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There is some rather deep irony in whistleblowers accusing Pack of trying to propagandize Voice of America. To provide some context, it was founded during WW2 a
by pseudo0 6y ago
There is some rather deep irony in whistleblowers accusing Pack of trying to propagandize Voice of America. To provide some context, it was founded during WW2 as a "counter-propaganda" broadcaster. It continued this role during the Cold War, albeit under the Department of State. In fact, up until 2013, VOA broadcasts were banned in the US under the Smith-Mundt Act, which regulates propaganda activities conducted by the Department of State (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith%E2%80%93Mundt_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith%E2%80%93Mundt_Act).
- Apocryphon 6y agoAnother irony is NPR breaking this news, as they came under attack for bias during the Obama administration.
- JadeNB 6y agoLike anyone who provides information, NPR is accused of bias by the people who are made to look bad by that information.
- Apocryphon 6y agoI'm not claiming NPR is biased, I'm saying it's amusing that it was the three-letter U.S. public news service that got embroiled in scandal in the last administration. Not that the scandal was actually substantiative.
- xnx 6y agoNPR receives no federal funding. Voice of America is 100% federaly funded.
- JadeNB 6y ago> I'm not claiming NPR is biased, I'm saying it's amusing that it was the three-letter U.S. public news service that got embroiled in scandal in the last administration. Not that the scandal was actually substantiative. I thought that it was probably so, but my point is that accusations of bias are not the same as being "embroiled in scandal"; rather they are a routine part of daily operations for any news outlet.
- Hnrobert42 6y agoPack seeks to politicize an apolitical organization. That is different from propaganda which is pro-US. Do you not see the difference?
- pseudo0 6y agoAnd no one foresaw that a literal government-funded propaganda outlet would become subject to partisan squabbling once it became able to influence the US population directly? The structural problem here appears to be letting VOA target the domestic American market, not this particular CEO.
- duxup 6y agoI think a lot of agencies have policies, traditions, and etc to try to make them non political. Many are quite successful at it. These aren't mysteries / 'no one foresaw' situations.
- gostsamo 6y agoNo, it is not deep. It is one thing to defend the interests of your country and another - of your boss. At least, there must be difference for americans, everyone else is on the sideline and eating popcorn.
- h_anna_h 6y agoSo, yet another instance of northern americans complaining about having a taste of their own medicine...