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8 Dec, 6 tweets, 2 min read
NEWS: USAGM CEO Michael Pack today removed acting Voice of America Director Elez Biberaj, NPR has learned.

He took action as part of an effort to consolidate greater loyalty with the agency and its networks ahead of the Biden administration coming to power. /MORE
Biberaj, a 40-year VOA veteran, is returning to his job as head of the VOA.

Pack is intending to name Robert Reilly, a conservative writer and former government official who briefly served as director of the Voice of America under George W Bush, to replace Biberaj. /MORE
Reilly has written in support of Pack's moves to fire and force out executives and network chiefs - and also WH claims that VOA's journalists have echoed foreign propaganda
stream.org/the-globalist-…
/MORE
Reilly has also written critically of Islam and of gay rights - most notably in the 2015 book, "Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything"

amazon.com/Making-Gay-Oka…
Pack is also weighing replacing acting chiefs of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty & Radio Free Asia - a reprise of his firings when he took over in June.

Story to follow

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More from @davidfolkenflik

David Folkenflik Profile picture
24 Nov
NEWS: Fox News reaches settlement with Seth Rich's parents over May 2017 story baselessly alleging he had leaked 1000s of DNC emails to Wikileaks during the 2016 campaign. Fox also suggested - without any evidence - link between Dems and Rich's death in July 2016. /more
Joel and Mary Rich: “The settlement with Fox News closes another chapter in our efforts to mourn the murder of our beloved Seth, whom we miss every single day... We are pleased with the settlement of this matter & sincerely hope the media will take genuine caution in the future"
No public apology and no financial or other details offered.

Fox News statement: "We are pleased with the resolution of the claims and hope this enables Mr. and Mrs. Rich to find a small degree of peace and solace moving forward.”
Read 8 tweets
David Folkenflik Profile picture
9 Oct
Here's a little fun fact about the imbroglio at the Voice of America

USAGM CEO Michael Pack has justified turning the agency upside down by invoking the Q of security clearances and possible espionage / con't
Pack has not publicly specified any harm.

To Federalist, he said, “To be a journalist is a great cover for a spy – famous journalists like Kim Philby who worked for the BBC… It’s just a great cover. And from the beginning of the Cold War, even earlier, they’ve been penetrated."
Leave aside that the example of Philby is three generations old. Leave aside that I can't find evidence online that Philby worked for the BBC, though he did act as a reporter.

The problem of Philby wasn't that he penetrated the press. It was that he reached elite ranks of MI6!
Read 5 tweets
David Folkenflik Profile picture
5 Oct
Thread: It may seem like some quaint vestige of a time gone by.

But let me spell out why I think developments at the Voice of America and its parent agency are important to track, even as so many crises are unfolding before our eyes. /cont

My latest: npr.org/2020/10/04/919…
The VOA reaches 280MM+ people abroad each week. It provides a service for lands that don't have a free press and serves as a symbol of American political liberty & open debate by covering all sides.

Staffers tell me its credibility is being damaged by its CEO, appointed by Trump
Trump & WH routinely seek to thwart flow of independent information.

Right now, a key part of the WH crisis is credibility: can you trust what it says on the pandemic, on Trump's own health, on the economy & so on.
Read 12 tweets
David Folkenflik Profile picture
31 Aug
NEWS: 14 veteran journalists at the Voice of America send letter of protest against Trump's appointee as parent agency's CEO, Michael Pack, saying he is harming US aims and imperiling its reporters / more

My story:
npr.org/2020/08/31/907…
Pack's comments and decisions "endanger the personal security of VOA reporters at home and abroad, as well as threatening to harm U.S. national security objectives," the letter to VOA Acting Director Elez Biberaj reads. / more
The protest came after a long line of sweeping changes and purges at the federally funded networks overseen by Pack. But it was triggered by interview Pack gave to conservative site the Federalist.

"It's a great pace to put a foreign spy," Pack said/ MORE
Read 5 tweets
David Folkenflik Profile picture
10 Jun
Pittsburgh PG executive editor Keith Burris re ⁦@alexisjreports⁩:

“No fair person could make the case that our actions were race-based. We will not apologize for upholding professional standards in journalism or attempting to eliminate bias.” /MORE
post-gazette.com/local/region/2…
2/ Burris says Johnson was barred from coverage because her tweet betrayed bias.

Does not address case of white colleague warned about tweet disparaging man accused of looting was allowed to keep writing about protests until union pointed out disparity - as NPR reported Monday /
3/ Burris confirmed tgat 80 Post-Gazette journalists, including Michael Santiago, were also sidelined from covering protests for retweeting @alexisjreports’ original offending tweet in solidarity with her.

It compares looters to those who trashed area after concert tailgate.
Read 6 tweets
David Folkenflik Profile picture
25 Jan
Secretary Pompeo asserts (without evidence) that NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly lied twice - saying their interview was only to focus on Iran and that post-interview exchange was to be off record.

A point about each: /con’t
In interview, transcript shows Pompeo did not contradict @NPRKelly when she noted she confirmed w his aides she’d ask about Ukraine too. (Aide was in room.)

Don’t take my word - here’s State Dep’t transcript:
state.gov/secretary-mich…

/con’t
Also, Kelly told listeners she was then asked to speak w Pompeo without colleagues or recorder - but that no one sought to place off record. And she said she would not have accepted that. Her account:
npr.org/transcripts/79…

/con’t
Read 4 tweets

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