WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump declared his desire for supporter Kari Lake to be the next director of Voice of America, a federal network that is a part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
Trump stated in his post on Truth Social that the future leader of the U.S. Agency for Global Media will nominate Lake, and he would make the announcement “soon.”
Lake was promised by Trump 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.”
Questions concerning the procedures for proposing and appointing a new director, as well as the potential implications of Trump’s statement for the employment of Michael Abramowitz, the current director, were not immediately answered by VOA spokespeople.
For more than 20 years, Lake was a news anchor for KSAZ, the Phoenix Fox News station in Arizona. She left the news sector and unsuccessfully ran for senator and governor of Arizona in the years that followed.
During the campaign, Lake presented herself as a strong supporter of Trump and a harsh critic of the field she had previously worked in. At the Republican National Convention, Lake called journalists “fake news,” claiming that they had “worn out your welcome.” Making the baseless right-wing accusation that reporters have “spent the last eight years lying about President Donald Trump,” she tried to discredit reporters.
In addition, Lake has promoted bogus allegations that she was cheated out of the 2022 governor’s campaign and accepted disproved election denialism regarding the 2020 election.
According to the outlet’s website, VOA has a wide global audience, with over 326 million viewers each week and content in 48 languages.
The organization additionally highlights a “firewall” that its website states “prohibits interference by any U.S. government official in the objective, independent reporting of news, thereby safeguarding the ability of our journalists to develop content that reflects the highest professional standards of journalism, free of political interference.”
Trump has already come under fire for appointing Michael Pack to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media in 2020. Pack was charged with compromising the autonomy of the networks he managed.
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