The president made a point of referencing the need to replace the head of the Voice of America during yesterday's coronavirus briefing. I happened to attend a talk at the VOA museum here in West Chester, OH last fall by Elez Biberaj, the VOA's Eurasia director, where he made it clear the mission of the VOA is to provide truthful reporting rather than propaganda because gaining the trust of those in nations without a free and open press is critical to US influence in those countries (the accompanying photo shows the level of that trust in select countries). He went on to say the VOA has taken pride and comfort in the fact that their mission has never been politicized, allowing them to freely broadcast the good, the bad and the ugly, which is what underpins those high levels of trust abroad.
The president's comment yesterday that the current director is allowing "horrible things" to be broadcast almost certainly was driven by that "good, bad and ugly" aspect of the VOA's factual reporting. In fact, it was directly related to their reporting on the coronavirus pandemic, which he apparently feels has not been critical enough of China. If he succeeds in placing a director more intent on propaganda than truth, global trust in the VOA will crater, its effectiveness will plummet and any influence the US garners from our shining example of press freedom will be forever lost.
This is just one small but significant example of the many ways this administration is not just damaging our global influence, but more dangerously, undermining the very principles countless Americans have fought and died to gain and protect. It may seem insignificant, but it is an attack on the very concept of what America is.
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