BBG Watch Media Commentary

Voice of America (VOA) journalist Dr. Sasha Gong, one of the three journalists who have been on administration leave for over a year and who are facing a threat of termination by VOA regarding the senior management-shortened (over objections of Dr. Gong and other VOA Mandarin Service broadcasters) April 19, 2017 Guo Wengui whistleblower interview, writes in an op-ed for The Daily Caller that she has witnessed a great deal of pressure coming from the Chinese government, which is “unprecedented in the 76-year history of Voice of America.”

In her op-ed, Dr. Gong takes issue with VOA director Amanda Bennett who said “there was no Chinese government pressure” over the Guo Wengui interview.

 
 

READ MORE: Spineless Federal Bureaucrats CAVED To Chinese Pressure To Censor Voice Of America. Now They Deny It. By Sasha Gong, Voice of America journalist. The Daily Caller, May 4, 2018.

 
 

BBG Watch reported that many VOA Mandarin Service journalists were astounded by Bennett’s “no pressure from the Chinese government” statement.

 

See report and video of Bennett’s statement HERE or click on the link or video below. It is a report written by VOA Mandarin Service journalists who say there is no longer press freedom in VOA programming to China under the current senior VOA management.

 

VOA Mandarin and Cantonese journalists were also offended earlier when Bennett told them that she chose a non-Chinese who speaks neither Mandarin nor Cantonese and has no significant experience in reporting on China to be the head of the VOA China Branch.

Chinese American journalists at the Voice of America were particularly upset by what they believe is Amanda Bennett’s implied message that there are no leaders among them who would be qualified to manage the VOA China unit: You guys all speak Mandarin, you know, and Cantonese, you know. Why would I hire someone to do what all of you guys are able to do? What we need is a leader,” Bennett told the astounded audience of VOA China Branch journalists.

 
Sasha Gong, a journalist with a Ph.D. from Harvard University, has been on administrative leave from her job as Chief of Mandarin Service for Voice of America for several months. She wrote for The Daily Caller solely in her own personal capacity and not on behalf of Voice of America, the news website noted

 

Bennett Denies There was Chinese Pressure on Guo Wengui VOA Interview

 

 
 

 
 
Photo: VOA Mandarin Service Chief Dr. Sasha Gong (L) and VOA Director Amanda Bennett (R).