Voice of America’s reputation and reporters at risk
Days after Vietnamese journalist Le Anh Hung reported on concerns with the country’s new cybersecurity legislation he was arrested and thrown in jail to face charges of “abusing democratic freedoms” and involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital several times. Apparently in Vietnam you must be insane to do independent journalism.
Hung is just one of countless journalists working for Voice of America outlets who have been harassed, detained or even killed because of their reporting. Too many of them have had to flee their countries as a result. In some cases, though, they have been able to continue their reporting in the United States working for one of the outlets that make up the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Now the United States is threatening to turn their back on these reporters, putting their visas under review and undermining its reputation for trustworthy reporting in difficult places.
The decision to freeze and review all visas for Voice of America journalists follows the dismissal of senior staff and independent boards at the five media outlets under the USAGM and the Open Technology Fund by the newly-appointed CEO Michael Pack. President Donald Trump’s strong-arm appointment of this politically divisive figure and the actions taken during Pack’s first few weeks in the position raise concerns that he intends to change the fundamental direction of the news agencies to focus on promoting the political agenda of the current U.S. administration, in essence becoming propaganda organs similar to the state-run news agencies of China or Russia.
The administration’s attacks on VOA, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidance to its staff not to speak to VOA and Pack’s instruction that VOA increase the prominence of editorials that communicate presidential priorities has done little to allay this anxiety over a more politicized approach that could undermine the federally mandated editorial firewall.
Instead, the administration and Pack should protect independent journalism that in many cases has been nothing less than heroic.
In China, for example, Radio Free Asia was the first station to report on the mass internment of Uighurs in Xinjiang province, followed by extensive reporting on the massive crackdown and surveillance of the Muslim minority population that has resulted in an estimated 1 million Uighurs held in deterntion.
In Belarus, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was the first to report on COVID-19 reaching the country, which ranks as one of the most censored in the world.
The coverage from VOA, RFA and RFE/RL provides both an example of what a free press looks like, as well as critical information that local outlets could never provide. As such, they are a continuing advertisement for democratic values. They are also essential services during the global coronavirus pandemic, when access to information can literally be a life or death matter. Which is why protecting journalists working for these outlets is so important.
I’ve spoken to several journalists working for these stations over the past few weeks who said they would face serious threats if their visas are not renewed and they were forced to return to their home countries, but they also fear retaliation by their bosses if they speak out, especially following an internal directive that prohibited anyone from speaking to the press without authorization.
Building a reputation for trustworthy news in countries where the people have little access to or experience with a free or independent media takes time and tenacity — the outlet and its journalists must consistently report accurate, important news and they must do so despite the official line or repercussions for doing so. When the media trying to build trust are funded through the U.S. government, the task is Herculean given the natural assumptions of the audience and the lack of exposure to hard hitting, critical or investigative dometic news.
Yet outlets like RFA, RFE/RL and VOA enjoy high levels of trust in and aid local understanding according to surveys, while the anti-censorship technologies developed with OTF support have enabled those in restricted media environments to bypass internet censorship and surveillance and securely access up-to-date, accurate reports and content on the coronavirus pandemic and other topics deemed sensitive to censors.
The symbiosis between the editorially independent media agencies and the open-source non-profit OTF has helped ensure that American news reaches those who have the fewest choices, which is why OTF’s independence is also a critical part of the equation.
If American news is no longer perceived as reliable and becomes just another propaganda tool, the journalists who work at those outlets will be at grave risk. It is imperative that Pack and the political appointees he has newly installed to helm the USAGM outlets rigorously adhere to the “firewall” that aims to prevent political interference and actively work to defend and protect the journalists who risk their lives to report the news. At the very least by renewing these visas.
These politicized machinations also send a dangerous signal to countries around the world that love nothing more than to accuse journalists for these outlets of being American spies and dismiss their reporting as propaganda.