Donald Trump has announced his intention to appoint his ally Kari Lake as the head of Voice of America. The former TV host and unsuccessful candidate in the Arizona elections promised to “chronicle America's achievements”.
US President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he wants his ally Kari Lake to become the next head of Voice of America, a federal network that is part of the US Agency for Global Media, writes UNN with reference to NBC News.
Details
Trump said on Truth Social that Lake will be nominated as the next head of the US Agency for Global Media, which Trump said he will announce “soon”.
Trump said Lake would “ensure that American values of freedom and independence are broadcast around the world FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the fake news media”.
VOA officials did not immediately respond to questions about the process for nominating and confirming a new director, or what Trump's announcement might mean for current director Michael Abramowitz.
Lake told X that she was “honored” by Trump's announcement.
“Under my leadership, VOA will succeed in its mission: to chronicle America's achievements around the world,” she said. “Thank you for your trust, President Trump. I look forward to leading VOA, and I can't wait to get started.”
However, as the publication notes, VOA's stated mission is not to promote America's achievements; rather, its website states that it “strives to provide comprehensive news coverage and tell its audience the truth.”
VOA, it said, also emphasizes a “firewall” that, according to its website, “prohibits interference by any U.S. government official in objective, independent news coverage, thereby protecting the ability of our journalists to to create content that reflects the highest professional standards of journalism, free from political interference”.
Lake spent more than 20 years as an Arizona news anchor for KSAZ, the Phoenix Fox affiliate. After she left the news industry, she ran unsuccessfully for both the Arizona Senate and Governor.
During the election campaign, Lake positioned herself as a staunch ally of Trump and a fierce critic of the industry to which she once belonged. She mocked reporters, calling them “fake news,” telling the Republican National Convention that they were “wearing away your hospitality.” She tried to discredit the reporters, claiming that journalists “have been lying about President Donald Trump for the last eight years,” leaning toward unsubstantiated right-wing claims, the publication notes.
Addition
Voice of America has a broad international reach, with a global weekly audience of about 354 million people and programming in 49 languages, according to its website.
Trump has previously been criticized for his appointment in 2020 of Michael Peck as head of the US Global Media Agency. Peck was accused of undermining the independence of the networks he controlled.