overshadowed the possible legal issues. It has become a touchstone in the Trump administration’s efforts to criticize Chinese authorities for the outbreak and deflect criticism of the U.S. response as the 2020 presidential campaign heats up.

Trump and his allies have long viewed VOA with suspicion, regarding it as an element of a “deep state” trying to thwart their policies. The hostility burst open on April 9 when Trump communications adviser Dan Scavino posted a VOA story about China to his official Twitter account with the comment “American taxpayers—paying for China’s very own propaganda, via the U.S. Government funded Voice of America! DISGRACE!!”

The story that VOA posted — about the lifting of the lockdown in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus first emerged — was actually an Associated Press report, but the following day, an official White House publication accused VOA of using taxpayer money “to speak for authoritarian regimes.” Trump weighed in several days later, calling VOA’s coverage “disgusting” and demanding that the Senate confirm Pack.

A planned vote on Pack's nomination was delayed earlier this month after the Washington, D.C., attorney general informed Menendez and committee chairman Jim Risch, R-Texas, that it had an open civil investigation into the tax return discrepancies.

vOA Persian Awarded Journalism Contract to Controversial Former Trump Campaign Operative

Lee Fang

Since 2016, the U.S. government-funded news outlet has turned to “blatant propaganda” designed to promote regime change in Iran.

READ MORE →

http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/04/trump-taps-bannon-ally-for-top-broadcasting-job-michael-pack-broadcasting-board-of-governors-voice-of-america-radio-free-europe-asia/

Trump has tapped a conservative filmmaker who is a close ally of former White House strategist Steve Bannon to lead the broadcasting arm of the U.S. government, a $685 million agency that oversees prominent U.S.-funded outlets including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Michael Pack, who ran the conservative Claremont Institute, is a sharp critic of what he calls the “politically correct agenda” at universities around the country, where he says liberal media professors indoctrinate students with courses on environmental filmmaking and gay culture.

The White House on Friday evening announced Pack’s nomination to be CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The position requires Senate confirmation.

If confirmed, Pack will take over a troubled government agency roiled by fierce political infighting since Trump took office, according to sources inside the board and others familiar with internal deliberation.

In addition to VOA and RFE/RL, Pack would oversee the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, which collectively reach 278 million people each week in 61 languages around the world, according to the board’s own figures. The Trump administration requested $661 million for the agency’s budget in fiscal year 2019.

Pack, a former executive of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, has worked on two documentaries with Bannon. In an article he wrote last year, Pack said liberals had a “politically correct stranglehold” over film schools.

“Students are treated to courses on environmental filmmaking, social media, gay and lesbian films, activist filmmaking, which all push the familiar politically correct agenda,” he wrote in The Federalist.

“Students are taught to make films that view American history and society solely through the lens of race, class, and gender. Professors in film studies tend to be even more liberal than their counterparts in other disciplines. Each year, they indoctrinate a new crop of tens of thousands of young students.”

Critics have raised alarm bells over the proposed appointment under a new management configuration, saying Trump could turn the Broadcasting Board of Governors into his own personal propaganda machine — a charge other experts dismiss because the CEO has no editorial oversight over the sprawling organization.

Traditionally, the board was overseen by a bipartisan board of directors, but a provision of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act passed under former President Barack Obama gave them a mandate to dissolve the board, consolidate power into the CEO position, and create a new board that only serves in an advisory capacity.

==

https://www.alternet.org/donald-trumps-trade-war-masks-darker-agenda-aiding-far-right-europe

djt moron but

there are others with a more sophisticated agenda, however, which may be even more concerning since they seem to see Trump as a useful tool. One of those is former Trump campaign chief and senior adviser Steve Bannon, who has been out of the limelight these last few months. The last we heard Trump was calling him "sloppy Steve," but apparently Bannon hasn't lost his affection for the big guy in spite of that. Frankly, Trump may not have lost his for Bannon either -- as long as someone is willing to kiss his ring he'll invite them back into his circle before long.

Fareed Zakaria interviewed Bannon in Rome recently where he was enthusiastically cheering on the chaos of the recent Italian elections, implying that a new day of economic populism was surging across Europe like a Panzer division on methamphetamines. He was full of the usual contradictions and muddled philosophical compost, but he essentially made the case that right-wing nationalism is the wave of the future, while trying unconvincingly to claim that race, ethnicity and religion have nothing whatsoever to do with it. He sputtered his way through an unconvincing explanation about how Trump's massive tax cuts were the basis of Trump's economic populism:

Europe is about a year ahead of the United States. . . . You see populist-nationalist movements with reform [here]. . . . You could begin to see the elements of Bernie Sanders coupled with the Trump movement that really becomes a dominant political force in American politics.

It's hard to say what's going to happen in America but it's hard to imagine a successful marriage between Sanders' left-wing populism and Trump's right-wing nativism. The xenophobia and racism is a real sticking point.

In Europe there is certainly a rising right-wing movement that Bannon and his allies are closely observing, presumably for tips on how to use Trump to make it happen in America. For instance, Trump's newly confirmed ambassador to Germany, a former right-wing hit man and odious Twitter troll named Richard Grenell, has made one of the worst first impressions of any diplomat in history with this tweet:

There was widespread indignation from across the German political spectrum but Grenell refused to back down, basically telling the German people he was only following orders:

Mind you, he was the only U.S. ambassador to do such a thing. Over the weekend Grenell went even further, giving an interview to Breitbart News in which he said he was “excited” by the rise of far-right parties in Europe and was prepared “to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders.” Breitbart reported:

Unafraid to name names, Mr Grenell expressed a deep respect and admiration for the young Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz saying, “Look, I think Sebastian Kurz is a rockstar. I’m a big fan.”

Chancellor Kurz, leader of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), formed a coalition with the populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) earlier this year, and has been one of the strongest advocates for securing the European Union’s external border.

Not long after the formation of the coalition, Kurz stood up to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, rejecting the controversial European Union migrant quota system. He was also been [sic] a leading conservative on the topic of counter-Islamisation while Foreign Minister in the previous coalition government, advocating and helping to pass a ban on the full-face Islamic veil.

The German government was not amused. According to Robert Mackay at The Intercept, it "demanded a formal explanation from the United States on Monday of what, exactly, the new U.S. ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell, meant when he promised to use his office to help far-right nationalists inspired by Donald Trump take power across Europe." Grenell tweeted that he did not plan to endorse anyone but stood by his claim that Europe, like America, is “experiencing an awakening from the silent majority — those who reject the elites and their bubble. Led by Trump.”

No doubt America's European allies were thrilled to hear that, especially with the neo-fascist rumblings coming from Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and now Slovenian right-wing nationalist Janez Janša.

The trade war is bad enough. White nationalist Trumpers stomping around Europe shooting off their mouths and giving support to far right politicians is making it worse.

In a detail nearly no one will notice, Trump just named a right-wing academic and filmmaker named Michael Pack, who is allied with Bannon, to lead the broadcasting arm of the U.S. government, a $685 million agency that oversees prominent outlets such as the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. What could possibly go wrong there?

==

==

kos

The government-run Voice of America network reaches an international audience of 278 million in 100 countries with the goal of being "a consistently reliable source of news and information," where "accuracy and balance are paramount." But from the moment Donald Trump was inaugurated, many people have begun to fear the news outlet is being morphed into a propaganda machine that could also be broadcast within the U.S. Tara Palmeri writes:

The arrival of the two aides – both political operatives from Trump’s campaign – comes after Voice of America received blowback over the weekend for sending out a series of tweets about White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s claims about inauguration crowd size that looked to some like an endorsement of his false statements. The news outlet later deleted one of the tweets.

The concern among some staffers is especially acute because Trump’s administration is getting control over the broadcasting agency just weeks after Congress moved to eliminate the board of directors that had served as an integrity check on the organization, instead consolidating power with a CEO position appointed by the president.

VOA had been exclusively broadcast outside the U.S., but legislative changes made in 2013 now enable it to be broadcast to an American audience. Given Trump’s executive control over leadership and the outlet's potential reach, VOA could provide him with the personalized TV station he has been craving for years.

Some senior staffers have already expressed reservations about the backgrounds of Trump’s political operatives. Schuck, a 2012 graduate from Montgomery College, was a staff writer for the right-wing website the Daily Surge until April 2015.

“There’s concern among the journalists about what these guys are going to be doing,” said the senior VOA staffer. “People are hanging tight, seeing what will happen.”

Trump’s ego is an abyss and now that he’s pr*sident, anything that might feed the beast is up for grabs. If he decides to turn Voice of America into a propaganda machine that inflates the size of his crowds or doesn’t run stories that might not reflect favorably on him, he certainly has the control at present to do it.==

Trump moves to put his own stamp on Voice of America

The president dispatches two aides to the broadcasting agency that came under fire over the weekend for its Trump coverage.

By TARA PALMERI 01/23/17 06:13 PM EST Updated 01/24/17 07:01 PM EST

President Donald Trump on Monday dispatched two aides to scope out the studios of Voice of America, heightening concerns among some longtime staffers that Trump may quickly put his stamp on the broadcasting arm that has long pushed U.S. democratic ideals across the world.

The arrival of the two aides – both political operatives from Trump’s campaign – comes after Voice of America received blowback over the weekend for sending out a series of tweets about White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s claims about inauguration crowd size that looked to some like an endorsement of his false statements. The news outlet later deleted one of the tweets.

The concern among some staffers is especially acute because Trump’s administration is getting control over the broadcasting agency just weeks after Congress moved to eliminate the board of directors that had served as an integrity check on the organization, instead consolidating power with a CEO position appointed by the president.

As POLITICO reported last month, that change – along with a prior shift that allows the network to legally reach a U.S. audience -- had stoked fears among some agency officials that Voice of America could serve as an unfettered propaganda arm for the former reality TV star.

On the first Monday of his administration, Trump, who has flirted with the idea of launching his own TV network, deployed two “transition officials” who will evaluate the managers and studios of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which has an annual budget of $800 million and includes Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcast Networks.

Trump campaign New Hampshire state director Matthew Ciepielowski and Wisconsin communications director Matthew Schuck will be “temporarily assigned” to the CEO suite at the BBG where they will work with senior management “to ensure an open, transparent and seamless transition of the BBG to the Trump Administration,” according to an email by CEO John F. Lansing to staff obtained by POLITICO.

In a statement to POLITICO on Tuesday, Lansing emphasized the agency's independence.

“The BBG, including Voice of America and our other four networks, is an independent federal agency that is legally mandated to produce objective, professional and independent journalism designed to engage, inform and connect with people around the world in support of freedom and democracy," Lansing said. "As is routine for many federal agencies during any presidential transition, yesterday we welcomed the two-person landing team from the Trump administration. We look forward to working with them as we continue to fulfill our mission, and support the independence of our journalists around the world.”

The timing of the Trump aides' arrival is not necessarily unusual – the Obama administration also sent transition officials to the BBG during his transition in 2009.

But some senior staffers have already expressed reservations about the backgrounds of Trump’s political operatives.Schuck, a 2012 graduate from Montgomery College, was a staff writer for the right-wing website the Daily Surge until April 2015.

“There’s concern among the journalists about what these guys are going to be doing,” said the senior VOA staffer. “People are hanging tight, seeing what will happen.”

A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.

Public scrutiny of the broadcasting agency’s articles has already started.

Voice of America director Amanda Bennett explained that she pulled a tweet on VOA’s official account that featured Spicer’s erroneous statement that “this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period — both in person and around the globe,” following blowback from the account’s 905,000 followers, some of whom argued the agency shouldn’t be promoting his comments without a fact check.

“Irony is that VOA's reason for existing was to provide truth to those who lived where the government controlled the press,” tweeted Stuart Stevens, a former advisor to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, in response to the tweet.

Other Twitter followers called the network “pure propaganda” and “embarrassing,” and urged the network to have “self-respect” for tweeting out Spicer’s words, without additional fact-checking.

Bennett also said she temporarily pulled a story about an ethics complaint lodged against the Trump administration because it didn’t have a response from a Trump representative. The story was reposted later with a comment from Trump’s attorney Sheri Dillon.

Bennett said she was not ordered by the Trump administration to pull the story or the tweet.

“Ever since I arrived here in April I have been extremely firm that we need to follow absolutely the best journalistic practices – which include a diligent focus on facts and objectivity,” Bennett told POLITICO in an e-mail. “For the last nine months, we have been routinely pulling stories that do not meet those standards and asking that they be redone, or that additional reporting be done.”

In a phone conversation later on Monday, Bennett added, "I know that everyone is looking to say that we're being manipulated by the Trump administration, we're absolutely not.”

The Broadcasting Board of Governors is the largest public diplomacy program by the U.S. government, reaching an audience of 278 million by broadcasting in 100 countries and 61 languages. Voice of America was created in 1942 during World War II to send pro-democracy news across Europe, as it aimed to counter Nazi and Japanese propaganda. The agency has since evolved into a more traditional news operation, while still pushing out the virtues of democracy worldwide.

Early last month, a provision buried into the National Defense Authorization Act called for disbanding the bipartisan board of the BBG, pleasing critics who said the part-time board was ineffective but alarming others who feared an accountability layer was being swept away.

A former board member said on Monday that the editorial team may have not received marching orders from the new administration but that they’re aware of the new power of Trump’s team to take over the organization without the firewall of a bipartisan board.

“They’re clearly just trying to stay in stead with their new bosses to keep their jobs,” said the former BBG board member. “If they’re starting to turn this into Pravda before they are even told to.”

The status of the board is in limbo, however, since Obama added a signing statement to the NDAA, saying it was unconstitutional to get rid of the board because it violates his constitutional right of appointment. Another uncertainty is that Lansing can be replaced at any time for a CEO appointed by the president.

At the editorial level, there’s been caution against posting stories that don’t have a response from the Trump administration, according to a senior VOA staffer. “I think there’s going to be more of a focus on making sure that we’re balanced,” the staffer said.

Bennett said she met on Monday with Trump’s representatives, Schuck and Ciepielowski, who she said will not be involved in news decisions.

"I met with them, we gave them a briefing. We're going to be showing them around,” she said. “If people are concerned, a lot of people have been through transitions before and this is standard procedure. We gave them the briefing book."

When asked if she had any concerns about their prior jobs, she said, "They are who they are. They are filling a function that is exactly the same as it would be in any administration."

And Bennett said Voice of America is not changing course under the new administration. "We are trying to do the best journalism we can, and follow the highest journalistic standards is the only way we're going to operate,” she said.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/donald-trump-voice-america-234078

==

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/voice-of-america-fears-being-turned-into-a-propaganda-outlet-after-trump-appoints-campaign-staff/

Donald Trump “temporarily assigned” two campaign operatives to the Voice of America this week, sparking fears that he could turn the broadcasting agency into his own personal propaganda network.

The Trump administration gained control over the State Department-run VOA just weeks after Congress voted to eliminate its board of directors and turned over its administration to a chief executive position appointed by the president, reported MSNBC.

Matthew Ciepielowski and Matthew Schuck, who worked for the Trump campaign in New Hampshire and Wisconsin, visited the Broadcasting Board of Governors on Monday to discuss VOA’s hand-over to the Trump administration.

Their visit, along with the restructuring of VOA oversight, has raised concerns that the former reality TV star might politicize the broadcast network for his own benefit.

The board of governors has an annual budget of $800 million to operate Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcast Networks.

VOA is subsidized by the U.S. government, but its overseas broadcasts have traditionally remained nonpartisan and promoted American-style democracy throughout the world.

A previous chairman of that board of governors, Kenneth Tomlinson, resigned in 2005 after a State Department investigation found that he’d run a horse-racing operation from his office and improperly put a friend on the payroll.

Tomlinson got that job during the George W. Bush administration after a controversial tenure at the Corporation for Public Broadcaster.

He also was accused of politicizing the board by suppressing reports due to perceived “liberal bias” and purging political enemies from the agency.

==