OPINION
Broadcasting Board of Governors Information War: Lost
Shut ‘Em Down
By The Federalist
So much is very wrong with the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) entities, especially the Voice of America (VOA), but ultimately it is the BBG federal board and agency that have failed in their mission. Wrong to the extent of passing the point of no return.
One has to wonder:
Is this solely a rogue agency inside the Federal Government, or
Is it taking direction from somewhere else, such as the White House? Particularly the White House when national security adviser Ben Rhodes shows up at a BBG meeting and heaps (undeserved) accolades.
Consider the failings upon failings cataloged by BBG Watch of this agency to carry out the provisions specified by the Voice of America Charter.
Consider that Voice of America director Amanda Bennett had to intervene, according to one report, to get the VOA newsroom to even focus on the police shootings story Thursday afternoon.
Consider that despite any intervention, VOA still failed in this digital age to post updates to its Facebook VOA News page during key hours of the crisis in Dallas, TX or produce any Dallas-related VOA English News Facebook post until about 3:30 AM ET Friday.
Consider that other international media outlets, including Russia’s RT, were posting on Facebook on the story Thursday night and updating their websites much faster and with much more information and multimedia content than VOA.
Consider that VOA could not get right the race of the police officer involved in the Minnesota shooting.
Consider that even many months into the new management, in an agency with several thousand employees and contractors, only a handful of reporters and editors work in the VOA newsroom at night (DC time).
Consider the excessive effort to avoid labeling terrorists as Islamist terrorists or Islamic extremists when it clearly should be the case.
Consider the almost pathological avoidance to factually label Omar Mateen as an Islamist terrorist who swore allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its titular head Anwar al-Awlaki.
Consider its wayward, untimely and usually incomplete reporting on a variety of news events.
Consider the bluster of placing a priority on digital media only to find no reporting on various agency mobile media applications as in the delayed posting regarding the terrorist attack at the Istanbul airport on June 28, 2016.
Consider the blatant, stand-alone partisan commentaries and some reports and videos on the U.S. presidential election campaign with no balance of counterpoint opinion.
The list goes on and on.
Forget about internal reform which is not happening. Forget about reorganization based on new position titles and authorities.
When it comes to the BBG, it’s time for the Congress to shut ‘em down and create something completely new that will work for the United States of America.
The Federalist
July 2016