As New York Times "Rediscovers" Voice of America as Propaganda After Ensor Leaves, BBG's and His Censorship Role FOIA-ed

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 15 -- Voice of America as propaganda has again belatedly been covered by the New York Times, this time on David Ensor's departure, but ignoring the role of VOA and its Broadcasting Board of Governors as censors, trying for example to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN.

 The Times reports that "some have even asked if the Voice of America, whose budget is about $200 million a year, is still relevant." We've done more than ask. Money is being misused. 

   The Times today covers Ensor's resignation last week; it does not mention his role along with Steve Redisch in censorship. 

   Voice of America not only at the UN but from its Washington headquarters, in a formal complaint submitted to the current UN spokesman by editor Steve Redisch with the approval of supervisor David Ensor, asked the UN to "review the accreditation" of the investigative Press, click here for that.

  In e-mails subsequently obtained by Inner City Press under the Freedom of Information Act, the VOA bureau chief sought and said she had obtained support for censorship from the United Nations Correspondents Association and the bureau chiefs of Agence France Presse and Reuters, here, here and then here (censorship under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

  Back on January 8, 2014, with Voice of America's Broadcasting Board of Governors still not having addressed censorship bids by VOA which it oversees, President Obama nominated to the BBG Michael W. Kempner, a founder of New Jersey's ConnectOne Bancorp and a bundler of campaign contributions.

   We asked and ask again, why does the US government need a propaganda network, and why turn it loose inside the US? And why would its BBG, after first granting Freedom of Information Act access and fee waivers then try to reverse all this after the documents released proved embarrassing?

  After that, BBG's FOIA Officer Andrew Krog suspended processing in the October 2013 government "funding lapse;" then Appeals Access Committee chair Marie Lennon denied access to any documents about taxpayer funded BBG programming in Sudan and Afghanistan (see below.)

Previously the Times covered the House of Representative bill which Inner City Press panned in April 2014, focusing on a split between the union and some who work at VOA.

   Alongside the draft US law to further make "clear that the Voice of America mission is to support U.S. public diplomacy efforts," there are still claims that VOA currently is more independent than this.

 Back on July 2, 2013, Inner City Press published a short critique of Voice of America and its Broadcasting Board of Governors, here.

  In the three days that followed, mail poured in providing yet more detailed accounts of BBG and Voice of America incompetence and assaults on the principles they supposedly uphold. 

  The union that represents workers there, AFGE Local 1812, has written that

“poor morale was made markedly worse by a decision in 2010 to re-appoint the present newsroom director [Sonja Pace]. A correspondent since the 1980’s, she had been reassigned from the position of news chief more than a decade earlier. Fast forward to 2010: An audio recording of an open meeting in VOA’s newsroom shows that strong protests against the reappointment of the former news director were dismissed by VOA's Executive Editor [Steve Redisch] a former CNN employee. In the recording, the Executive Editor rejected staff concerns, saying 'you’re responsible for your own morale.' Though he has known of the morale crisis in VOA’s Central News Division created by the 2010 decision, current VOA director David Ensor has allowed this situation to continue.”

  Inner City Press in 2012 had its own experience of these three individuals. VOA's Executive Editor Steve Redisch wrote to the UN asking that Inner City Press' accreditation be “reviewed.”

  The only communication Inner City Press had received from VOA or BBG in Washington prior to this was from Sonja Pace, that “regarding VOA’s Charter and Code, we absolutely stand by those mandates and guidelines, without exception.”

  Apparently Voice of America's principles don't include the First Amendment. Subsequent inquiring under the Freedom of Information Act found David Ensor involved in the decision to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Ensor served the US State Department in Afghanistan and perhaps re-formed his view of press freedom there.

  In mid 2013, the Obama administration nominated former Afghanistan envoy Ryan Crocker to join the thenhalf-empty Broadcasting Board of Governors, along with John Kerry, while claiming that the output under the BBG is entirely independent from the US government. This is not credible.

  The Colombia Journalism Review, with its own conflicts, has made this point, and BBG has belatedly responded. Will any of this finally bring accountability? Watch this site.

  

As US Broadcasting Board of Governors Slams Censorship in Baku, Its Voice of America Tried to Get Press Out of UN, Ignores FOIA

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 26 -- As the US Broadcasting Board of Governors complains of censorship in Azerbaijan, the Free UN Coalition for Access agrees that media should not be raided.

  But what about BBG's Voice of America having tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of covering the UN? Here is the letter VOA's Steve Redisch sent to the UN, asking for the "review" of Inner City Press' accreditation; this was supported by VOA's David Ensor.  Will this belatedly be addressed at BBG's next board meeting on February 18, particularly by new, not yet implicated Board members Karen Kornbluh, Michael Kempner and Leon Aron?

  Reuters, which joined in VOA's campaign, here, and whose UN bureau chief then moved to censor his own "for the record" anti-Press complaint to the UN from Googe's Search by calling it copyrighted, click here for that, reports:

"Nenad Pejic, editor-in-chief and co-CEO of RFE/RL called the raid a 'flagrant violation of every international commitment and standard Azerbaijan has pledged to uphold. The order comes from the top as retaliation for our reporting and as a thuggish effort to silence RFE/RL."

  Thuggish? How about trying to get the Press thrown out of the UN, and doing nothing when its office was raided, and when UN official Herve Ladsous later physically blocked Inner City Press from filming, Vine here? 

    Inner City Press documented Voice of America's anti-Press campaign, and the involvement of the UN offices of Reuters and Agence France Presse, among others, by Freedom of Information Act requests to BBG. But after it began reporting on these documents, BBG began denying all appeals, and FOIA office Andrew Krog began automatically denying the Press' FOIA requests.

   Back on August 13, US Congress proposals to confirm Voice of America as propaganda were the elephant in the Broadcasting Board of Governors meeting, but barely mentioned. 

   Instead, BBG board members were regaled with more than an hour of self-promotional videos, for example about how RFE/RL evades censorship. 

 This ignored that Voice of America's David Ensor and Steve Redisch tried to censor the investigative Press at the UN (click here), and its Freedom of Information Act office now routinely denies all Press requests, about funding in Afghanistan and other topics. Learning from some countries they cover?

  RFE/RL's Nanad Pejic spoke of Ukraine as if all attacks on the media were under what he called the "former government." But what of current blocking of websites and attacks on journalists?

   A staffer calling in to the meeting bragged of partnering with the station owned by "the richest Ukrainian" and of embedding with Kyiv's army and its paramilitaries. She described the siege and lack of water in Lugansk as a humanitarian crisis. But is that how they report it?

  NSC's Ben Rhodes was to call into the board meeting, but couldn't until 12:15 pm. So the BBG public meeting was adjourned - meaning Rhodes' briefing would not be public?

 A documentary about Armenians in Syria was shown -- with no mention of the armed opposition's or terrorist group's attacks on Armenians in Kessab. BBG is already propaganda.

   This was belatedly covered by the New York Times last month, but the Times ignored the role of VOA and its Broadcasting Board of Governors as censors, trying for example to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN.

  The Times covered the House of Representatives bill which Inner City Press panned in April, focusing on a split between the union and some who work at VOA.  

   Alongside the draft US law to further make "clear that the Voice of America mission is to support U.S. public diplomacy efforts," there are still claims that VOA currently is more independent than this.

   At the United Nations, this has hardly been the case. On April 15, 2014, France's now-gone Ambassador to the UNGerard Araud told a reporter for what's called Shi'ite media, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent." But VOA's questions are no less directed.

 Significantly, Voice of America not only at the UN but from its Washington headquarters, in a formal complaint submitted to the current UN spokesman by editor Steve Redisch with the approval of supervisor David Ensor, asked the UN to "review the accreditation" of the investigative Press, click here for that.

  In e-mails subsequently obtained by Inner City Press under the Freedom of Information Act, the VOA bureau chief sought and said she had obtained support for censorship from the United Nations Correspondents Association and the bureau chiefs of Agence France Presseand Reuters, here, here and then here (censorship under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

  Back on January 8, with Voice of America's Broadcasting Board of Governors still not having addressed censorship bids by VOA which it oversees, President Obama nominated to the BBG Michael W. Kempner, a founder of New Jersey's ConnectOne Bancorp and a bundler of campaign contributions.

   We asked and ask again, why does the US government need a propaganda network, and why turn it loose inside the US? And why would its BBG, after first granting Freedom of Information Act access and fee waivers then try to reverse all this after the documents released proved embarrassing?

  After that, BBG's FOIA Officer Andrew Krog suspended processing in the October 2013 government "funding lapse;" then Appeals Access Committee chair Marie Lennon denied access to any documents about taxpayer funded BBG programming in Sudan and Afghanistan (see below.)

 Back on July 2, 2013, Inner City Press published a short critique of Voice of America and its Broadcasting Board of Governors, here.

  In the three days that followed, mail poured in providing yet more detailed accounts of BBG and Voice of America incompetence and assaults on the principles they supposedly uphold. 

  The union that represents workers there, AFGE Local 1812, has written that

“poor morale was made markedly worse by a decision in 2010 to re-appoint the present newsroom director [Sonja Pace]. A correspondent since the 1980’s, she had been reassigned from the position of news chief more than a decade earlier. Fast forward to 2010: An audio recording of an open meeting in VOA’s newsroom shows that strong protests against the reappointment of the former news director were dismissed by VOA's Executive Editor [Steve Redisch] a former CNN employee. In the recording, the Executive Editor rejected staff concerns, saying 'you’re responsible for your own morale.' Though he has known of the morale crisis in VOA’s Central News Division created by the 2010 decision, current VOA director David Ensor has allowed this situation to continue.”

  Inner City Press in 2012 had its own experience of these three individuals. VOA's Executive Editor Steve Redisch wrote to the UN asking that Inner City Press' accreditation be “reviewed.”

  The only communication Inner City Press had received from VOA or BBG in Washington prior to this was from Sonja Pace, that “regarding VOA’s Charter and Code, we absolutely stand by those mandates and guidelines, without exception.”

  Apparently Voice of America's principles don't include the First Amendment. Subsequent inquiring under the Freedom of Information Act found David Ensor involved in the decision to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Ensor served the US State Department in Afghanistan and perhaps re-formed his view of press freedom there.

  In mid 2013, the Obama administration nominated former Afghanistan envoy Ryan Crocker to join the thenhalf-empty Broadcasting Board of Governors, along with John Kerry, while claiming that the output under the BBG is entirely independent from the US government. This is not credible.

  The Colombia Journalism Review, with its own conflicts, has made this point, and BBG has belatedly responded. Will any of this finally bring accountability? Watch this site.

  

Out of Control Voice of America Veers on Crimea, Its Censorship under David Ensor UNaddressed, House Bill Pends

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 -- Alongside a draft US law to further make "clear that the Voice of America mission is to support U.S. public diplomacy efforts," House of Representatives website here, there have been claims that VOA currently is more independent than this.

  Perhaps in a ham-handed attempt to belated include a wider range of views, VOA under David Ensor has for example colored Crimea on a map as belonging to Russia. Click here for that.

   But under Ensor VOA tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN. Only after Freedom of Information Act inquiries from this publication did Ensor in an in-house email released only under FOIA admit this had been "disproportionate" and was "not appropriate." 

   But there has not been any accountability, at least not yet.

   VOA remains the same or worse, including at the United Nations. Recently France's outgoing Ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud told a reporter for what's called Shi'ite media, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent." But VOA's questions are no less directed.

 As noted Voice of America from its Washington headquarters, in a formal complaint submitted to the current UN spokesman by editor Steve Redisch with the approval of supervisor David Ensor, asked the UN to "review the accreditation" of the investigative Press, click here for that.

  In e-mails subsequently obtained by Inner City Press under the Freedom of Information Act, the VOA bureau chief sought and said she had obtained support for censorship from the United Nations Correspondents Association and the bureau chiefs of Agence France Presse and Reuters, here,here and then here (censorship under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

  Back on January 8, with Voice of America's Broadcasting Board of Governors still not having addressed censorship bids by VOA which it oversees, President Obama nominated to the BBG Michael W. Kempner, a founder of New Jersey's ConnectOne Bancorp and a bundler of campaign contributions.

   We asked and ask again, why does the US government need a propaganda network, and why turn it loose inside the US? And why would its BBG, after first granting Freedom of Information Act access and fee waivers then try to reverse all this after the documents released proved embarrassing?

  After that, BBG's FOIA Officer Andrew Krog suspended processing in the October 2013 government "funding lapse;" then Appeals Access Committee chair Marie Lennon denied access to any documents about taxpayer funded BBG programming in Sudan and Afghanistan (see below.)

 Back on July 2, 2013, Inner City Press published a short critique of Voice of America and its Broadcasting Board of Governors, here.

  In the three days that followed, mail poured in providing yet more detailed accounts of BBG and Voice of America incompetence and assaults on the principles they supposedly uphold. 

  The union that represents workers there, AFGE Local 1812, has written that

“poor morale was made markedly worse by a decision in 2010 to re-appoint the present newsroom director [Sonja Pace]. A correspondent since the 1980’s, she had been reassigned from the position of news chief more than a decade earlier. Fast forward to 2010: An audio recording of an open meeting in VOA’s newsroom shows that strong protests against the reappointment of the former news director were dismissed by VOA's Executive Editor [Steve Redisch] a former CNN employee. In the recording, the Executive Editor rejected staff concerns, saying 'you’re responsible for your own morale.' Though he has known of the morale crisis in VOA’s Central News Division created by the 2010 decision, current VOA director David Ensor has allowed this situation to continue.”

  Inner City Press in 2012 had its own experience of these three individuals. VOA's Executive Editor Steve Redisch wrote to the UN asking that Inner City Press' accreditation be “reviewed.”

  The only communication Inner City Press had received from VOA or BBG in Washington prior to this was from Sonja Pace, that “regarding VOA’s Charter and Code, we absolutely stand by those mandates and guidelines, without exception.”

  Apparently Voice of America's principles don't include the First Amendment. Subsequent inquiring under the Freedom of Information Act found David Ensor involved in the decision to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Ensor served the US State Department in Afghanistan and perhaps re-formed his view of press freedom there.

  In mid 2013, the Obama administration nominated former Afghanistan envoy Ryan Crocker to join the then half-empty Broadcasting Board of Governors, along with John Kerry, while claiming that the output under the BBG is entirely independent from the US government. This is not credible.

  The Colombia Journalism Review, with its own conflicts, has made this point, and BBG has belatedly responded. Will any of this finally bring accountability? Watch this site.

  

As US Congress Mulls Confirming Voice of America as Propaganda, VOA's Censorship Role Revealed under Freedom of Information Act

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- Alongside a draft US law to further make "clear that the Voice of America mission is to support U.S. public diplomacy efforts," there are claims that VOA currently is more independent than this.

   At the United Nations, this is hardly the case. Recently France's outgoing Ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud told a reporter for what's called Shi'ite media, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent." But VOA's questions are no less directed.

 Significantly, Voice of America not only at the UN but from its Washington headquarters, in a formal complaint submitted to the current UN spokesman by editor Steve Redisch with the approval of supervisor David Ensor, asked the UN to "review the accreditation" of the investigative Press, click here for that.

  In e-mails subsequently obtained by Inner City Press under the Freedom of Information Act, the VOA bureau chief sought and said she had obtained support for censorship from the United Nations Correspondents Association and the bureau chiefs of Agence France Presse and Reuters, here, here and then here (censorship under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

  Back on January 8, with Voice of America's Broadcasting Board of Governors still not having addressed censorship bids by VOA which it oversees, President Obama nominated to the BBG Michael W. Kempner, a founder of New Jersey's ConnectOne Bancorp and a bundler of campaign contributions.

   We asked and ask again, why does the US government need a propaganda network, and why turn it loose inside the US? And why would its BBG, after first granting Freedom of Information Act access and fee waivers then try to reverse all this after the documents released proved embarrassing?

  After that, BBG's FOIA Officer Andrew Krog suspended processing in the October 2013 government "funding lapse;" then Appeals Access Committee chair Marie Lennon denied access to any documents about taxpayer funded BBG programming in Sudan and Afghanistan (see below.)

 Back on July 2, 2013, Inner City Press published a short critique of Voice of America and its Broadcasting Board of Governors, here.

  In the three days that followed, mail poured in providing yet more detailed accounts of BBG and Voice of America incompetence and assaults on the principles they supposedly uphold. 

  The union that represents workers there, AFGE Local 1812, has written that

“poor morale was made markedly worse by a decision in 2010 to re-appoint the present newsroom director [Sonja Pace]. A correspondent since the 1980’s, she had been reassigned from the position of news chief more than a decade earlier. Fast forward to 2010: An audio recording of an open meeting in VOA’s newsroom shows that strong protests against the reappointment of the former news director were dismissed by VOA's Executive Editor [Steve Redisch] a former CNN employee. In the recording, the Executive Editor rejected staff concerns, saying 'you’re responsible for your own morale.' Though he has known of the morale crisis in VOA’s Central News Division created by the 2010 decision, current VOA director David Ensor has allowed this situation to continue.”

  Inner City Press in 2012 had its own experience of these three individuals. VOA's Executive Editor Steve Redisch wrote to the UN asking that Inner City Press' accreditation be “reviewed.”

  The only communication Inner City Press had received from VOA or BBG in Washington prior to this was from Sonja Pace, that “regarding VOA’s Charter and Code, we absolutely stand by those mandates and guidelines, without exception.”

  Apparently Voice of America's principles don't include the First Amendment. Subsequent inquiring under the Freedom of Information Act found David Ensor involved in the decision to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Ensor served the US State Department in Afghanistan and perhaps re-formed his view of press freedom there.

  In mid 2013, the Obama administration nominated former Afghanistan envoy Ryan Crocker to join the then half-empty Broadcasting Board of Governors, along with John Kerry, while claiming that the output under the BBG is entirely independent from the US government. This is not credible.

  The Colombia Journalism Review, with its own conflicts, has made this point, and BBG has belatedly responded. Will any of this finally bring accountability? Watch this site.

  

While Voice of America's BBG Defends Its Cuban Twitter, Both Tried to Censor at UN

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 8 -- The US Agency for International Development, has defended its role in developing a faux / parallel "Cuban Twitter," exposed by the AP. 

   Now the US Broadcasting Board of Governors, on whose board the Secretary of State serves and which oversees Voice of America, Al Hurra and Radio/TV Marti among others, is promoting and defending the propriety of its own version of Cuban Twitter - on Twitter. 

  In the same feed, BBG brags that VOA's David Ensor is involved in the protection of journalists. But in 2012, Ensor along with Steve Redisch were involved in trying to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN.

  Ensor wrote that a "quote from Reuters will definitely help!" Document here. This quote concerned a previous "for the record" complaint by Reuters bureau chief which he's since gotten banned from Google's Search by claiming it was copyrighted: that is, censorship via the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

  So these ostensibly champions of freedom of the press are actually engaged in trying to get the investigative Press thrown out -- or its accreditation "reviewed" -- and in trying to erase and censor the documents that show this. 

  BBG since being exposed by its own Freedom of Information Act responses began reflexively denying through its FOIA official Andrew Krog any and all FOIA requests from Inner City Press, including about BBG's operations in Sudan and Afghanistan. Protection of journalists, indeed.

    To the main "Cuban Twitter" story, there is a UN aspect. USAID spokesperson Matt Herrick's statement does not address the United Nations link, on which UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq declined to comment on April 3.

  James Eberhard worked on and with the US strategy since at least July 2010. But he is also described as "James Eberhard, CEO and founder of GeoPoll... GeoPoll was recently used by the United Nations to complete its MY World global survey, bringing in 13 percent of total responses in weeks. It is also being used by the World Food Programme on an ongoing basis to assess nutrition access in specific regions within the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

Of this last, the UN itself said:

"In Democratic Republic of the Congo, a partnership with GeoPoll is helping us to conduct the poll via mobile surveys, so we will be able to gather data from large numbers of respondents who are otherwise unreachable in a country with limited internet connectivity.We expect to reach approximately 15,000-18,000 people in the DRC in the coming weeks."

Eberhard has spoken at the UN:

Forty-Ninth Session of the Commission for Social Development, 9 to 18 February 2011

Tuesday 8 February 2. Conference Room: D, NLB

Organizers: Division for Social Policy and Development, co-sponsored with Search for Common Ground

Theme: Youth-led Social Development and Young Philanthropy

Speakers: Mr. Ryan Allis, co-founded “iContact”; Mr. James Eberhard, Founder and Chairman, Mobile Accord.

So the UN and its WFP use Eberhard, who collabores with the US on a "Cuban Twitter." Shouldn't the UN answer this? Watch this site.

The US has issued this:

In reference to the Associated Press article on "Cuban Twitter" on April 3, 2014, USAID Spokesperson Matt Herrick issues the following statement:

"It is longstanding U.S. policy to help Cubans increase their ability to communicate with each other and with the outside world. Working with resources provided by Congress for exactly this purpose, USAID is proud of its work in Cuba to provide basic humanitarian assistance, promote human rights and universal freedoms, and to help information flow more freely to the Cuban people. All of our work in Cuba, including this project, was reviewed in detail in 2013 by the Government Accountability Office and found to be consistent with U.S. law and appropriate under oversight controls.

It is also no secret that in hostile environments, governments take steps to protect the partners we are working with on the ground. The purpose of the Zunzuneo project was to create a platform for Cubans to speak freely among themselves, period. At the initial stages, the grantee sent tech news, sports scores, weather, and trivia to build interest and engage Cubans. After that, Cubans were able to talk among themselves, and we are proud of that. USAID is a development agency and we work all over the world to help people exercise their universal rights and freedoms."

  But what about the UN? 

   

As Voice of America Spin Falters, Below David Ensor, Steve Redisch & Sonja Pace Named by Union at BBG, Global Scheme in Shambles?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 5 -- Just after Independence Day we ask again, why does the US government need a propaganda network, and why turn it loose inside the US? On July 2, Inner City Press published a short critique of Voice of America and its Broadcast Board of Governors, here.

  In the three days since, mail has poured in providing yet more detailed accounts of BBG and Voice of America incompetence and assaults on the principles they supposedly uphold. (Beyond this new communication, just for example today Voice of America mis-identified Nyala, the capital of South Darfur in Sudan, as “Nyla,” here and here for now.)

  The union that represents workers there, AFGE Local 1812, has written that

“poor morale was made markedly worse by a decision in 2010 to re-appoint the present newsroom director [Sonja Pace]. A correspondent since the 1980’s, she had been reassigned from the position of news chief more than a decade earlier. Fast forward to 2010: An audio recording of an open meeting in VOA’s newsroom shows that strong protests against the reappointment of the former news director were dismissed by VOA's Executive Editor [Steve Redisch] a former CNN employee. In the recording, the Executive Editor rejected staff concerns, saying 'you’re responsible for your own morale.' Though he has known of the morale crisis in VOA’s Central News Division created by the 2010 decision, current VOA director David Ensor has allowed this situation to continue.”

  Inner City Press in 2012 had its own experience of these three individuals. VOA's Executive Editor Steve Redisch wrote to the UN asking that Inner City Press' accreditation be “reviewed.”

  The only communication Inner City Press had received from VOA or BBG in Washington prior to this was from Sonja Pace, that “regarding VOA’s Charter and Code, we absolutely stand by those mandates and guidelines, without exception.”

  Apparently Voice of America's principles don't include the First Amendment. Subsquent inquiring under the Freedom of Information Act found David Ensor involved in the decision to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Ensor served the US State Department in Afghanistan and perhaps re-formed his view of press freedom there.

  Interestingly, the Obama administration has nominated former Afghanistan envoy Ryan Crocker to join the half-empty Broadcasting Board of Governors, along with John Kerry, while claiming that the output under the BBG is entirely independent from the US government. This is not credible.

  The Colombia Journalism Review, with its own conflicts, has made this point, and BBG has belatedly responded. Will any of this finally bring this troika to account? Watch this site.

  

With Voice of America Propaganda Now Free in US, Its BBG Tries to Cover Up Censorship Bid at UN under FOIA

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 2 -- With coverage of international affairs increasingly in the hands of interested governments who view news production as a tool of foreign policy and internal propaganda, now the US is shifting more in that direction.

  The US' Broadcasting Board of Governors, whose four listed members include US Secretary of State John Kerry just as it included his predecessor Hillary Clinton, announced today that the productions of Voice of America and its other Cold War era state media properties can now be shown inside the US.

  This had been banned under the theory that while perhaps the US should produce propaganda to fool people in other countries, it shouldn't direct these tools at its own citizen -- similar to restrictions on the CIA. But that's off.

  A sample recent headline: "John Kerry Tells VOA: Snowden Betrayed Country." And Kerry is one of only four current directors of the Board that controls VOA.

  When corporate US cable channels did not cut to Egypt and embattled president Mohamed Morsi's speech on Tuesday, the vacuum into which BBG's Voice of America propaganda might slip is clearly shown.

  But what is BBG's and VOA's commitment to freedom of the press? Inner City Press on personal experience can say: there is no real commitment, beyond when it serves BBG's mission.

  In 2012 Voice of America's Steve Redisch, who is supervised by David Ensor and Richard Lobo, wrote to the UN and asked that they “review the accreditation” of Inner City Press. Click here for that.

  When Inner City Press using the Freedom of Information Act exposed this and more, including VOA's statements that it had the support of the UN bureau chief of Reuters andAFP, and the UN Correspondents Association, the campaign at least on the surface stopped. (Reuters and AFP revived it in March 2013, but that's another story.)

  Back in BBG, Ensor, Lobo and Redisch blocked Governor Victor Ashe's request for an open meeting on their anti-press request, and BBG is still trying to deny access to documents responsive to Inner City Press' continuing FOIA requests. (We have obtained numerous additional documents on which we will report in due course. The new Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info, continues to push for reforms and due process for journalists.)

  A sample recent (June 25, 2013) letter to Inner City Press from BBG denies that the Department of State "controls" VOA, claiming grandly that “the BBG is an independent, federal executive branch agency charged with providing 'reliable and authoritative, accurate, objective, and comprehensive' news and information. 22 U.S.C. §6202(b )(1). The Department of State has zero editorial control over the BBG... Your suggestion that VOA journalists do not function as independent journalists is unfortunate and simply untrue.”

  The tone, including the condescending use of the word “unfortunate,” is not one for a FOIA ruling. On the panel were Marie Lennon, International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) Chief of Staff; Kelu Chao, Director of the Office of Performance Review, and the Director of the Office of Technology, Services, and Innovation Andre Mendes.

  On BBG's website, Mendes is lavishly praised by none other than IBB Director Richard Lobo, for whom another of the three panel members, Ms. Lennon, serves as chief of staff. Conflict of interest much? Watch this site.