Established during World War 2 to counter Nazi propaganda, Voice of America is supposed to promote U.S. interests with foreign language news broadcasts that are sent worldwide, including to listeners living under authoritarian regimes.
VOA is an agency under the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which will also get a new boss under Trump.
Don Irvine, of Accuracy in Media, says Voice of America served the U.S. well from the Second World War through the Cold War to broadcast behind the Iron Curtain and counter Communism.
“Particularly during the Reagan years,” Irvine says, “it was a great voice for democracy, for America, and made the liberals stew a little bit and everything like that.”
Like everything else that remains in Washington, D.C. too long, VOA began drifting to the left over the years. It has gained a dubious reputation, much like public-funded National Public Radio, for espousing views considered mainstream only because its newsroom is dominated with liberal viewpoints.
If that reputation is accurate at VOA, its employees are about to get a wake-up call from Lake, the former Republican candidate known for a straight-talking, take-no-prisoners personality.
Lake is also a veteran of journalism after working as a TV news anchor for decades.
A related story by CNN predictably describes fear and concern within VOA over Lake as director, but the story also points out the next VOA director must be approved by an advisory board. The next head of the the U.S. Agency for Global Media will suggest the new director.
In a statement announcing Lake’s appointment, Trump said she will work with the next head of 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.”
In her own statement, Lake vowed VOA “will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide.”
In an interview with Steve Bannon about her future role at VOA, Lake said she hopes VOA will reach the people of China and help “bring down” the Chinese Communist Party.
Irvine predicts the “pro-America” Lake will do a good job at VOA.
“I think if there's anyone who's going to work at it and turn things around, it can be someone just like Kari Lake to do that,” he says.
