This really is terrible.
The entire agency has had their hands tied behind their backs in recent years.
I’m so confused. It sounds like Biden didn’t want him to be in charge of global media, but this speaking directly about Taiwan.
VOA is a problem though. My understanding is that it was initially started as a secret broadcast radio program to teach Chinese people English and tell stories about America and how great it was. The Chinese language videos I’ve seen on that platform are usually ABCs being VERY vocal about how awful EVERYTHING about the US is and very slanted in a pro Daddy Xi/China is the best place evah kind of way. It’s worse than Fox or MSNBC in its brainwashing.
Pack was Global Media. Long and successful career until he was appointed by Trump and, immediatley, became ‘alt-right’. During confirmation, he was repeatedly asked to explain why he decided to make (direct?) a documentary about Clarence Thomas. He was, reportedly, trying to turn around what had become a very pro-China broadcasting outlet.
Pack was sacked and his replacement sacked Yates.
This is very interesting.
Could you please share some of these videos here. If you can subtitle them or at least post a transcript, it would really make an impact.
No worries, if you can only link a couple of the most Twilight Zone examples I have an open minded Taiwanese friend who would be interested and can help me understand.
I wanna see them too.
In December 2020, Yates was appointed as the president of Radio Free Asia, a government–funded, nonprofit international broadcasting corporation.[2] In January 2021, he was fired from the position by the acting CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media, Kelu Chao.[27]
I’m sure he’ll be greatly missed.
Pack founded Manifold Productions, a documentary film company, in 1977. He later served as an executive at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and as CEO of the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank.
Pack’s short tenure as head of USAGM was characterized by NPR as a series of “crises.”[4] Pack fired the heads of the news outlets under USAGM’s purview and installed Trump loyalists in the positions. He disbanded a bipartisan board that oversees the USAGM, and started investigations into journalists for purported bias against Trump. He rescinded rules at USAGM that protected journalists at Voice of America and other affiliates from political interference.
I remember him.He’s basically basically a political operative appointed to turn VOA into a Trump propaganda outfit and strip away any trace of independence. IIRC he fired a bunch of the professional reporters and replaced them with Trump loyalists like Yates.
Pack founded Manifold Productions, a documentary film company, in 1977. He later served as an executive at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and as CEO of the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank.
Pack’s short tenure as head of USAGM was characterized by NPR as a series of “crises.”[4] Pack fired the heads of the news outlets under USAGM’s purview and installed Trump loyalists in the positions. He disbanded a bipartisan board that oversees the USAGM, and started investigations into journalists for purported bias against Trump. He rescinded rules at USAGM that protected journalists at Voice of America and other affiliates from political interference.
So basically a political operative appointed to turn VOA into a Trump propaganda outfit. He fired a bunch of the professional reporters and replaced them with Trump partisans.
I’ll go digging. I was using “FluentU” for a while and I just felt like every advanced video was from VOA and it had the above sentiment. I no longer use FluentU (because their advanced Chinese videos are all either anti-American or just insanely racist/sexist) but the VOA videos are probably in their archive.
Who cares he’s pro-Taiwan and Trump is out of the picture.
More about Pack & Co.