A shakeup of top leadership at the Voice of America as senior journalists are replaced by avid Trump supporters has led to speculation that the previously independent and reliable broadcaster will become a propaganda arm for conservative political followers of the current president.
The new leader, Michael Pack, showed up for work on Wednesday and immediately fired the chiefs of four -- count 'em, four -- broadcast networks supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. They included Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Radio Free Asia; Office of Cuban Broadcasting, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks. Earlier, two top officials at Voice of America resigned in anticipation of Pack's arrival.
Pack also dissolved advisory boards for each of the networks and placed his own aides above them, according to a report by NPR. Pack gave no reason for his actions, NPR noted, other than saying that he could.
In addition, a memo to officials told them to do nothing without checking with him first, NPR reported.
Effectively, that would shut down the agency. Either that, or if it continued it would become a propaganda arm for Trumpistas.
Pack has long been close to the president and his aides, NPR noted.
A photo of Pack's predecessor, along with a sentence from his farewell address quoting him as saying, "Since our country's founding, journalists and journalism have stood watch over private and public officials in power to hold them accountable to what is factual and what is true," had been on the wall of the agency's headquarters.
Several days before Pack's arrival, "the quote was painted over and the photograph removed," NPR reported.
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