BBG Watch Commentary EXCLUSIVE

Comments from Chinese users of social media are full of strong condemnation for the decision of senior management of U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) led by VOA director Amanda Bennett to shorten the April 19th live Mandarin Service interview with Chinese whistleblower Guo Wengui and to put on forced leave with pay five VOA Chinese journalists, most of whom had advised strongly against cutting short the live TV and Facebook conversation with Guo.

After BBG Watch reported on Bennett’s statement in a new but one-sided VOA English-language news report that “pressure from the Chinese government played no role in any decision-making” about the shortening of the Guo Wengui interview, comments from Chinese users of Twitter were almost uniformly critical of her and the leadership of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), VOA’s parent federal agency led by BBG CEO John Lansing. Both Bennett and Lansing are Obama administration-era appointees.

The VOA report on Guo Wengui press conference Thursday in Washington did not mention that four members of the U.S. Congress have asked earlier the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate the VOA and BBG management for its handling of the shortening of the VOA Guo Wengui interview. The VOA report also did not mention that Chinese Americans have staged demonstrations in front of the Voice of America building in Washington, DC, including a mock funeral with funeral wreaths and a mock coffin to stress the point that in their view the Voice of America is dead in China. The VOA report also did not mention corporate and family business interests in China of at least two high-level BBG and VOA officials.

Some of the comments under the BBG Watch tweet are in Chinese and others in English. Most of them appear to be from Chinese-speaking users of Twitter.

The Twitter comments appear to confirm what Amanda Bennett was told in a meeting with VOA Mandarin Service broadcasters after the Guo Wengui interview incident that the scope of the damage to Voice of America’s reputation in China as a result of her decision to shorten the live interview program was “unbelievable,” meaning both unprecedented and enormous.

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3 comments

  1. Do not let’s disappointment. Great American. Please give your responsibility and brave. Thanks a lot.

  2. I am truly surprised to see this report. Very unique angle to exposing VOA cut off interview of Guo. Thank you for reaching out to Chinese Americans on Twitter to reflect our concerns. It definitely can help Americans understand the true nature of VOA cut off. I also suggest you to do some research for cancellation of Guo’s October 4th conversation at Hudson Institute. Hudson might face same problem as VOA. The cancellation caused large scale of protest among American Chinese and Chinese overseas on Twitter.

  3. U.S.A. is in danger! It is from Chinese Communism Party.If we don’t pay great attention, we will suffer. Please trust Guo Wengui’s warning. We don’t want to allow other 911 happen…

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