Voice of America *, a radio station designed to reflect the point of view of the United States government, as the announcement regularly broadcasts on the air, was quite unexpectedly attacked by the White House and personally by President Donald Trump. This can be considered a surprise because this division of American broadcasting is an information outback. The level of journalism here is incredibly low, the quality of submission, analytics and running programs is so wretched that they recall the Soviet factory circulation.
And so the head of the American state turned his angry gaze to this provincial swamp. He did this for a reason. Actually, the attacks on the radio station came in a package criticizing Congress, who refused to confirm Trump’s appointees to a number of important posts. Including the head of the Global Media Agency, which oversees all broadcasting services, including Voice of America, Radio Liberty **, and Radio Marty, broadcasting to Cuba. The candidacy of documentary filmmaker Michael Park was nominated by the president two years ago, but he has not yet been approved.
Similarly, Congress is pulling with the nomination of other nominated candidates. The president threatened to send parliament on vacation and appoint his people by his own decision. In response, his opponents accused Trump of intent to overthrow the country in a severe constitutional crisis.
Why did this whole situation revolve around Voice of America, which has become the main target of criticism from the American president?
The fact is that the American administration has good reason to be dissatisfied with the radio station, which has long and firmly fit into the anti-Trump trend, supporting the campaign unleashed by the US Democratic Party.
A week ago, the White House newsletter said that Voice of America works for foreign propaganda for the money of American taxpayers.
Cases of success in the fight against coronavirus in China were cited as examples: the view on events supposedly completely coincides with the official version of Beijing, although senior officials have repeatedly declared the direct responsibility of the Chinese for the spread of the disease in the United States.
The administration did not forget about Russia. The radio station, in her opinion, distributes "Russian videos with anti-American propaganda."
All the accusations made were categorically rejected by the director of Voice of America, Amanda Bennett, who had received a position under Barack Obama. She said that the radio station is an independent media that can not only, but must freely discuss, without exception, issues of public interest. It seems that this statement meets both the basics of journalism and the principles of editorial strategy.
When broadcasting began in 1942, the first words sounded on the air were: “We will talk about America and the war. The news can be good or bad - we will tell you the truth. ” Such a point of view would well deserve attention if the announcement cited above, which sounds on the waves of Voice of America, did not say that radio policy is based on the need to convey the point of view of the American government to the outside world.
Trump further increased the pressure. He stated that the broadcasting service said “terrible things” about the United States, which he called its work “shame.” And in general, he has every reason for this. The materials on air are clearly anti-Trump. There, the position of critics of the president is described in detail, and the evaluation of measures to combat coronavirus leads the listener to the conclusion that the spread of the disease is entirely the fault of the current leadership of the country.
As a result, the image of the United States, exported outside, really goes awesome. They paint a picture of what is happening inside the country with the darkest colors: a split in the structures of power and in society, the lack of understanding by the administration of how to manage the state and fight the disease, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. According to today's data, the death toll from coronavirus in America exceeded 33 thousand.
It’s hard to say if Trump will be able to win this round of fighting with his opponents. The decision to finance the entire broadcasting is made by Congress; the president will not be able to deprive Voice of America of money. However, this is unlikely to stop him. There is no doubt that he will continue to attack the radio station, presenting it to society as an example of anti-American activity, in which the campaign against him, unleashed by its many opponents and critics, has degenerated.
* "Voice of America" - the media recognized by a foreign agent by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 05.12.2017.
** Radio Liberty / Radio Free Europe - mass media recognized as a foreign agent by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 05.12.2017.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.