BBG Watch Commentary
Donald Trump with a Nazi swastika – a screenshot from a Voice of America reporter’s personal but publicly accessible Facebook page. WARNING: The post includes images which some may find offensive.
One of the publications of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a conservative think tank, has picked up the BBG Watch exclusive report on how Voice of America (VOA) hired journalists, some of them U.S. federal government employees, showed bias and engaged in unbalanced reporting about the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump.
BBG Watch did not question the right and in fact the duty of VOA journalists to report negative information and critical opinions about Mr. Trump. Such reporting is absolutely necessary, especially to such countries as Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Our watchdog website has pointed out, however, how some individual VOA reports about Mr. Trump grossly violate the VOA Charter’s requirements for accurate, balanced and comprehensive news coverage. It should also be pointed out that not all of VOA reporting on the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign is biased, but some VOA reports and commentaries definitely are. A few VOA journalists have shown publicly a strong personal bias against Donald Trump.
Truth Revolt, a blog of the David Horowitz Freedom Center founded by David Horowitz, has reported that the Voice of America, “a taxpayer funded news service” and part of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a tax-funded “Government News Agency” is “Campaigning Against Trump.”
Truth Revolt noted that a Voice of America journalist posted on a personal but publicly accessible Facebook page, where the journalist is identified as a VOA writer, reporter and TV producer, “a GIF with a Nazi swastika swinging over Mr. Trump’s face.” The article also noted that VOA’s Russian Service has versioned into Russian and posted online an anti-Donald Trump video produced by the Hillary Clinton campaign without including in the VOA Russian version any balancing content.
The anti-Donald Trump video with Russian subtitles and English tiles and audio is still accessible on VOA Facebook and VOA YouTube pages. It is not known whether BBG CEO John Lansing, VOA director Amanda Bennett, and VOA deputy director Sandy Sugawara have seen the VOA Russian video and whether they approve of U.S. government employees identifying themselves as VOA reporters and posting GIFs with Donald Trump and Nazi swastika on their personal but publicly accessible Facebook pages.
A VOA reporter also reposted on Facebook a Donald Trump penis GIF.
BBG and VOA executives should be highly concerned that any appearance of partisanship on the part of BBG, VOA, or RFE/RL represents a serious threat to the agency’s public funding.
We have reposted screenshots of the anti-Donald Trump GIFs and the VOA video strictly for reporting purposes. It does not imply in any way our support or approval GIFs, videos and biased reporting using U.S. taxpayers’ money.
READ MORE: Tax-Funded Government News Agency Campaigning Against Trump, Truth Revolt, June 9, 2016
ALSO READ: U.S. tax-funded Voice of America joins anti-Donald Trump electioneering, BBG Watch, June 8, 2016
ALSO READ: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty joins Voice of America in posting one-sided anti-Donald Trump video, BBG Watch, June 8, 2016
