For more than fifty years, Voice Of America has been one of this country’s most powerful media assets, operating under its chartered mandate to “present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions” as well as the “policies of the United States clearly and effectively.” With broadcasts in dozens of languages reaching millions worldwide, VOA is not simply a vector for global American influence but a significant journalistic institution in its own right.
On December 11, President-elect Donald Trump opened a new chapter in VOA’s history, naming failed Arizona Republican gubernatorial and senate candidate Kari Lake as his pick to lead the storied network. Lake, a hardline immigration hawk who spent years denying both her own electoral loss as well as Trump’s 2020 defeat, will “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,” Trump said on Truth Social. citing Lake’s qualifications as a “beloved News Anchor in Arizona, which supported me by record margins, for over 20 years.”
From local journalist to ‘fierce critic of the industry’
Lake’s evolution from donating to former President Barack Obama’s campaign to a MAGA stalwart was “gradual” NBC News said. She is a “true believer, fueled by the allure of a growing social media following, a kinship with Trump’s brashness and her frustration with the ‘political correctness’ she had to abide by for years as a local news anchor.” Lake ended her nearly three decades as a Phoenix area broadcaster after posting a “series of controversial statements on social media,” including Covid-19 misinformation, The Associated Press said.
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Lake’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign “often leaned more on her vitriol toward news outlets and reporters” than attacks on her Democratic opponent, Katie Hobbs, The New York Times said. Lake had “habitually attacked reporters” during the race, Media Matters for America said, at one point calling them “the right hand of the devil.”
‘Hoping that the guardrails will hold’
Lake’s nomination has reignited lingering concerns from Trump’s first term over how his administration will treat a broadcast institution initially founded to counter foreign propaganda while maintaining the institution’s vaulted “firewall” to protect against political influence.
During his first week in office in 2017, the relationship between Trump and VOA raised alarms among media critics after the network posted (and eventually deleted) tweets that “seemed to validate — or, at least, did not question — false statements White House press secretary Sean Spicer made about crowd size and media coverage,” The Washington Post said.
Trump also “clashed” with the network over its China and coronavirus reporting during his last year in office, said Politico, after which several VOA officials “resigned from their posts,” Axios said. Michael Pack, CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media which oversaw VOA during Trump’s first term, “drew bipartisan criticism” from lawmakers over his tenure, which included “requirements to publish editorial material favorable to the Trump administration,” Roll Call said.
“We’re hoping that the guardrails will hold,” said one VOA employee to CNN after the news that Trump selected Lake to lead the organization. “Many of us are very disturbed,” another employee said to the network.
Trump has yet to announce who he intends to nominate as the next Global Media head, who, along with the bipartisan International Broadcasting Advisory Board, has the power to approve VOA’s new director. Still, by naming Lake, Trump has signaled that his administration again “intends to assert its influence over the Voice of America,” Roll Call said.
