How Trumpism Led To An Ideological War Over Voice Of America
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2021
⏱️ 15 minutes
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Summary
"The news may be good and it may be bad. We shall tell you the truth."
The idea was to model a free press, especially for audiences in places that might not have one. Places where political parties and governments might pressure or intimidate journalists.
But over the past seven months, Voice of America and its federal parent organization, U.S. Agency for Global Media, have been caught in an ideological war. Employees say agency CEO Michael Pack, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, obsessed over staff loyalty and embraced conspiracy theories.
NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik talked to more than 60 current and former staffers. He's put together a comprehensive picture of Pack's radical tenure.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It must have been a surprise the day in February 1942 when Germans turning their radio dials |
| 0:05.7 | heard this. |
| 0:07.7 | This is a voice speaking from America, it said, breaking through a steady stream of Nazi |
| 0:15.9 | propaganda. |
| 0:16.9 | It was the debut broadcast from a U.S. government run service called Voice of America, and it would |
| 0:22.8 | bring news from an American perspective to Europe. |
| 0:26.1 | And it's very first dispatch pledged honesty. |
| 0:34.2 | When the war ended, Voice of America continued, and that promise eventually became part of |
| 0:38.7 | its mandate. |
| 0:40.0 | The idea was to model a free press, especially for audiences in places that might not have |
| 0:45.2 | one. |
| 0:46.2 | Places where political parties and governments might pressure or intimidate journalists. |
| 0:53.1 | Might demand control over how stories are told. |
| 0:56.6 | This isn't the vice of America, focusing on everything that's wrong with our great nation. |
| 1:02.2 | It's the voice of America. |
| 1:03.5 | A few weeks ago, before leaving office, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave an address at Voice |
| 1:08.5 | of America headquarters where he said the network had a much bigger mission. |
| 1:13.2 | One the Trump administration believed the VOA had lost sight of. |
| 1:17.2 | A mission to promote democracy around the world. |
| 1:20.4 | A mission Pompeo said, said it apart from the rest of the American press. |
| 1:24.6 | It is not fake news for you to broadcast that this is the greatest nation in the history |
| 1:30.4 | of the world. |
... |
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