#Voice Of America

[colleendoran]

At the VOICE OF AMERICA, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds is featured in a video segment. With work from more than 15 comics creators (including me, my short story is highlighted at the 47 second mark) all creators volunteered their services with all proceeds donated to Ukraine refugee relief via Operation USA.

With more than $100,000 raised prior to release and another $100,000 expected to be raised before the end of this year, editor Scott Dunbier received the 2023 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award for his work on this project.

You may order it HERE.

It was an honor to contribute to this project.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Don Moynihan at Can We Still Govern?

Authoritarian regimes tend to prioritize controlling certain institutions: bureaucracy, the legal system, and higher education. Trump has shown deep interest in all. They also seek to control the press. It is easy to assume this last threat does not apply to the US. The first amendment provides strong protections to private media (although conservatives are interested in eroding those protections). The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is vulnerable to right wing threats of defunding, but NPR and PBS have other sources of funding and play a less central role in American media than, for example, the BBC does in the UK. Conservatives have their own thriving media, have captured large areas of social media, including Twitter, and have been successful at working the ref when it comes to the mainstream media. It might therefore seem that there is little reason to worry about Trump further weaponizing the press. But there are aspects of the media that the US government does directly control and fund. Americans don’t pay a lot of attention to it, because it does not broadcast to them, but it has an outsize global presence. This is the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America, and is the primary funder of several other regional broadcasting networks. It has a budget of about $1 billion and 4,000 employees. While it does not have the same brand recognition as other media, AGM has a vast global audience. It estimates that it reachers over 420 million people weekly in 64 different languages. So, the US government is very much in the media business, and on a global scale. To understand how that media can be weaponized by an authoritarian in the future, we just need to look back at the final months of the Trump administration.

“Gross Mismanagement” by a Trump Appointee

The tensions between journalistic integrity and politicization exploded with the arrival of Michael Pack, the chief executive of AGM. In Spring of 2020, Trump falsely accused VOA of peddling Chinese propaganda over Covid, and then pushed Pack’s nomination, which had been stalled because of Senate concerns about his ideological leanings, and financial improprieties in his business dealings. Pack headed the Claremont Institute, which has pushed anti-democratic messaging via fellows like John Eastman. Pack had also worked on documentaries produced by Steve Bannon.

Pack perfectly reflected the paranoid style of that took hold in Trump’s last year in office. After his first impeachment, loyalty mattered above all else to Trump. Pack fit that agenda. He promised “to drain the swamp, to root out corruption, and to deal with these issues of bias” — an ethos that defines how Trumpworld is approaching a second term.

The scale of Pack’s abuses only became evident after he left the agency. He profiled his employees, speculating on their political leanings, and met with officials to prioritize which of these officials should be fired because of those political beliefs. He pushed out senior officials, putting some on administrative leave for daring to disagree with him. Pack hired a conservative law firm on a no-bid contract to investigate his own employees. It cost $1.6 million dollars. He revoked security clearances from journalists who complained about his practices. He sought to put in place unqualified appointees to oversee overseas media networks, and make their tenure permanent. His political appointees either had no experience in journalism, or were aligned with right-wing media outlets such as The Daily Caller.

Pack improperly tried to block funding for one unit, The Open Technology Fund, that Congress had appropriated. He froze the funding of other units, and blocked their recruitment efforts. Pack also created instability by removing senior officials leading parts of his organization — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuban Broadcasting, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and the Open Technology Fund.

[...] Making AGM a more explicitly partisan outlet would obviously undermine its reputation for providing quality journalism, undermining trust in the organization that is central for its ability to do its job. Its a clear example of how a more partisan operation reduces the quality of agency performance, and its ability to fulfill its mission. The mission of AGM “is to inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.” It is hard to do so if the agency is, itself, dancing to an authoritarian tune.

Don Moynihan’s Can We Still Govern? post reveals that the Voice Of America, which is targeted towards international listeners, could become a partisan propaganda organ if Donald Trump wins again.

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

Cabaret Voltaire

Voice Of America (1980)

[oldshowbiz]

1969.

The Voice of America.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Grancel Fitz Untitled c. 1932

* * * *

“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." [Remarks on the 20th Anniversary of the Voice of America; Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, February 26, 1962]” ― John F. Kennedy

[flipjack]

Interview with Voice of America for “Angels in America, Part 1: Millenium Approaches”

[macmanx]

In sum, Pack's seven-and-a-half month stint running the agency exemplified Trump's contempt for the press and for the professional federal workforce that prides itself on nonpartisanship. (Pack echoed Trump's designation of that workforce as the "Deep State.")

[swldx]

Voice of America 0340 14 Nov 2024

6080Khz 0328 14 NOV 2024 - VOICE OF AMERICA (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) in ENGLISH from MOPENG HILL. SINPO = 35333. English, "Daybreak Africa" in progress. @0328z trailer for "Africa in Brief" and another music program. @0330z "WorldWide News Update" anchored by Joe Ramsey. § U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returned triumphantly to Washington on Wednesday, pledging a smooth transition of power in January as he met for two hours at the White House with his longtime political rival, President Joe Biden. Trump also met with Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives. Republicans hold a narrow majority in the chamber in the current Congress and are nearing a slight majority control in the Congress set to be sworn in Jan. 3, but the outcome of more than a dozen House elections remains uncertain. § A man who worked for the U.S. government has been charged with leaking classified information assessing Israel's earlier plans to attack Iran, according to court papers filed Wednesday. The man, identified as Asif William Rahman, was arrested by the FBI this week in Cambodia and was due to make his first court appearance in Guam. § Voters in Somaliland flocked to the polls on Wednesday to choose a president at a time when the breakaway Somali region sees international recognition within reach after three decades of de facto self-rule. Somaliland, which occupies a strategic location at the juncture of the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, declared independence from the Mogadishu government in 1991. It has not been recognised by any country, restricting access to international finance and the ability of its six million people to travel. The presidential candidates differ on domestic issues, but both have expressed support for the pact with Ethiopia. Mohamed A. Mohamoud, Somaliland's representative to Kenya, told reporters that the government would finalise the deal after the election, regardless of who wins. § The decline in U.S. drug overdose deaths appears to have continued this year, giving experts hope the nation is seeing sustained improvement in the persistent epidemic. There were about 97,000 overdose deaths in the 12-month period that ended June 30, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. That's down 14% from the estimated 113,000 for the previous 12-month period. @0335z "International Edition" begins, anchored by male announcer. MLA 30 amplified loop (powered w/8 AA rechargeable batteries ~10.8vdc), JRC NRD-535D. 100kW, beamAz 350°, bearing 84°. Received at Plymouth, MN, United States, 14087KM from transmitter at Mopeng Hill. Local time: 2128.

[mossadegh]

• Mossadegh media: newspaper & magazine articles, editorials

[worldwide-blackfolk]

[countesspetofi]

Watch "Studio One 1967 Conversation With Vincent Price Old Time Radio" on YouTube

Vincent Price talks art, cooking, and his work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs as an advocate for Native arts, in a 1967 interview on the Voice of America.

(NB: the Tlingit totem pole mentioned in the interview was stolen by John Barrymore, kept by Vincent, and eventually returned to tribal members after his death.)

[snoozerin]

Repost cuz my stupid lil gif got all crunched up

[oldshowbiz]

The Bombing of Radio Free Europe

[punjablivetv]

Star Madhvan Rai Voice of Punjab

[kalashnikovlobotomy]

idk this ivan guy sounds like he's just minding his business maybe it's your fault you didn't pack enough clothes