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Kari Lake nominated to head Voice of America.

G

gr8oldies

Nope. No joke.
"President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he’s picking Kari Lake as director of Voice of America, installing a staunch loyalist who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor and a Senate seat to head the congressionally funded broadcaster that provides independent news reporting around the world."

apnews.com

Trump taps immigration hard-liner Kari Lake as head of Voice of America

President-elect Donald Trump says he’s picking Kari Lake as director of Voice of America, installing a staunch loyalist who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor and a Senate seat to head the congressionally funded broadcaster that provides independent news reporting around the world.
apnews.com apnews.com
 
The state of Arizona is thrilled. But longtime employees of the Voice are likely getting ready to resign.

Truthfully had she not destroyed her own credibility, she would at least on paper appear to be a good choice. She's a graduate of Syracuse Unversity's Newhouse School of Communications, and spent 30 years in TV. She knows more about TV news than Trump's previous choice for this job. The bad news is she knows how to use media to promote an ideology rather than the news. She'd be great at a place like Trinity or CBN. Instead, she's taking taxpayer dollars to do exactly what they claim NPR does. Except for the other side.

As a reminder, here's what Michael Pack, Trump's previous VOA chief, did in 2020:


www.huffpost.com

Ex-Voice Of America Head Blew $4 Million On Lawyers To Spy On Employees: Report

Trump appointee Michael Pack sought to transform the tax-funded VOA into a propaganda operation, according to a whistleblower complaint.
www.huffpost.com www.huffpost.com

I'm expecting a repeat performance.
 
My hope is that she goes proactive instead of reactive.

Reactive: The media is strongly left-leaning, so let's make VOA right-leaning.
Proactive: The media is biased, so let's make VOA unbiased. (This is the much better approach.)
 
This seems to be a combination of "rewarding" a sycophant and a way to get her out of the way and into a place where she'll do minimal damage. She was allegedly considered for Ambassador to Mexico, but even Trump had second thoughts. Maybe Ambassador to North Korea? :LOL:
 
JustinSaysRadio said:
My hope is that she goes proactive instead of reactive.

Reactive: The media is strongly left-leaning, so let's make VOA right-leaning.
Proactive: The media is biased, so let's make VOA unbiased. (This is the much better approach.)
Click to expand...
Nobody uses the words "Trump" and "unbiased." Ever. She'll turn the VOA into Fox Noise Lite if she's approved.
 
JustinSaysRadio said:
My hope is that she goes proactive instead of reactive.

Reactive: The media is strongly left-leaning, so let's make VOA right-leaning.
Proactive: The media is biased, so let's make VOA unbiased. (This is the much better approach.)
Click to expand...

That would be nice, but there's nothing to indicate that'll be her MO

The only people who'll know what she's doing are people in other countries, because the VOA is prohibited from targeting US residents.
 
TheBigA said:
That would be nice, but there's nothing to indicate that'll be her MO

The only people who'll know what she's doing are people in other countries, because the VOA is prohibited from targeting US residents.
Click to expand...
There's never been anything that prohibits the VOA from being heard or verified by US residents. I've been listening to them for 60 years and have QSLs to prove it. Their programming may not target the US, but this has been misinterpreted for decades. They're a shadow of their Cold War-era selves anyway, like most other shortwave broadcasters nowadays.
 
Dang I thought Elon Musk would have gotten the VOA lead before Kari Lake did given some of his history about public media. Kari Lake looked like she would have been on OAN and Newsmax pundit given that she left Fox Television station on not so good terms when she ran for office.

apnews.com

NPR quits Elon Musk's Twitter over 'government-funded' label

National Public Radio is quitting Twitter over the social media company’s recent actions under owner Elon Musk to stamp it with labels that NPR says undermine its credibility. NPR said its organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because Twitter is falsely implying that it is...
apnews.com apnews.com
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:
Dang I thought Elon Musk would have gotten the VOA lead before Kari Lake did given some of his history about public media. Kari Lake looked like she would have been on OAN and Newsmax pundit given that she left Fox Television station on not so good terms when she ran for office.
Click to expand...
She was fired because of her constant editorializing about whatever stories she was reading. Even Fox 10 had their limits. Her job was to read the news, not comment about it.
 
TheBigA said:
The state of Arizona is thrilled. But longtime employees of the Voice are likely getting ready to resign.

Truthfully had she not destroyed her own credibility, she would at least on paper appear to be a good choice. She's a graduate of Syracuse Unversity's Newhouse School of Communications, and spent 30 years in TV. She knows more about TV news than Trump's previous choice for this job. The bad news is she knows how to use media to promote an ideology rather than the news. She'd be great at a place like Trinity or CBN. Instead, she's taking taxpayer dollars to do exactly what they claim NPR does. Except for the other side.

As a reminder, here's what Michael Pack, Trump's previous VOA chief, did in 2020:


www.huffpost.com

Ex-Voice Of America Head Blew $4 Million On Lawyers To Spy On Employees: Report

Trump appointee Michael Pack sought to transform the tax-funded VOA into a propaganda operation, according to a whistleblower complaint.
www.huffpost.com www.huffpost.com

I'm expecting a repeat performance.
Click to expand...
Shades of Radio Moscow
 
KeithE4 said:
They're a shadow of their Cold War-era selves anyway, like most other shortwave broadcasters nowadays.
Click to expand...

I bet the magas have no idea it even exists, or that it's 100% taxpayer funded. Trump himself didn't know about it until the end of his first term. If they were truthfully looking for government waste, this would be a great place to start.
 
KeithE4 said:
She was fired because of her constant editorializing about whatever stories she was reading. Even Fox 10 had their limits. Her job was to read the news, not comment about it.
Click to expand...
The rest of the country did not know who Kari Lake is until 60 Minutes Australia interviewed her and she went on a rant that is on cue with Trump himself in a rant.
 
60 year shortwave listener here, so I think I know a thing or two about international broadcasting, besides having worked in broadcast media most of my career.

This is an absolutely awful development for the VOA and USAGM, and will likely destroy whatever reputation the agency has left. While never achieving the quality and respect garnered by the BBC, VOA has been a major player in world media and the image projection of the United States. This move will likely turn USAGM programming into endless Trump propaganda.

Having said that, it is likely that most of USAGM’s output is headed for closure under Elon Musk’s government efficiency committee, so the Kari Lake appointment may not really make any difference. Musk also probably has little understanding or tolerance of what he likely sees as an archaic and irrelevant shortwave medium.

At least the gold standard of international broadcasting, the BBC World Service, still survives for now, albeit with greatly reduced shortwave output, but available online and via local rebroadcasters. The BBC has a very strong web presence.

I also suspect that Radio France Internationale will get the ax if that country continues to move to the political far right, as a Marine Le Pen lead government will slash public broadcasting.
 
TheBigA said:
That would be nice, but there's nothing to indicate that'll be her MO

The only people who'll know what she's doing are people in other countries, because the VOA is prohibited from targeting US residents.
Click to expand...

KeithE4 said:
There's never been anything that prohibits the VOA from being heard or verified by US residents. I've been listening to them for 60 years and have QSLs to prove it. Their programming may not target the US, but this has been misinterpreted for decades. They're a shadow of their Cold War-era selves anyway, like most other shortwave broadcasters nowadays.
Click to expand...

Theater of My Mind said:
Is there any publicly disclosed measurement of the VOA audience size and where it's most listened to in 2024?
Click to expand...
There’s a VOA Youtube channel also:
 
Last edited:
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