Controversial head of Voice of America resigns hours after President Biden takes office

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Washington Post

By
Paul Farhi
Jan. 20, 2021 at 10:34 p.m. CST

Michael Pack, a Trump appointee who sought to remake the Voice of America and other government-funded overseas news agencies, resigned on Wednesday, bringing an end to a short and tumultuous tenure.

Pack quit a few hours after President Biden took office and less than eight months into his three-year term as chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The government agency oversees VOA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and other networks that produce and distribute news to millions of people in countries whose governments suppress independent reporting.

He said that his resignation came at Biden’s request. During the president campaign, Biden’s staff had signaled that he would replace Pack if Biden won election.

Biden named Kelu Chao, a veteran VOA journalist, as Pack’s interim replacement later on Wednesday. A permanent successor must be confirmed by the Senate.


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/michael-pack-resigns-voice-of-america-biden/2021/01/20/6e2a745c-5b53-11eb-b8bd-ee36b1cd18bf_story.html

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[hibbing]

1. Good

I hope we can get VOA back to normalcy.

Peace

[rpannier]

2. That individual was a serious disaster

He was worse than the guy who ran RFE/RL in the early 2010s and that's saying a whole lot

[mdbl]

3. If trump had a 2nd term he would have installed Rush Limbaugh

after awarding him the "medal of propaganda" and all.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I am glad they will be on the road to salvage VOA

I know for years I had listened to them on shortwave (particularly during the Persian Gulf War period) and was actually pleasantly surprised that my expectation for propaganda, was not the case. They were basically like NPR in terms of getting info out there (although now NPR itself has gone the way of the dodo GOP).

[hunter]

5. Conservative "Think Tanks" are schools for evil clowns.

Pack's short tenure as head of USAGM was characterized by NPR as a series of "crises." Pack fired the heads of the news outlets under USAGM's purview and installed Trump loyalists in the positions. He disbanded a bipartisan board that oversees the USAGM, and started investigations into journalists for purported bias against Trump. He rescinded rules at USAGM that protected journalists at Voice of America and other affiliates from political interference.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Pack

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/20/935456549/voas-5-months-under-trump-ceo-lawsuits-bias-claims-and-a-sex-scandal

[kwolf68]

6. My good friends on the left

Of I am VERY MUCH on the left need to look at small things like this that would not have been necessary had Hillary Clinton been President, cleaning out the slime of a deleterious ruler.

Yes, I would love radical change, medicare for all, free college education, a green new deal, but we have to be realistic. Yes I am very concerned over the corporate influence on Democratic politicians, but Joe Biden in one day has already done more good than Donald Trump has in four years. Not every move will be perfect, but the alternative as we have seen is downright dangerous.

NOT saying "the left" was to blame for Clinton losing at all, in fact more of Bernie's supporters voted for Hillary than Hillary supporters voted for Obama, but when faced with a deranged idiot we could not afford to gamble in 2016. We did and lost a hell of a lot. The Court is probably gone for 25 years.

[okaawhatever]

8. +100

[Ford_Prefect]

7. He'd better lawyer up soon. Federal charges of mismanagement are not parking tickets.

[oasis]

9. Send Slimy Mike packing.