BBG Watch Commentary
The Voice of America (VOA) was minutes behind BBC, Russia’s RT and SPUTNIK and other media in reporting on the shooting of police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but by about 11:20 AM ET VOA did post a breaking news item, which is an improvement over past VOA newsroom performance on similar stories.
U.S. taxpayer-funded VOA is overseen by the federal Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) with the annual budget of $777 million (FY 2017 Budget Request).
After years of poor management, the VOA newsroom is understaffed, especially on weekends, but under new director Amanda Bennett VOA responded relatively quickly on Friday to the coup attempt in Turkey. Today’s response to the Baton Rouge shootings was also faster than it would have been in the past.