Global Journalist: The future of Voice of America Abstract: On this program, journalists discussed what’s going on with Voice of America and the future of the organization. Host: Levi Moltz-Hohmann Guests: • David Ensor • Danforth Austin • Vardha Khalil • Grayson Clary Producers: Cam Denmark, Regan Mertz, Annie Le, Ziye Tang Directors: Travis McMillen Audio Engineer: Aaron Hay Mentioned: Voice of America, United States, U.S. Agency for Global Media, Michael Pack, Joe Biden, president, journalism, government, America Runtime: 28:59 Levi Moltz-Hohmann 0:05 Welcome to Global Journalist. A show by journalists, about journalists, and for journalists and the people who depend on our work. During World War II, journalism was a weapon in freedom's arsenal. The United States government created Voice of America, a radio broadcaster that beamed news into then-Nazi Germany. "We shall tell you the truth," the VOA promised in its very first broadcast to Germany in German on February 1, 1942. VOA 1942 broadcast 0:31 ...aus America, aus America im Krieg...to you about America and the war. The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you the truth. Levi Moltz-Hohmann 0:43 That reputation for straight talking has made the VOA and sister broadcast outlets such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Marti trusted news sources in regions of the world where free speech is stifled. But is that about to change? Over the summer, the U.S. Senate, at the urging of President Trump, confirmed a news director for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the umbrella agency for Uncle Sam's broadcast outlets. Since taking over, Michael Pack has cleaned house, firing the heads of all the broadcast agencies, terminating longtime board members and putting foreign language broadcasters on notice that their visas will not be renewed. Pack has also refused to release $18 million that Congress earmarked for the Open Technology Fund. The OTF is a small group of government hackers who create software such as the popular encrypted messaging app Signal. That allows journalists and democracy activists to elude government censors. All this has even some of Trump's staunchest allies on Capitol Hill expressing concern, but Pack refused a bipartisan subpoena to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this fall. Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, complained that he can't even get Pack to return his phone calls. We invited Michael Pack to appear on this program, but got no reply. We have several guests here today to discuss what's going on. We'll start first with two recent former directors of the Voice of America, Danforth Austin and David Ensor. Let me just start by saying gentlemen, thanks for being here. And I guess we'll just start off with a very basic first question. So, most Americans don't ever get to hear VOA or any of the other broadcast outlets that the US Agency for global media runs. So, tell me why should Americans care? And Mr. Ensor, let's start with you. David Ensor 2:29 Americans should care because the truth matters and journalism, honest journalism matters. And it is actually one of the most powerful exports the United States has. Voice of America is basically a soft power agency that exports journalism, honest journalism, and in particular, especially to countries where there isn't any. Levi Moltz-Hohmann 2:52 And Mr. Austin, what about you? Danforth Austin 2:55 I can remember being asked by a U.S. senator from Mississippi, as I recall, you know, why should the folks in Tupelo, for example, care about Voice of America, what it is? My answer was pretty much the answer that David gave — that you need to know what we're telling the world, what we're reporting and you need to know what the world is telling us. And it's a two-way street. VOA facilitates an awful lot of that conversation and I think it's pretty important. Levi Moltz-Hohmann 3:26 And do you guys think that the distinction that VOA is producing good, honest journalism as opposed to just being a mouthpiece for the US government? Do you think that's an important distinction? David Ensor That's everything. That is the issue. The whole point of Voice of America, and it's in the law, there's a VOA charter passed by Congress and signed by then-President Gerald Ford. It says that VOA is going to try to tell the truth. I mean, it puts it in other ways, says aim for objectivity, balance, and so forth. But the reason is, I mean, look, Radio Moscow had the most powerful shortwave radio signal during the Cold War on the planet, but nobody listened to it. Why? Because it was just propaganda. It had nothing to say that was particularly interesting to anybody, unless you wanted to know what the finer points of the propaganda of the Russian Communist Party were. So the difference is VOA tells the truth. And when the news— truth is bad news about our country, we try to be honest about that. That impresses foreigners and causes them to feel that the VOA is credible. And that causes them to listen to when VOA is talking about their societies as well as ours. Danforth Austin 4:37 Absolutely. I mean, I think that is absolutely in the VOA DNA, if you will. I mean, from the very beginning back when it was part of the Office of War Information in 1942, the very dark days of the second World War, we were losing Europe and we were losing the Pacific, etc, VOA went on the air and it said the news may be bad, the news may be good, we shall tell you the truth. And by sticking to that we became credible. Even when the Nazi propaganda machine and Imperial Japan, were saying the opposite people listen to us and they knew that when we reported defeats and setbacks for America, they could believe us when we reported advances and success for America. And so that issue of credibility has been there all the years since and it's so very important. Levi Moltz-Hohmann 5:26 A week after the election, Joe Biden named transition teams for a host of government agencies. Most are high profile cabinet level agencies, but the US Agency for Global Media is one of them. Are you surprised that the agency is getting so much attention from the newly elected president and what do you think that means? Mr. Austin, let's start with you this time. Danforth Austin 5:50 I'm not at all surprised, before the US Agency for Global Media came into being it was the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and a key member of that Broadcasting Board of Governors was Ted Kaufman, who is now heading the transition for the president-elect and was involved as then-Senator Biden's chief of staff when the whole legislation creating the BBG and the whole framework was enacted into law back in the 90s. So, I'm not at all surprised that it's top of mind the president-elect as well as to the chief of his transition team. Levi Moltz-Hohmann 6:29 All right, Mr. Ensor. David Ensor 6:30 No, I also am not surprised. The campaign put out a statement during the campaign that the gentleman, Mr. Pack, who runs USAGM, the US Agency for Global Media right now, will be fired immediately after January 20th. And frankly, I think that was appropriate. Levi Moltz-Hohmann 6:49 Let's see. Before coming to VOA, you both had extensive careers in journalism to say the least. Mr. Austin after graduating from Kansas University, which we here at Mizzou might forgive you for, you went on to work at the Wall Street Journal, first as a reporter, and then moving over to the business side, eventually becoming a top executive for Dow Jones & Company. And Mr. Ensor, you were an award winning correspondent for more than 18 years, before moving over to diplomacy and now you're currently the director at George Washington University for the Project for Media and National Security. So, Michael Pack has made documentaries with, among others, conservative strategist Steve Bannon. Can you talk about what difference your level of experience makes? And is it unusual for someone with so little experience in actual reporting to occupy the job that he has? Mr. Ensor, why don't we start with you? David Ensor 7:44 Yes, well, I think experience matters. Journalism is a craft and it's like, I used to say to people, it's like being a carpenter. The first table you build is rougher. The 10th table is getting better. If you work at journalism, you learn to do it better, quite frankly. It's neither an art nor science, it's a craft. And so, someone who hasn't had experience doing that is never going to be as good at understanding what's effective and what's important about journalism. I will feel better if President-elect Biden appoints someone to lead USAGM and certainly to lead Voice of America, who has some background in journalism. Journalism. Not propaganda documentaries. Levi Moltz-Hohmann 8:35 And Mr. Austin. Danforth Austin 8:36 Right. I don't know Mr. Pack. I do recall that at one point, he was involved in a precursor VOA television called, I think, WorldVision, but it was on the technical side.