Less than two weeks before Trump left office as President of the United States, the CEO of the parent company of Voice of America previously appointed by Trump was investigated.
This week, the Washington, D.C. Attorney General accused Michael Pack, CEO of the Voice’s parent company, the Global Media Agency, of illegally transferring more than $4 million to private companies under his name, NPR reported.
Subsequently, five heads of foreign media such as Radio Free Europe, a subsidiary of the Global Media Agency, collectively warned President-elect Biden, accusing Parker of “posing a long-term harm to the credibility and professionalism of the five media”.
Internal whistleblowers also accused Parker of abusing his power to turn the Voice of America into a propaganda tool (Trump). They also objected to U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo’s plan to visit the VOA headquarters in Washington next Monday, just nine days before Biden’s team took office.
Last April, Trump criticized the Voice of America at a press conference on the coronavirus epidemic held at the White House. The White House also criticized it many times for “eating and smashing the pot” and “raising against China propaganda with taxpayers’ money”.
Previously, due to the delay in passing the Senate Democrats’ nomination of Michael Pack, CEO of the Global Media Agency, which is responsible for regulating the Voice of America, Trump also threatened to use the power of the president to adjourn Congress and make “recess appointments”.
Assigned by Trump, Michael Pack took office as CEO of the Global Media Agency on June 4 last year. After taking office, he made no secret that “China will be the top priority of American broadcasting to foreign broadcasting”.
The US Agency for Global Media leads the U.S. foreign propaganda media such as the Voice of America, which are funded by the U.S. federal government.
