Trump Ousts Global Broadcasting Board: What’s Next for Lake, Bozell?

The Trump administration ousted members of the board that would hire Kari Lake to head up the Voice of America, potentially easing her appointment to the long-troubled international broadcasting agency.

Meanwhile, there is still no date set for a Senate committee confirmation hearing for L. Brent Bozell III to be chief of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the parent agency of VOA. 

President Donald Trump set out to push ambitious reforms for the long-troubled international broadcasting agencies. The USAGM is the parent agency of VOA. 

Bozell requires Senate approval. Lake, Trump’s choice to run Voice of America, would be hired by the International Broadcasting Advisory Board, members of which require Senate approval. The Office of Personnel Management notified board members of their removal in late January, a Wall Street Journal reporter first noted. 

With much on its agenda, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hasn’t shown a record of prioritizing the international broadcasting agency—even though both President Joe Biden and now Trump in his second term addressed the USAGM early in their terms. 

On his first day in office, Jan. 20, 2021, Biden fired USAGM CEO Michael Pack, who was nominated by Trump in 2018, but not confirmed by the Senate until 2020. 

Biden’s nominee to replace Pack, Amanda Bennett, wasn’t confirmed by the Senate until September 2022, almost a year after her November 2021 nomination. 

The White House and the Foreign Relations Committee didn’t have on the record comments on the matter Wednesday. The USAGM responded that it does not comment on presidential nominees.

The U.S. Agency for Global Media posted on X on Tuesday: “VOA provides trusted and objective news and information to a weekly audience of more than 362 million people worldwide. For 83 years, VOA journalists have told American stories and supplied content that many cannot get locally.”

That same day, Politico reported that some employees of Voice of America, quoted anonymously in the article, were upset by Trump’s selections of Bozell and Lake. It also reported VOA employees were concerned Trump would “appoint a board full of Trump loyalists.”

Bozell is the founder and president of the Media Research Center, which documents liberal bias in legacy media outlets. Lake is a former longtime TV news anchor in Arizona before she ran as a Republican candidate for governor and U.S. Senate.  

The U.S. Agency for Global Media and Voice of America have struggled with past scandals regarding both news reporting and finances. 

Last summer, the House Foreign Affairs Committee released a report that found whistleblower allegations of abuse by a senior agency executive had merit, including using taxpayer funds for personal travel, falsified educational credentials, and favoritism.  

An independent audit of the USAGM for fiscal years 2021 and 2022 found deficiencies in internal controls over financial reporting. Also, in 2021, the State Department’s Office of Inspector General found deficiencies in personnel and background investigations.

A joint audit in 2020 by the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found the USAGM had failed for a decade to adequately vet staff, creating a systemic security risk. Also in 2020, a former contracting officer with the USAGM pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States through bribery and wire fraud.   

In 2019, the global media agency suspended a reporter and a cameraman amid allegations they faked a mortar attack in Nicaragua. That same year, Haroon Ullah, USAGM’s former chief strategy officer, pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing more than $40,000 in government property. 

In 2018, the government fired or disciplined 15 VOA journalists for accepting bribes from a Nigerian government official. The bribes came in “brown envelopes,” according to the audit. The previous year, the Voice of America disciplined three Chinese journalists working for VOA’s Mandarin service, for siding with China’s government and censoring a broadcast with an interview critical of the Chinese Communist Party. 

The post Trump Ousts Global Broadcasting Board: What’s Next for Lake, Bozell? appeared first on The Daily Signal.