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Washington: Secretary of State Michael Pompeo pressed the Voice of America to be less critical of the U.S., delivering a speech that appeared at odds with the news organization’s mandate to maintain editorial independence from the government.
Pompeo’s address Monday at the Voice of America headquarters in Washington where he said VOA “isn’t the place to give authoritarian regimes in Beijing or Tehran a platform” adds to efforts in the waning days of the Trump administration to rein in the government-funded broadcaster.
“It is not fake news for you to broadcast that this is the greatest nation in the history of the world and the greatest nation this civilization has ever known,” Pompeo said. “I’m not saying ignore our faults. Indeed, just the opposite. It is to acknowledge them. But this isn’t the Vice of America, focusing on everything that’s wrong with our great nation. It’s the Voice of America.”
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Pompeo scolds Voice of America, says it should promote U.S. as greatest nation in the history of the world
Nick Wadhams, Bloomberg
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo chastises Voice of America, saying it should promote the United States as the greatest nation this civilization has ever known. He is photographed on Dec. 9, 2020, in Atlanta.Bloomberg photo by Elijah Nouvelage
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo pressed Voice of America to be less critical of the U.S., delivering a speech that appeared at odds with the news organization s mandate to maintain editorial independence from the government.
Bloomberg: Pompeo Demands Voice of America Promote U.S. as the Greatest
Pompeo Demands Voice of America Promote U.S. as the Greatest
This article features Government Accountability Project and was originally published here.
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo pressed the Voice of America to be less critical of the U.S., delivering a speech that appeared at odds with the news organization’s mandate to maintain editorial independence from the government.
Pompeo’s address Monday at the Voice of America headquarters in Washington where he said VOA “isn’t the place to give authoritarian regimes in Beijing or Tehran a platform” adds to efforts in the waning days of the Trump administration to rein in the government-funded broadcaster.
Pack has decided on the latter. The most consequential prerogative of the USAGM CEO is to name the heads of USAGM’s “entities”: the directors of its two agencies, Voice of America and Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio Martí) and the presidents of its three nonprofit corporations, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra and Radio Sawa).
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In his choices, during what is likely the last weeks of his leadership, Pack deployed the equivalent of grenades to destroy the credibility of the U.S. international broadcasting before and, to some extent, after the Biden administration takes over.