After the new President Biden took office, the American foreign propaganda agency ushered in a wave of “great purge”.
Following the resignation of Michael Pack, the director of the United States Global Media Administration (USAGM), the director and deputy director of the voice of the United States government, was also dismissed on January 21 local time.
It was Yolanda Lopez, the director of journalism who was transferred by Riley after the Pompeo incident, replacing director Robert Reilly.
According to the “Voice of America” website and NPR on the 21st, Kelu Chao, Acting Director of the Global Media Agency of the United States, acted quickly on the first day of his term to take Robert, the director of the Voice of America, who was just appointed in December last year.
Riley and Deputy Director Elizabeth Robbins dismissed.
The U.S. Global Media Agency informed its employees by email on the 21st.
This change also made Riley the first director to leave twice in the history of the Voice of America.
The Associated Press quoted sources as saying that Riley and Robbins left the headquarters of VOA under the escort of security personnel.
It is worth noting that Lopez, who replaced Riley as Acting Director of the Voice of America, was the news director of the Voice of America who was transferred by Riley last week, suspected to have been affected by the Pompeo incident.
On January 11, Patsy Widakuswara, a White House correspondent under Lopez, asked him a sharp question after his speech at the time Secretary of State Pompeo, and Riley scolded him for “you obviously don’t know what to do”.
According to NPR, Robins, the deputy director of VOA, who once worked for Pompeo, also said to Dakuswara: “You’re done.”
Subsequently, Dakuswala was “relegated twice in a row in less than 24 hours”, and Lopez, whose immediate superior, was also deprived of all editorial supervision.
The incident caused a shock among the staff of the Voice of America, and dozens of reporters signed an open letter demanding that Riley and Robbins resign.
The U.S. Global Media Agency did not explain why Riley was fired, but some members of Congress and former GNSA officials have been unhappy with Riley for a long time, believing that his past reviews and published books expressed controversial views on homosexuals and Muslims.
At the time of Riley’s appointment last December, Elliot Engel, then chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, objected, calling the appointment “disgraceful and embarrassing”.
The personnel changes of the U.S. Global Media Agency are not just Voice of America.
According to its January 21 email, Jeffrey Shapiro, director of the Cuban Broadcasting Office, has also resigned.
U.S. media commented that these rapid “cleansing” actions of the Biden administration are aimed at dispelling concerns that the U.S. Global Media Agency will become Trump’s “mouthpiece”.
