WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’ has had many targets in his war against the media, but perhaps none is more surprising than the Voice of America, the venerable U.S.-funded institution created during World War II to broadcast independent news and promote American values to the world.
Trump and his supporters have accused the outlet of “disgraceful” reporting and are now pushing hard to install their choice to run the government agency that oversees VOA and its affiliates. That battle is about to hit Congress, where partisan lines have been drawn amid a debate that could have a significant impact on the future of the global broadcaster.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had been scheduled to vote Thursday on Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which runs VOA and its sister outlets Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Cuba-focused Radio Marti. That vote was postponed, however, late Wednesday due to Democrats’ objections, a sign of the rancor hanging over it. The Republican-controlled committee is still expected to advance the nomination when it is able to take it up.
Democrats fear that candidate, conservative filmmaker and former educator Michael Pack, could turn the organization into a Trump propaganda machine funded with more than $200 million a year in taxpayer money. Trump has mused about his desire to control a media outlet. Pack has dismissed concerns he would allow that to happen, but the recent furor has reignited those concerns.