BBG Watch Media

U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) is showing a remarkable lack of journalistic curiosity in its own affairs, and the affairs of its own parent agency — the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) — even if it is widely reported news in the United States and abroad, with a direct impact upon VOA. VOA English news website ignored today’s news about former BBG CEO Andy Lack rejoining NBC, as it has ignored earlier statements by top Obama Administration officials, a top Republican and a top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, all speaking about President Putin’s propaganda offensive.

Russian state media outlets, RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik International, have reported on the departure from the BBG of its short-term CEO Andrew Lack, sometimes referred to as Andy Lack, who during his six week stay at the BBG was in charge of the Voice of America and other BBG media outlets, such as Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Both RT and Sputnik reported on Andy Lack’s move to lead NBC News. The Voice of America did not report this news on its English language website and websites of many of its foreign language services.

RT also reported on Secretary of State John Kerry’s testimony last week on Capitol Hill during which Kerry expressed “100 percent” agreement with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce’s efforts to pass legislation this year to reform the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the federal agency in charge of U.S. media outreach abroad. Kerry noted only some reservations as to whether the agency should have one or two CEOs. Kerry also asked for more money for the BBG “to confront Russian propaganda” and “to get reform that this troubled agency needs.” Russia’s RT reported on Kerry’s testimony. The Voice of America English news website did not.

Sputnik International reported on this week’s statements from Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), on Andy Lack’s departure as the BBG CEO and a management crisis at the agency. On Wednesday, Rep. Royce called the BBG “defunct,” as he did many times earlier, citing a similar description of the agency as being “practically defunct” made by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In a meeting with BBG employees earlier this week, BBG Chairman Jeff Shell disagreed with this description, but at the same time he expressed support for congressional attempts to reform the BBG. Both Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Secretary of State John Kerry said that they support Chairman Royce’s call for reforming the BBG with only “slight” reservations about some of the wording of the proposed reform bill. None of this was reported by the Voice of America on the VOA main English news website.

Testifying before Chairman Royce’s committee on Wednesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland praised new Russian-language programs of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and the Voice of America. She agreed with Chairman Royce that the agency needs reforms and confirmed the Obama Administration’s increased spending on such broadcasts.

Sputnik International covered Ambassador Nuland’s testimony in a lengthy report.

Voice of America English News ignored Andy Lack, Chairman Royce, Secretary Kerry and Assistant Secretary Nuland on its worldwide news website in connection with these recent news developments and statements.

VOA also ignored the House Foreign Affairs Committee top Democrat, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) who said during the testimony of Assistant Secretary Nuland that during the recent security conference in Munich Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was telling lies. As would be expected, RT and Sputnik also did not report this comment from Rep. Engel while reporting on the other aspects of the story and spinning it to accuse the Obama Administration and the Congress of promoting anti-Russia propaganda.

REP. ELIOT ENGEL (D-NY, RANKING MEMBER): You know, I was laughing when at that conference in Munich, Madam Secretary, you and I both attended, to hear the Russian Foreign Minister denying that Russian troops were in Ukraine. Lies, lies and more lies.

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty posted two news reports about Ambassador Nuland’s testimony. They focused on her comments about Ukraine and Russia, but not specifically on the BBG and U.S. international media outreach in response to disinformation from the Kremlin.

VOA English News had one very short report on Nuland’s testimony about Washington considering imposing new sanctions against Russia if a Ukraine cease-fire deal reached last month in Minsk continues to be violated, but the VOA report had no references to the BBG, VOA, RFE/RL and Russia’s disinformation campaign.

BBG Watch has learned that some VOA English Central News reporters were transcribing comments by BBG Chairman Jeff Shell, Rep. Royce and Ambassador Nuland from audio files posted online by BBG Watch. These VOA English Central News managers and reporters were emailing these texts among themselves, but not sharing them with VOA international audiences.

BBG Watch could not confirm whether:

1. VOA Central News managers and reporters themselves did not want to post online a news report about Andy Lack, Rep. Royce, Rep. Engel, Ambassador Nuland, Secretary Kerry, the BBG, Chairman Shell, BBG Governor Weinstein and Russia’s disinformation campaign;



2. decided among themselves that these developments and statements were not newsworthy;



3. did not want to take risks to write a story that conceivably could offend top VOA or BBG executives or members of Congress and Obama Administration officials;



4. did not want to present the Voice of America in a bad light by reporting on problems at the VOA and the BBG;



5. had to cope with usual staff shortages and reporters going home on Friday at the end of the business day or not coming to work because of snow for the last three days.



The usual explanation one hears from some VOA English Central News reporters and some VOA and BBG officials is that international audiences are simply not interested in such U.S. news stories, as Brian Williams, Andy Lack, the controversy over the future of the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa, Radio Free Asia, Radio and TV Marti, the Broadcasting Board of Governors in general, and U.S. public diplomacy and other efforts to counter anti-American and anti-Western propaganda. Russia’s RT and Sputnik definitely do not share the view that these stories are unimportant to international audiences.

RT reported on March 5 (Thursday), BBG’s Andy Lack leaves after 6 weeks of leading US state media | RT. The RT report includes several vile anti-Semitic comments from the website’s readers.

VOA English Central Newsroom also did not report several weeks ago about the controversy over Andy Lack’s New York Times interview in which he listed RT as one of the challenges facing the BBG along with ISIS and Boko Haram. Even though Andy Lack was not comparing RT to terror groups, RT strongly objected to his comments.

Sputnik International reported today (Friday), Russian ‘Propaganda’ Beats US, Washington Needs Media Reform – Congressman | Sputnik

“The lawmaker noted that former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton called the agency ‘defunct,’ and that current Secretary of State John Kerry said he was committed to reforming the agency, Sputnik reported.

Sputnik, Russian state news agency and radio, noted Rep. Royce’s statement that “For too long, the BBG has lurched from crisis to crisis, destroying the reputation of brands like the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe in the process.”

Sputnik further quoted Rep. Royce as saying that “Over the years, defenders of the status quo have argued that the BBG is generally on the right track and that only minor reforms or hiring the right CEO would do the trick.”

Sputnik added that Royce’s statement comes after the resignation of BBG Chief Executive Officer Andrew Lack, who left the post after 42 days in office.

The Voice of America English news website had none of this information.

Sputnik International also posted a report Thursday, US Expands Russian-Aimed Propaganda Budget by More Than 100% | Sputnik.

The Sputnik article discussed at length this part of testimony of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, which was also ignored by the VOA English news website. The VOA Russian Service reported it only in one sentence «Мы также просим 20 миллионов долларов для борьбы с российской пропагандой», – подчеркнула Нуланд.(“We have asked for $20 million to counter Russian propaganda,” Nuland said.) VOA Rusian Service did not provide online anything approaching the detailed treatment of this topic by Sputnik International. We could not find any recent Voice of America Russian Service news reporting online about Rep. Ed Royce.

BBG Watch has learned that Voice of America managers and some VOA English Central Newsroom reporters were paying close attention to statements by Rep. Royce, Ambassador Nuland and BBG Chairman Jeff Shell, but it appears that this was done to satisfy their own curiosity and to inform their colleagues — not to let VOA worldwide audiences know anything about these developments.

VOA English news website also failed to report Friday for worldwide English speaking audiences that Andy Lack was given the job at NBC News and to explain the Brian Williams controversy. Earlier VOA had failed to report for several days about the controversy over NBC News TV anchor Brian Williams, even though U.S. media and media worldwide were reporting on the story. Former VOA director David Jackson observed that by waiting several days in reporting on the Brian Williams controversy, the Voice of America missed a teaching moment. Andy Lack was reportedly recruited by NBC News to solve the Brian Williams problem, as well as other shortcomings at the U.S. television network.

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VIDEO PRODUCED BY BBG WATCH FROM COMMITTEE VIDEO STREAMING

Statements and comments on the need for reform of the Broadcasting Board of Governors made at a hearing Tuesday, March 04, 2015, of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs by U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Ambassador Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State.

LINK TO VIDEO

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AUDIO IN A BBG WATCH REPORT

During a meeting with BBG employees, Jeff Shell and BBG Governor Kenneth Weinstein answered questions focusing on the circumstances of Andy Lack’s departure only after a few weeks on the job, legislative proposals to restructure the federal agency and non-federal grantee media organizations, the agency’s image in the United States and abroad, employee morale, and challenges in news reporting in response to disinformation from nations such as Russia.

LISTEN TO PART I

LISTEN TO PART II

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INTERNAL VOA EMAILS

The second email failed to mention that BBG Governor Kenneth Weinstein’s call for more analysis was in the context of his criticism of VOA occasionally reporting known lies by Russian officials without a specific analysis to expose deception or dishonesty. BBG Chairman agreed with Governor Weinstein, saying that the job of “honest journalism” is to expose deception no matter who engages in it. “We should expose it [dishonesty] even if it’s Kerry,” Jeff Shell said.

But any usefulness of internal emails for Voice of America’s worldwide audiences has been zero as VOA English news website failed to report on any of these statements and controversies.

A few VOA English Central Newsroom reporters were said to be “offended” by Governor Weinstein’s comments about the need for deeper analysis in VOA reporting and at least one reportedly “ridiculed” privately Weinstein’s observation that “when Lavrov [Russian Foreign Minister] is clearly lying, which 90 percent of the time he is, we ought to try in a story, it would be a good to have a little more detail on this.” Governor Weinstein said that in his view, such more comprehensive reporting does not at all violate the VOA Charter. He also said that “journalism [VOA] is generally excellent.”

Chairman Shell responded, “We have an obligation to do honest journalism and that means exposing dishonesty. We should expose it, even if it’s Kerry.”

BBG Watch fully agrees with both Governor Weinstein and Chairman Shell on this issue. The VOA Charter also requires the Voice of America to report U.S. news, including controversial ones involving the VOA and the BBG, as well as news about statements on foreign policy issues and other matters from U.S. government officials and members of the U.S. Congress. Foreign audiences should get such news in English and in foreign languages primarily from the Voice of America, rather than from RT or Sputnik International.

Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2015 12:53 PM



To: VOA Newsroom



Subject: Andy Lack and more



For the benefit of those who were not able to attend the all-hands meeting in the auditorium today [WEDNESDAY — BBG Watch], here are a few highlights (I did not take notes so from memory)



-Chairman Shell announced that Andy Lack is leaving BBG and that, effective immediately, Andre Mendes will serve as acting CEO. The other two members of the former “troika” will continue to serve in their current functions, but the board feels that this time there needs to be a single person in charge.



-Shell could not confirm the published reports that Lack will become chief of NBC News, but said that is “probably” true. Apparently those negotiations are not yet complete.



-He acknowledged that he considers Lack’s departure a huge blow to the organization, but stressed the value of our work and the importance of our mission and basically said we must carry on, as we have through other setbacks in the past.



-The board will at once begin searching for a new CEO to replace Andy Lack. Shell said he believes the recruitment of Lack – and his departure to such a high-profile position – will make it easier the next time around. He said he has already been approached by a couple of big-time names. He said Mendes will also be a candidate if he wants to be, and that other current employees will be considered if they put themselves forward.



-Shell said that in his conversations with Lack over the past few weeks, Lack repeatedly stressed his surprise at seeing how good the work of the VOA journalists is, especially compared to the very public criticism of our work that he had seen previously.



-Shell also took questions about House Bill 4490. He said the board remains reluctant to weigh in publicly on the bill but that he has privately objected to members of Congress over the language [Jeff Shell only referred to the bill’s language about the VOA Charter, not the entire bill — BBG Watch] that, many VOA journalists [BBG employee union, AFGE Local 1812, supported the bill despite some reservations about the language — BBG Watch] believe, would require them to promote State Department policies.[The bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) denied that the bill would turn VOA into a propaganda tool — BBG Watch] Board member Kenneth Weinstein, who was also present, said he too has spoken privately about his concerns to Congress members.



-Shell said there are also things in the bill that he likes very much, including the language that gives the CEO position wider authority than is possible under existing law.”

Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2015 2:14 PM



To: VOA Newsroom; English Division



Subject: RE: Andy Lack and more



David—thanks for the update.



I think the remarks by Chairman Shell and Board member Weinstein are worth highlighting in detail since they go to the heart of concerns expressed by many VOA journalists about language in last year’s House bill that we believe would turn journalists into policy promoters and would undermine VOA’s journalistic credibility around the world.



In the exchange on Wednesday, one of our colleagues from the English Division, Pete Heinlein, asked them about language in the House bill that many VOA staffers fear would, in Pete’s words, “change us from journalists to propagandists.”



Here are the answers from the two governors:



Jeffrey Shell: “Personally, the language in H.R. 4490 on the reforms they want to make to the VOA Charter is incomprehensible to me. I’ve read it a hundred times. It doesn’t make it any clearer to me. To me it makes it even more unclear and I have been privately outspoken to people on the Hill and in the White House that I think that needs to be fixed, and I hope they do fix it, right? (audience applause).”



Ken Weinstein: “I am in agreement with Jeff and I have also shared my concerns privately, as long as you are mentioning, on some of the language in the reform bill with people I know on the Hill.” As part of his answer, Weinstein added that he would like to see more analysis from Central News on certain stories.



We welcome the support from the BBG board members to ensure that VOA journalism remains credible. We expect to count on their support as members of Congress prepare to reintroduce reform legislation this year.”



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As of 7:30 PM ET Friday, March 6, Voice of America English Central News website is also not reporting the latest news about former BBG CEO and VOA top boss Andy Lack accepting his new position at NBC News. Here is a partial list from Google Search of media outlets which are reporting this news:





