Voice of America's appointment of Trump ally sparks purge fears

Democrats have warned the new Trump-appointed head of the US global media agency, which oversees Voice of America (VOA) and other broadcasters, is planning a purge of career officials that could spell the end of its editorial independence.

Donald Trump has repeatedly denounced VOA, in particular for its coverage of China, though the US-funded global broadcaster has also been targeted by the Chinese Communist party.

Earlier this month, Trump persuaded Republican senators to confirm Michael Pack, a conservative film-maker and associate of the rightwing ideologue Stephen Bannon, as the new head of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), even though Pack is currently under criminal investigation for allegedly diverting $1.6m in funds from a charity organisation he runs to his private film company, Manifold Productions.

The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the investigation.

Eliot Engel, the Democratic chair of the House foreign affairs committee, issued a late-night statement on Tuesday warning that Pack planned to fire the top ranks of USAGM career officials on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, congressional aides said the feared purge appeared to have been put off after Engel’s intervention, but that the threat remained.

“My fear is that USAGM’s role as an unbiased news organization is in jeopardy under his leadership. USAGM’s mission is ‘to inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy’ – not to be a mouthpiece for the president in the run-up to an election,” Engel said in his statement.

According to several sources, Pack has yet to enter the USAGM Washington headquarters since his Senate confirmation on 4 June but has sent loyalists ahead to prepare the ground for his arrival. According to a congressional aide, he had his future office swept for recording devices.

Brett Bruen, a former US diplomat who was director for global engagement in the Obama White House, said: “The steps that have already been taken since Pack was confirmed are deeply troubling. The agency has not been able to pay its bills for weeks because of a spending freeze he imposed. They can’t hire anyone.”

Trump appears to have been outraged that although VOA is funded by the federal government, he had not been able to control its output. The agency was set up in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and played a prominent role, alongside its sister-organisation, Radio Free Europe, in the cold war. After friction with the Nixon administration about what VOA was allowed to broadcast about Watergate, a charter was drawn up in 1976 intended to guarantee it remained “accurate, objective and comprehensive”.

Previous administrations have expressed frustration with VOA over its editorial independence when unable to dictate what it broadcasts, but never with the same gusto as Trump.

“If you hear what’s coming out of the Voice of America, it’s disgusting,” the president said in April. “The things they say are disgusting toward our country. And Michael Pack would get in and do a great job.”

The administration has accused the broadcaster of favouring Beijing in its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, but the accusation was found to be groundless by independent media watchdog. Last week, the publication of internal messages from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showed the health agency had been instructed to blacklist the VOA and not respond to its inquiries. The VOA covered the story on the “press freedom” section of its website.

Since Pack’s confirmation, there have been a string of top level other USAGM resignations. Two veteran VOA editors, Amanda Bennett and Sandra Sugawara, resigned on Monday.

“Michael Pack swore before Congress to respect and honor the firewall that guarantees VOA’s independence, which in turn plays the single most important role in the stunning trust our audiences around the world have in us,” Bennett and Sugawara said in a joint resignation statement to staff.

“We know that each one of you will offer him all of your skills, your professionalism, your dedication to mission, your journalistic integrity and your personal hard work to guarantee that promise is fulfilled.”

In his Tuesday night statement warning of an imminent purge of career broadcasters, Engel said: “Mr Pack should immediately reverse course and allow the nonpartisan public servants who run USAGM to keep doing their jobs. And Mr Pack needs to understand that USAGM is not the ministry of information.”

The USAGM website had little information about Pack on Tuesday night. A link from his name led to a description of another executive.