WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Ms Kari Lake, a former news anchor and an election denier who failed to win an Arizona Senate seat in November, to be the new director of US government-funded media organisation Voice of America (VOA).
VOA has reach around the world, with programming in a slew of African, Asian and European languages, including Somali, Dari and French.
It receives US funding but is generally considered a reliable, independent media operation, covering global and US news for international audiences.
However, previous leadership under Trump’s first administration came under fire for politicising the outlet.
Ms Lake is a hard-line conservative who ran in 2022 as the Republican candidate for governor of the south-western state of Arizona and for US Senate in 2024, losing both times.
She has repeatedly refused to accept her past election defeats, as well as Trump’s 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.
As he prepares to take office in January, Trump’s staffing announcements have consisted of close allies.
“I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next director of Voice of America,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social website.
“She will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the US Agency for Global Media… to 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,” he said.
In his first term, Mr Michael Pack, Trump’s head of the US Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA, raised concerns when he moved in 2020 to strip an internal firewall at the organisation meant to insulate the newsroom from political interference.
A VOA White House reporter was also investigated for supposed anti-Trump biases during Trump’s first administration. AFP
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Publish date : 2024-12-11 15:37:00
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