8. Media Agencies

Project 2025 link: MEDIA AGENCIES – U.S. AGENCY FOR GLOBAL MEDIA and CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

WHO WROTE THE FIRST PART OF THIS CHAPTER for U.S. AGENCY FOR GLOBAL MEDIA (USAGM)?: Mora Namdar, (Morvared Namdarkhan) Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council; former U.S. Agency for Global Media acting vice president for legal compliance and risk: and the third and last former (acting, of course) Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs under Trump for a whole month – from Dec. 22, 2020 to Jan. 20, 2021. In addition, there’s this interesting note at the bottom of pg. 245:

AUTHOR’S NOTE: “The preparation of this chapter was a collective effort involving many individuals to whom thanks is owed. These individuals include, but are not limited to, Victoria Coates, Michael Pack, Frank Wuco, and several brave whistleblowers who prefer not to be named. Their efforts were integral to the chapter and are greatly appreciated.”

This chapter is actually a love letter to former USAGM Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Pack and his crew. Pack resigned on President Biden’s second day in office before he could be fired for some very good reasons. Fellow chapter contributor Victoria Coates was fired, along with others he had installed. The reference to whistleblowers in the “Author’s note” above is ironic, as Pack was actually the subject of six whistleblower charges for violating federal law and abusing his authority. Knowing all this makes the whole chapter a LOT MORE INTERESTING!

Key points from Stop the Coup.

  • The USAGM and VOA need a complete reform – or be eliminated if that’ s not possible
  • The president and NSC should have oversight of the USAGM, or alternatively, the State Department’s Office of Global Public Affairs at the Department of State to assure messaging does not reflect any enemy “anti-American” messaging
  • The National Security Council should oversee VOA content
  • USAGM employees need better vetting; the agency is vulnerable to foreign spies
  • The USAGM should never be used for domestic broadcast, only foreign
  • Federal funding to PBS should be cut on grounds it has liberal bias
  • Abolish federal funding to strip PBS, NPR (and Pacifica Radio) of noncommercial education (NCE) status as “left of the dial” stations with longer, low-frequency reach
  • This would force the stations to pay regulatory fees not paid by NCE stations

Our own page-by-page deep dive

U.S. Agency For Global Media (USAGM)

(wamu.org) “What is shocking are [the inspector general’s] discovery of the many more ways Pack and his political appointees – while running USAGM for a mere six months – managed to break the law, abuse authority, endanger public health and safety and grossly mismanage the agency,” Seide said in a statement.

(It’s hard to remember every infuriating thing that happened under Trump. These videos are helpful to fill in the background on the struggle that took place within the Voice of America.)

Project 2025 believes that any media outlet, even a well-respected independent one such as Voice of America, can be molded into a propaganda mill. Fox News was always considered a partisan, but it became “state TV” under Trump. Angry that VOA wouldn’t report his preferred story of China’s culpability in the pandemic, Trump pushed to replace its head Amanda Bennett with Michael Pack, who replaced its board and employees with Trump loyalists to reduce VOA to “state TV” status.

Just two days into his administration, President Biden cleared out the MAGAts at the USAGM. Pack, who contributed to this Project 2025 chapter, resigned after being told he would be removed, as he abused his authority and wasted $1.6 million dollars in funds, as confirmed by the Office of Special Counsel. Fellow chapter contributor Victoria Coates was fired, along with the deputies Pack had installed – Voice of America leaders Robert Reilly and Elizabeth Robbins and Jeffrey Shapiro resigned from his job as director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.

This chapter of Project 2025 detailed what Pack and his regime did, and how they would replicate every bit of it as soon as they returned to power.

  • (Pg. 239) Project 2025 really loves Michael Pack, who, as we noted above, contributed to this chapter. The former USAGM Chief Executive Officer (CEO) under Trump, whom they describe as a leader who “rapidly initiated long-overdue and necessary reforms,” by which they mean he turned his office into a propaganda machine for Trump. Lots of sadness when he was forbidden by the “Firewall Regulation stipulated that agency management, by standards unknown to most large broadcast companies, was forbidden from engaging in oversight and direction of content in any way—even false content,” which he himself revoked. “Mr. Pack has shown again and again that he doesn’t feel constrained by laws,” committee Chairman Eliot Engel, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement.”
    • Pack became the subject of a federal inquiry details abuses of power.
      • (NPR) “On the day after his confirmation as chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media in June 2020, Michael Pack met with a career employee to discuss which senior leaders at the agency and the Voice of America should be forced out due to their perceived political beliefs. 
        • Chapter author and former USAGM acting vice president for legal compliance and risk, Morvared Namdarkhan, “told him to include any negative information he had heard about the individuals, regardless of whether he could verify the information,” according to the inspector general’s report on Powers’ suspension. “Ms. Namdarkhan told him to add even rumors that he ‘heard in the halls’.”
      • “Hates Republicans,” the employee had written about one in a memo. “Openly despises Trump and Republicans,” they said of another. A third, the employee wrote, “is not on the Trump team.” The list went on. (Firing someone over political affiliation is typically a violation of federal civil service law.)
      • Within two days, Pack was examining ways to remove suspect staffers, a new federal investigation found. The executives he sidelined were later reinstated and exonerated by the inspector general’s office of the U.S. State Department. Pack ultimately turned his attention to agency executives, network chiefs, and journalists themselves.
      • The report concludes that Pack:
        • Violated the independence of journalists working for newsrooms at the Voice of America and other international broadcasting networks funded by the government and “exercised oversight in a manner suggestive of political bias.”
        • Wrongly retaliated against career executives by suspending their security clearances after they filed whistleblower complaints. Their allegations were later substantiated by the State Department’s inspector general’s office. 
        • Engaged in “gross mismanagement and gross waste” when he paid a politically-connected Virginia law firm $1.6 million in agency money to investigate his executives in a confidential, no-bid contract. A former Supreme Court clerk for Thomas, John D. Adams, was the senior partner who oversaw the McGuireWoods contract with Pack at USAGM. 
        • Imperiled the independence of several of the international networks, politicizing them by stacking their boards with a full slate of ideological appointees all at once. He also abused his powers in trying to make their tenures irrevocable except in the case of a felony conviction.
        • Broke privacy laws by releasing dossiers compiled by the law firm, McGuireWoods, on those executives he suspended to five right-wing journalists whom he had appointed to various networks funded by the boards. McGuireWoods strongly advised against releasing the dossiers publicly. They were ultimately made public by a sympathetic member of Congress.
        • Sought to prevent the Open Technology Fund from receiving federal funds for three years because of his animus toward the outfit, “rather than a desire to protect the public interest.” The fund helped to subsidize the development of Tor and Signal, technologies that let people access the Web and communicate securely and privately, even in repressive countries. Bannon was among those with ties to figures promoting rival technologies that sought greater subsidies from the fund. 
        • “[P]ut numerous internet freedom projects at risk, including in countries that are State Department priorities” by seeking to block federal dollars from flowing to the tech fund.
  • (Pg. 242) While the Project 2025 authors railed against waste, it was reported by NPR that Pack “paid a prestigious private law firm so extravagantly to investigate his own agency’s senior executive officials that it constituted a “waste or gross waste of government resources,” a federal watchdog concluded Friday. Michael Pack, the former CEO of VOA-parent U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO, awarded the contract without any bidding process to the politically connected Richmond, Va., law firm McGuireWoods, which ultimately received more than $1.6 million in taxpayer money. Friday’s report from the U.S. State Department’s Inspector General found the service the law firm provided “were duplicative of existing resources and involved the payment of billable hours far in excess of the salary of federal employees who can perform the same work.” The inspector general also found “serious violations of federal law and regulation” in the payment of a subcontractor without any authorization.“ 
    • Did we mention that Pack contributed to this section. Would it surprise anyone that the next section below calls for the defunding/dismantling of NPR?
  • (Pg. 244) Note: “VOA was set up to counter Nazi propaganda in the early 1940s…its charter, …calls for accuracy and truthfulness: “a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions.” Project 2025 wants a repeat of the Michael Pack debacle who, besides destroying VOA’s reputation, “fired or suspended the heads of each of the broadcasting networks under his supervision; “declined to renew expiring visas of foreign journalists employed by VOA, citing unspecified “security” concerns; dissolved a bipartisan board; and suspended the agency’s general counsel, David Kligerman — the author of the regulation that established the “firewall” between the agency’s management and journalism.…Trump sees in VOA the delicious promise of a true, worldwide propaganda organization under his control — if only he could get rid of its pesky, built-in objectivity. He and Pack certainly are trying to do just that.”
  • (Pg. 244) Where best to put VOA as a propaganda machine? This is a hilarious discussion, as all areas within the executive branch will be within a ketsup-bottle throw of Trump.
  • (Pg. 245) Project 2025 describes the history of VOA accurate reporting thusly “If the de facto aim of the agency simply remains to compete in foreign markets using anti-U.S. talking points that parrot America’s adversaries’ propaganda, then this represents an unacceptable burden to the U.S. taxpayer and a negative return on investment. In that case, the USAGM should be defunded and disestablished. If, however, the agency can be reformed to become an effective tool, it would be one of the greatest tools in America’s arsenal to tell America’s story and promote freedom and democracy around the world.” Do you hear the word “bigly?”

CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

WHO WROTE THE SECOND PART OF THE CHAPTER for CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING?: Michael Gonzales – Heritage Foundation Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum Senior Fellow – (mediamatters) “The Project 2025 policy book wasn’t the first time Gonzalez railed against public media. Gonzalez has been calling on Congress to defund public media since at least 2017. Those attacks have become more frequent in recent months. In various op-eds, which later published on the Heritage Foundation’s website, Gonzalez has argued for defunding public media, which he has claimed only serve to amplify “the woke mindset of bi-coastal elites.” In an April 23 column titled “The Next GOP President Should Defund Woke Public Broadcasting,” Gonzalez wrote that “it is difficult to see” how taxpayer funding for public broadcasting “survives” if Republicans win the House, Senate, and White House in a future election”.

STC commentary: “The singular goal of [Gonzales’] call to strip federal funding from PBS and NPR – a familiar one for conservatives – is to help reduce and silence mainstream media, liberal and left voices, and stories from the US radio airwaves. Defunding and loss of NCE status would impose new financial challenges on these public broadcast stations, and would also negatively impact left-of-center Pacifica Radio. With this move, conservatives also seek to reduce secular educational programming on lower-frequency FM stations with longer reach to public audiences.”

  • Federal funding to PBS should be cut on grounds it has liberal bias
  • Abolish federal funding to strip PBS, NPR (and Pacifica Radio) of noncommercial education (NCE) status as “left of the dial” stations with longer, low-frequency reach
  • This would force the stations to pay regulatory fees not paid by NCE stations

PBS: For the 18th year in-a-row, Americans named PBS the “most trusted institution” in a nationwide survey, PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger announced today at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour. According to the results, PBS continues to outscore government institutions and media sources—such as digital platforms, commercial broadcast and cable television, newspapers, and social media— in both trust and value…Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. Decades of research confirms that PBS’ premier children’s media service, PBS KIDS, helps children build critical literacy, math and social-emotional skills, enabling them to find success in school and life. Delivered through member stations, PBS KIDS offers high-quality educational content on TV – including a 24/7 channel, online at pbskids.org, via an array of mobile apps and in communities across America.

NPR: Ad Fontes Media rates NPR (website) in the Middle category of bias and as Reliable, Analysis/Fact Reporting in terms of reliability. NPR (website) (National Public Radio) is an independent, nonprofit media organization that reaches millions each week through its radio stations, website, social media, podcasts and other formats. NPR was created by an act of Congress and is based in Washington, D.C., with 35 bureaus worldwide. It’s funded by member stations, corporate sponsors and grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (See their whole report here.)

Explainer: What is the difference between CPB, PBS, and NPR?

  • CPB is the largest single source of funding for public radio, television, and related online and mobile services. Its funding provides the “public” part of the public-private partnership. By design, it’s not the only source: Public media’s strength is that its funding comes from many sources including individuals, businesses, non-profits, educational institutions, and local and state government. CPB does not produce or distribute programs, nor does it own, control, oversee, or operate any broadcast stations. It is a private nonprofit corporation that is fully funded by the federal government. Ninety-five percent of CPB’s appropriation goes directly to local public media stations, content development, community services, and other local station and system needs. Less than 5% is allocated to administrative costs – an exceptionally low overhead rate compared with other nonprofits. 
  • PBS is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned by its member public television stations. PBS distributes programming to approximately 350 locally controlled and operated public television stations across the country. It is funded principally by these member stations, distribution revenue, and underwriting support. CPB provides direct grant support to PBS for national content and for the infrastructure that distributes content and emergency alerts from PBS to public television stations.  
  • NPR is an independent, nonprofit membership organization of separately licensed and operated public radio stations across the United States. NPR produces and distributes news, information, and cultural programming across broadcast and digital platforms. It has more than 1,000 member and affiliate stations. NPR is principally funded by member stations, distribution services, underwriting and institutional grants, and individual contributions. CPB provides direct grant support to NPR for its international reporting bureaus and for the infrastructure that distributes content from NPR and other national public radio producers to every public radio station.

Our own page-by-page deep dive

(mediamatters) “In his chapter on public broadcasting, Gonzalez claimed “all Republican presidents have recognized that public funding of domestic broadcasts is a mistake” and “the next conservative President must” defund public media “and do it despite opposition from congressional members of his own party if necessary...

  • (pg. 246) Defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including the National Public Radio (NPR), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Pacifica Radio and others described as “leftist broadcasters.”
    • Why? “President Lyndon Johnson may have pledged in 1967 that public broadcasting would become “a vital public resource to enrich our homes, educate our families and to provide assistance to our classrooms,” but public broadcasting immediately became a liberal forum for public affairs and journalism.” Actually, accurate journalism. Just like the USAMG is supposed to provide abroad.
  • (pg. 247) Defund throught the budgetary process: “The 47th President can just tell the Congress—through the budget he proposes and through personal contact—that he will not sign an appropriations spending bill that contains a penny for the CPB.”
  • (pg. 248) Stripping public funding would remove benefits from NPR, PBS, Pacifica Radio and the other leftist broadcasters: “They would no longer be qualified as noncommercial education stations (NCE stations). Therefore, they would not be able to use the 20 stations at the lower end of the radio frequency that the Federal Communications Commission for reserves for NCEs, which are easier to find and travel further, and removes their NCE exemption from licensing fees.

Found in 14. Department of Health and Human Services

OFFICE OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS (OGA) – The Director of the Office of Global Affairs should have the title of Assistant Secretary so that he or she can adequately represent HHS and the Secretary and serve as the lead on global health diplomacy for the government. – So the VOA people will be in charge of communicating the president’s wishes.

  • All divisions that work on international health efforts will be under the Assistant Secretary with coordination for all health diplomacy emanating from OGA.
  • OGA will be the voice for the Administration’s pro-life and pro-family priorities in all international engagements.
  • OGA should hold oversight authority for implementation of the Mexico City policy throughout all divisions.
  • Every effort should be made to locate all OGA staff in the same building for better oversight and communication.