BBG Watch Commentary
While U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) ignored former Secretary of State and former member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Hillary Clinton’s important political trip to Iowa last weekend, a “media mob” of over 200 reporters was on hand to cover anything she might say about running for president in 2016 or on any current U.S. domestic and international issues.
Fox News reported how The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and other U.S. media covered Hillary Clinton’s political visit to Iowa.
READ: Hillary’s Strange Limbo: Why the media mob devoured the Iowa steak fry
By Howard Kurtz, FoxNews.com, September 16, 2014.
While Voice of America ignored Hillary Clinton’s Iowa trip, VOA posted a long report on September 9 about former Republican candidate for president Mitt Romney which said that “a recent poll by USA Today and Suffolk University found Romney the first choice of Republicans in Iowa, the state that begins the presidential selection process every four years. Hillary Clinton’s planned trip to Iowa was not mentioned in the VOA report, which was about Romney and other Republicans, although she was mentioned briefly three times as a leading Democratic contender.
But if VOA could post a long report about a leading Republican contender, it had an obligation under its Charter to at least report on Hillary Clinton’s visit to Iowa, especially since it made national news in the U.S. See: Romney Remains Favorite Among Some Republicans for 2016, By Jim Malone, VOA, September 9, 2014.
Hillary Clinton’s visit to Iowa was certainly bigger news than a recent poll by USA Today and Suffolk University, which was reported by VOA.
The VOA Charter says in part “VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions.”
BBG Watch has learned that using end of the fiscal year travel money, VOA executives sent out VOA reporters on various far less news-related assignments and are themselves traveling. Meanwhile, VOA did not cover spectacular celebrations of the bicentennial of the U.S. national anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner, in nearby Baltimore with participation by President Obama, Vice President Biden and a number of internationally known American singers.
VOA failed to post even a short news report from Washington on Hillary Clinton in Iowa.
We attributed the lack of Hillary Clinton in Iowa coverage by VOA to mismanagement by senior executive staff which seems more interested in organizing ice cream socials on government time than planning news coverage.
Hillary Clinton has been critical of the management of U.S. government international media outreach through the Broadcasting Board of Governors, including the Voice of America.
READ: Hillary Clinton, Obama, Biden, Bicentennial of U.S. Anthem — All Ignored by Voice of America
BBG Watch, September 14, 2014.
READ: Voice of America executives took a break at ice-cream social to forget about John Kerry
BBG Watch, September 13, 2014.