Agency overview | |
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Formed | October 1, 1999 |
Preceding agencies |
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Type | Independent |
Headquarters | Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building Washington, D.C. |
Annual budget | $810 million (FY 2022) [1] |
Agency executives |
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Website | www |
The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), known until 2018 as the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), [3] is an independent agency of the United States government that broadcasts news and information. [4] [5] It is considered an arm of U.S. diplomacy. [6]
The USAGM supervises Voice of America (VOA) and Office of Cuba Broadcasting as well as state-funded [5] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Networks and Open Technology Fund. [7] [8]
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) was formed in 1994 with the passing of the International Broadcasting Act. The act established a bipartisan board that consisted of nine voting members, eight of whom were to be appointed by the president for a three–year term. The ninth was the secretary of state, also a political appointee, who would serve as an ex officio board member for the duration of their term as secretary. [9] At this point, BBG was considered a part of the U.S. Information Agency.
The first voting members of the BBG, confirmed on August 11, 1995, were David W. Burke, Ted Kaufman, Tom C. Korologos, Bette Bao Lord, Alberto J. Mora, Cheryl Halpern, Marc Nathanson, and Carl Spielvogel. [10]
On October 1, 1999, the BBG was established as an independent agency by the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998. [11]
The Agency has five broadcasting entities that were established from 1942 - 2004. [12] The Voice of America (VOA) has been in operation since World War II. William Harlan Hale, a journalist and writer, began the VOA's first radio show by saying "We bring you voices from America. Today, and daily from now on, we shall speak to you about America and the War. The news may be good for us. The news may be bad. But we shall tell you the truth." [13]
Then, in 1950, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) went on the air. The Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) was started in 1985. Radio Free Asia (RFA) was founded in 1996.
In 2002, BBG launched Radio Sawa, a 24/7 Arabic language radio network that broadcasts news and a mix of Western and Arabic music in the Middle East. [14]
In 2004, Alhurra TV was created as a televised sister network to Radio Sawa and began broadcasting throughout the Middle East. Since its founding, it has established programs such as Al Youm (Today in English), a daily three-hour news program broadcast from five countries on three different continents; [15] and Musawat (Equality in English), a program that focuses on women's issues and rights in the Arab world. [16]
To oversee Arabic broadcasts, the Middle East Broadcasting Network, Inc (MBN) was initiated in 2005.
Other networks were also expanded under the BBG. Voice of America worked with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to launch Radio Farda, a Persian-language radio program targeting youth.[ citation needed ] In 2006, VOA initiated TV Ashna, a one-hour televised news broadcast, [17] and Radio Deewa, a daily radio program of sports, music, and local and international news. [18]
In a January 2015 interview with The New York Times , the then newly appointed CEO of the BBG, Andrew Lack, said "We are facing a number of challenges from entities like Russia Today which is out there pushing a point of view, the Islamic State in the Middle East and groups like Boko Haram. But I firmly believe that this agency has a role to play in facing those challenges." [19]
The board of USAGM has an advisory role. It previously supervised USAGM media networks directly, but was replaced with a single appointed chief executive officer (CEO) as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, passed in December 2016. [20] [21] [22] [23]
In 2018, the BBG changed its name to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). [3] The name change was initiated to help constituents better understand what USAGM does. [24]
The Open Technology Fund (OTF), launched in 2019, works to advance internet freedom, so USAGM journalists and audiences can have uncensored internet access. Over 2 billion people worldwide use OTF daily. [25]
State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki clarified Lack's statement in her January 23 press briefing, saying "would the U.S. Government put those three in the same category? No, we wouldn't. However, there are concerns...that Russia's own independent media space is shrinking and the Kremlin continues to apply pressure on the few remaining outlets." [26] [ non-primary source needed ]
On January 19, 2021, the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, representing fired USAGM employees and whistleblowers, sent a letter to the congressional foreign affairs committees, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, and the Inspector General of the US Department of State. The letter said that Pack had hired the McGuireWoods law firm to investigate USAGM employees and the OTF at a cost of over $2 million in the last quarter of 2020, bypassing US government investigators including USAGM's own Office of Human Resources, and called for further investigation of what it termed a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars. [27] The Washington Post later reported that a second law firm, Caplin & Drysdale, had also been granted a similar no-bid contract in possible violation of federal contracting regulations for a total cost of $4 million. [28]
On January 20, 2021, journalist Kelu Chao was appointed acting CEO of the USAGM, replacing outgoing CEO Michael Pack. [29]
In September 2022, Amanda Bennett, a journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, received bipartisan confirmation by the U.S. Senate to become CEO. [30] Bennett was sworn in as CEO on December 6, 2022. [31]
USAGM is led by a single chief executive officer appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Until 2016, it was headed by a bi-partisan board with nine members; eight were appointed by the president with Senate confirmation, and the ninth member ex officio was the Secretary of State. By law, no more than four members could be from the same political party, in an effort to limit partisanship. [32] The president designated one member (other than the Secretary of State) to serve as Chairman. The Board served as a "firewall" against political interference in the journalistic product. [33]
Upon the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 on December 23, 2016 [34] the agency was placed under the direction of a single CEO. The board, officially renamed as the International Broadcasting Advisory Board, was reduced to five members appointed by the president to serve in an advisory role. Previously appointed board members in excess of five could continue to serve, but would not be replaced when their term expired. [20] Under the 2016 reform legislation, any new agency CEO is to be nominated by the U.S. president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate with authority to select key agency personnel. Former USAGM CEO John F. Lansing, who had been selected and approved in 2015 by the BBG Board holding a Democratic majority during the Obama administration, was not nominated by President Obama nor confirmed by the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate, as this was not required under previous legislation.
In June 2018, President Trump announced his intention to nominate documentary film producer Michael Pack to head the agency. He was confirmed by the Senate two years later, and served from June 5, 2020 until January 20, 2021, when he was asked to resign at the request of newly-inaugurated President Joe Biden. President Biden then appointed Kelu Chao as acting USAGM CEO.
President Biden then nominated Amanda Bennett for CEO. She received bipartisan confirmation from the U.S. Senate in September 2022 and was sworn into the position in December 2022.
The board advises the CEO of the agency, as appropriate. It is composed of seven members, six appointed by the president of the United States with the consent of the United States Senate, and the U.S. Secretary of State. Of the six appointed members, one each should be appointed from among four lists of at least three individuals submitted by the chairs and ranking members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. All six members shall not be regular, full-time employees of the U.S. government, and be appointed on the basis of being distinguished in the fields of public diplomacy, mass communications, print, broadcast or digital media, or foreign affairs. These six are appointed to a single term of four years, but they may continue to serve on the board until a successor is confirmed. Only three of these may be affiliated with the same political party. [35]
The President designates one member to serve as chairperson, with the advice and consent of the Senate. A majority of the members of the board constitutes a quorum, when excluding the Secretary of State. [35]
The current board members as of September 27, 2024: [36]
Position | Name | Party | Assumed office | Term expiration |
---|---|---|---|---|
Chair | Kenneth Jarin | Democratic | December 6, 2023 | January 1, 2027 |
Member | Kathleen Matthews | Democratic | December 6, 2023 | January 1, 2027 |
Member | Jeffrey Gedmin | Democratic | December 6, 2023 | January 1, 2025 |
Member | Luis Botello | Republican | December 6, 2023 | January 1, 2025 |
Member | Michelle S. Giuda | Republican | December 6, 2023 | January 1, 2027 |
Member | Jamie Fly | Republican | December 6, 2023 | January 1, 2027 |
Member (ex officio) | Antony Blinken | Democratic | January 26, 2021 | — |
Past members of the board have included:
In October 2021, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report about USAGM's organization. [41]
As a federal agency, USAGM's budget request is part of the president's budget request to Congress. [42]
During the federal funding dispute for the fiscal year 2011, President Barack Obama sided with the BBG agreeing to language that the organization would "expand unrestricted access to information on the Internet." [43] The BBG received $10 million from Congress for the purpose of fighting Internet censorship in China and other countries.
The agency has $2 million earmarked to the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests through the Open Technology Fund. This funding was frozen in June 2020 as China was preparing to introduce a new national security law for Hong Kong. [44]
President Biden's budget request for 2023 includes $840 million for USAGM, which the Agency says will enable them to continue their "vital mission to inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy." [45] This is an increase of $29.6 million from the 2022 requested level.
In February 2010, BBG Executive Director Jeff Trimble collaborated with the National Security Council to publish a VOA statement about Iran's jamming [46] of international satellites. In an email to Foreign Policy magazine, BBG's Public Affairs Director responded to the controversy, stating "the BBG 'firewall' served to protect the integrity and credibility of our journalistic products. An official policy statement by a senior management official of the agency is not a journalistic product." [47]
Later that year, Senator Tom Coburn held up the Obama administration's appointments of Michael P. Meehan and Dana Perino to the board, with the aim of drawing attention to the organization's perceived ineffectiveness, stating in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine: "The BBG is the most worthless organization in the federal government. It's full of people who know nothing about media or foreign policy." [47] Senator Jim DeMint also attempted to use the nominations to force a hearing on the BBG after frustrations with a perceived lack of congressional oversight over the organization. [47] Coburn had written an open letter to then–Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in August 2010 citing "longstanding concerns regarding transparency and effectiveness of our taxpayer funded international broadcasting agencies under the purview of the Broadcasting Board of Governors." [47] Though a report on BBG was eventually given to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, [48] Coburn was ultimately unsuccessful in trying to block the appointments to the board. [49]
In July 2016, the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Jeff Shell, was denied entry into Russia. [50] Matt Novak, writing for the tech website Gizmodo , referred to the BBG as the "propaganda arm" of the U.S. government and speculated that its alleged role in spreading propaganda on behalf of the U.S. government was the reason Shell was denied entry to Russia. [51]
In 2018, The New York Times reported that the Agency had targeted Americans with Facebook ads for one of its outlets, which would violate the Smith–Mundt Act, a law "to protect Americans from domestic propaganda". [52]
In 2023, after Twitter decided to label the Voice of America's account as government-funded media, a VOA spokesperson told NPR that the label "causes unwarranted and unjustified concern about the accuracy and objectivity of [its] news coverage". [53]
Voice of America is an international broadcasting state media network funded by the federal government of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest of the U.S. international broadcasters. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content in 48 languages, which it distributes to affiliate stations around the world. Its targeted and primary audience is non-American outside of the US borders. As of November 2022, its reporting reached 326 million adults per week across all platforms. It is financed by the U.S. Agency for Global Media after approval by Congress.
Alhurra is a U.S. government-owned Arabic-language satellite TV channel that broadcasts news and current affairs programming to audiences in the Middle East and North Africa. Alhurra is funded by the U.S. government and is barred from broadcasting within the United States itself under the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia. The service, which provides editorially independent reporting, has the stated mission of providing accurate and uncensored reporting to countries in Asia that have poor media environments and limited protections for speech and press freedom. RFA is American government-funded, operates as a non-profit corporation, headquartered in Washington, D.C, with news bureaus and journalists in Asia, Europe, and Australia.
Radio Sawa was an Arabic speaking radio station broadcasting to the Arab world from March 23, 2002 till November 2024. The station was a service of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc., which also operates Alhurra Television and was publicly funded by the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the U.S. Congress. The word "sawa" means "together" in many Arabic dialects.
The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, popularly called the Smith–Mundt Act, was first introduced by Congressman Karl E. Mundt (R-SD) in January 1945 in the 79th Congress. It was subsequently passed by the 80th Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on January 27, 1948.
Kenneth Y. Tomlinson was an editor at Reader's Digest and American government official. He was also chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which manages Voice of America radio, and Chairman of the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which manages funds appropriated by Congress in support of public television and radio. According to The New York Times, there was an inquiry concerning possible misuse of federal money by Tomlinson. Investigators at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting said on November 15, 2005, "that they had uncovered evidence that its former chairman had repeatedly broken federal law and the organization's own regulations in a campaign to combat what he saw as liberal bias". According to The New York Times, U.S. State Department investigators determined in 2006 that he had "used his office to run a 'horse racing operation'," that he "improperly put a friend on the payroll", that he "repeatedly used government employees to perform personal errands", and that he "billed the government for more days of work than the rules permit".
The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) is the technical support outlet within the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which is a U.S. independent agency. The IBB supports the day-to-day operations of Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. It also provides transmission and technical support for all of the independent non-military broadcasting services funded by the USAGM. The IBB is located in Washington, D.C.
Norman Joel Pattiz was an American broadcasting entrepreneur who founded radio network Westwood One. Pattiz was a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame.
Kenneth R. Weinstein is the Walter P. Stern Distinguished Fellow at Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank. From 2005, he served as Hudson's CEO, and from April 2011 until January 2021 was Hudson's President and CEO. Weinstein is an expert on U.S. foreign policy and international affairs and has commented on national and international affairs on television and in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal,The Weekly Standard, Yomiuri Shimbun and Le Monde.
Michael W. Kempner is an American businessman. He is the founder and CEO of MikeWorldWide, a public relations firm headquartered in New York, New York. Kempner is also known for his political contributions and fundraising for the Democratic Party.
Susan McCue was appointed to the Broadcasting Board of Governors on July 2, 2010, to a term expiring on August 13, 2011, and continued serving until May 22, 2014. By law, any member whose term has expired may serve until a successor has been appointed and qualified. McCue was co-chair of the Communications and Outreach Committee, of the BBG, chair of its subcommittee on innovation and was a member of the Governance Committee. After leaving the BBG, she joined the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent federal agency.
The Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN) is a U.S.-government-funded American Arabic-language non-profit media organization broadcasting news and information across the Middle East and North Africa region.
Amanda Bennett is an American journalist and author, who is the current CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media. She was the director of Voice of America from 2016 to 2020. She formerly edited The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Lexington Herald-Leader. Bennett is also the author of six nonfiction books.
Robert R. Reilly is a writer, think tank executive and former diplomat. He has published on topics of US foreign policy and the "war of ideas." Reilly is also known as a classical music critic who has written for periodicals including High Fidelity,Musical America,Schwann/Opus, and American Record Guide. In December 2020 Reilly was named director of the Voice of America and he was removed from that post in January 2021 shortly after President Biden's inauguration.
The United States International Communications Reform Act of 2014 is a bill that would revise U.S. international broadcasting and communications structures, missions, and objectives. The bill would also replace the Broadcasting Board of Governors with the United States International Communications Agency.
The Open Technology Fund (OTF) is an American nonprofit corporation that aims to support global Internet freedom technologies. Its mission is to "support open technologies and communities that increase free expression, circumvent censorship, and obstruct repressive surveillance as a way to promote human rights and open societies." As of November 2019, the Open Technology Fund became an independent nonprofit corporation and a grantee of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Until its formation as an independent entity, it had operated as a program of Radio Free Asia.
Michael L. Pack is an American documentary filmmaker who was CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) from June 2020 to January 2021. Pack was nominated by President Donald Trump and took office at USAGM in June 2020 after Senate confirmation. He resigned on January 20, 2021 at the request of President Joe Biden, effective at 2:00 p.m., two hours after Biden took office.
Carolyn Presutti is a Voice of America (VOA) senior television correspondent based in Washington, DC.
Kelu Chao is a Taiwanese American journalist and the deputy CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Prior, she was the USAGM acting interim CEO, from January 20, 2021, to December 29, 2022.
Libby Liu is an American nonprofit executive, lawyer, and privacy advocate who is the chief executive officer of Whistleblower Aid. She was the president of Radio Free Asia for 14 years, where she led the founding of the Open Technology Fund. After the OTF became an independent organization in 2019, she was the chief executive officer until June 2020.