Victor Morales named acting USAGM CEO, Kari Lake says
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Victor Morales has been named acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the body that oversees U.S. government-funded news organizations, according to an email to staff from new USAGM special advisor Kari Lake sent Monday night and obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: USAGM has wasted no time probing journalists at Voice of America, the largest U.S. international broadcaster, for what it says are possible violations of its social media rules.
- Sources inside VOA worry the new Trump administration will try to turn the broadcaster into a vehicle for its agenda. NPR reported similar concerns last week.
- Morales started working at USAGM in 2016 and was a longtime VOA journalist before that.
State of play: USAGM has opened HR investigations into VOA journalists for reporting on criticism of President Trump, sources confirmed to Axios.
- One of the broadcaster's most visible journalists, chief national correspondent Steven Herman, was placed on "excused absence" last Friday pending an HR investigation, Herman confirmed to Axios.
- A source familiar with the situation said Herman was cut off from all email and internal communications about an hour after receiving the notice.
- The New York Times reported about the HR investigations Friday.
Between the lines: Trump selected L. Brent Bozell III, a conservative activist and media critic, to lead USAGM during his second term. Bozell has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.
- Trump also tapped former Arizona senate candidate and newscaster Lake to lead VOA.
- Lake can't technically be named to lead VOA until Bozell is confirmed by the Senate and then her appointment is approved by a nonpartisan board. Elon Musk has called for VOA to be shut down.
The big picture: The first Trump administration tried to go after the VOA and other government-funded foreign broadcast groups, but was met with serious bipartisan backlash from Capitol Hill.
- VOA, the most famous of the five news agencies overseen by USAGM, was created more than 80 years ago to combat Nazi propaganda during WWII. It's supposed to represent the interests of America abroad.
- A legal firewall is supposed to protect it from any government interference.
Flashback: Michael Pack, the conservative filmmaker who was nominated by President Trump to lead USAGM during his first term, was accused of fraud, as well as misuse of office, during his short tenure during 2020 and 2021.
- Pack targeted Herman and the VOA's longtime White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara during his tenure. He resigned at the request of former President Biden in January 2021.
- Widakuswara was told she was being involuntarily reassigned to another beat, the New York Times reported last week. She will remain an editor, overseeing domestic and foreign policy, but not covering the White House, a source confirmed to Axios.
- USAGM said, "This agency does not respond to media inquiries involving personnel matters."
