President-elect Donald Trump, who called the Voice of America’s (VOA) coverage of the pandemic “disgusting,” has chosen Kari Lake, MAGA loyalist and former candidate for Arizona Governor and Senator, to lead the federally funded international broadcasting network.
With an annual budget of $267 million and close to 1,000 employees, VOA provides content primarily to non-Americans outside of the U.S. across all platforms (digital, TV, radio).
By law, VOA “must publish accurate news; produce content that represents all of American society; and provide clear explanations and discussions of U.S. policies.”
The nomination is controversial, as Lake is widely known as an stalwart election denier. Those opposed include former U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL), who slammed the appointment and called Trump’s nomination of Lake “another blatant abuse of power,” adding that “turning this news outlet into state-run media for political purposes…is the kind of control we see in communist regimes.”
[NOTE: Mucarsel-Powell ran against incumbent Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) for his seat in 2024, but lost by double digits.]
Voice of America is mandated to provide independent and unbiased news, free from political interference. Yet here we are—Trump appointing Kari Lake is another blatant abuse of power, turning this news outlet into state-run media for political purposes. This is the kind of control… pic.twitter.com/QMiyBFcJgb
— Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (@DebbieforFL) December 12, 2024
Trump posted his Lake nomination on social media, telling his followers that he believed she would “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media.”
[NOTE: Lake will be officially appointed by the chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, a post for which Trump has yet to announce a nominee. That position requires Senate confirmation. but Lake’s VOA director post needs only approval by a 7-member advisory board, whose members are all appointed by the President.]
Lake, a former local Fox News TV journalist in Arizona who lost both her GOP runs for Senate in 2024 and the Governor in 2020, will replace the current VOA director Michael Abramowitz, and also follow in the footsteps of Tucker Carlson’s father, Dick Carlson.
Nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, Dick Carlson headed VOA for five years (1986-1991) and the left when he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Seychelles by President George H. W. Bush in 1991.
Note: Lake is a supporter of former Fox News star Tucker Carlson who has been a loud critic of American mainstream media, as he demonstrated when he traveled to Russia to interview President Vladimir Putin in February 2024, two years after Russia invaded Ukraine.
From Russia, Carlson reported “not a single Western journalist has bothered to interview the president of the other country involved in this conflict, Vladimir Putin,” an assertion that was refuted by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov who reportedly said: “Mr. Carlson is not correct. In fact, there’s no way he could know this. We receive numerous requests for interviews with the president.”
VOA and others including the BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Deutsche Welle were blocked from broadcasting in Russia immediately after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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