Three Key Takeaways:
- Donald Trump signed an executive order to eliminate the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America, due to concerns about bias and failure to uphold its mission.
- Former CEO Michael Pack exposed VOA’s pro-Biden and anti-Trump bias, citing examples like a Biden campaign ad aired on VOA’s Urdu service and a 2016 Robert De Niro ad attacking Trump.
- Pack argues that VOA is beyond reform due to entrenched bias, lack of consensus on promoting American ideals, and changes in the media landscape, supporting Trump’s decision to shut it down and reimagine international broadcasting.
Donald Trump just made a major move to drain the Swamp.
The Left is fuming with rage over what’s coming next.
And Trump left Democrats speechless with what he wants to do to Voice of America.
Trump targets international broadcasting agency for elimination
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 14 calling for the elimination of the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
This agency oversees five international broadcasters, including Voice of America, which was created to broadcast news and American ideals worldwide.
Trump’s order sent shockwaves through the Washington, D.C. establishment who consider these agencies untouchable despite their long history of problems.
But one former Trump official says the President is absolutely right.
“There is an important role for international broadcasting, perhaps in a different form. First, we have to tear it down. Then we can rebuild it from the ground up for the modern era,” former U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
Pack, who served as the agency’s first Senate-confirmed CEO during the first Trump administration, says the organization is broken beyond repair.
Voice of America caught red-handed promoting Biden
When Pack took over the agency in 2020, he discovered rampant anti-Trump bias that violated the organization’s charter.
In one shocking example, VOA’s Urdu service, which broadcasts to Pakistan, ran an English-language video that amounted to nothing more than a Biden campaign advertisement.
“Likely intended to be seen by Michigan voters, the video featured President Biden asking for the votes of Muslims,” Pack revealed.
This wasn’t even the first time VOA had inappropriately promoted a Democrat candidate.
“During the 2016 campaign, VOA’s Ukrainian service ran Robert De Niro’s infamous ad insulting Mr. Trump, calling him a punk, a dog and a pig and saying, ‘I’d like to punch him in the face,'” Pack wrote.
When Pack attempted to hold those responsible accountable, career bureaucrats fought him at every turn.
Deep State obstructed reform efforts
Pack’s attempts to reform Voice of America were thwarted by an organized coalition of entrenched bureaucrats, biased judges, and left-wing media allies.
When Pack tried to discipline those responsible for the pro-Biden advertisement, senior officials sued the agency.
“Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in their favor. My effort at reform failed,” Pack wrote.
This experience convinced Pack that any future reform efforts would face the same resistance.
“Any new team Mr. Trump brings in now would face the same organized coalition of forces, inside and outside the agency, ready to fight any reform, with the bureaucrats planning to outlast them,” Pack explained.
Three major problems make VOA unfixable
Pack identified three fundamental problems that make Voice of America impossible to reform.
First, VOA journalists are hopelessly biased, modeling themselves after CNN and The New York Times, which they consider objective news sources.
“They now work for a Republican President, whom they despise,” Pack said.
Second, there’s no longer agreement on what American ideals to promote.
“During the Cold War, there was a loose consensus about promoting the values of democracy and freedom against communist totalitarianism abroad. Not so today,” Pack wrote.
Finally, the media landscape has completely changed since VOA was created during World War II.
“Nowadays, many émigré groups and online communities have formed their own websites to get the truth out. In this new landscape, what is the proper role of international broadcasting, and when does government sponsorship hurt more than it helps?” Pack asked.
For these reasons, Pack supports Trump’s move to shut down the agency.
“We are in a war of ideas against powerful enemies around the world. To fight for American ideals, we need all the tools of public diplomacy, including international broadcasting, reconceived and reimagined,” Pack wrote.
The Deep State bureaucrats at Voice of America will fight Trump’s efforts to shutter the agency tooth and nail.
But Trump’s executive order is the first step in ending an agency that has become nothing more than a megaphone for left-wing political narratives at taxpayer expense.
