http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38284655
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/donald-trump-voice-of-america-232442
http://www.voanews.com/a/new-law-would-reorganize-voa-other-us-government/3635977.html
Funding and other issues coming soon to VOA in 2017
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/donald-trump-voice-of-america-232442
http://www.voanews.com/a/new-law-would-reorganize-voa-other-us-government/3635977.html
Funding and other issues coming soon to VOA in 2017
A US government-funded news service says editorial independence won't be at risk amid a raft of changes. Journalist Adam Harris looks at what Voice of America means to Americans and the rest of the world.
The director of the Broadcast Board of Governors (BBG) is promising the staff of Voice of America (VOA) and other partners that their editorial "firewall" with US policy makers "remains sacrosanct" despite a legislative change to its structure.
A new defence bill has raised concerns about the oversight of VOA and its affiliates, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Network.
The BBG was created to act as "a firewall between US government policymakers and the journalists", as a way to protect editorial independence.
But the new legislation concentrates power within the BBG in the hands of a chief executive, appointed by the president and approved by the Senate.
The change caused alarm that future presidents could use the networks, which reach an audience of 287 million people across 100 countries in 61 languages, as a powerful propaganda tool.
In the e-mail, which was provided to the BBC, VOA director Amanda Bennett told staffers that the "legislation makes no change to BBG's statutory firewall," meant to act as a buffer between the government and the newsroom.
"The firewall remains sacrosanct and completely in force, and will continue to ensure, without exception, the professional independence of our journalists and broadcasters," Bennett wrote, adding that the chief executive would be "legally required to abide by and oversee the firewall".
Voice of America launched in 1942 as an alternative designed to combat Nazi and Japanese propaganda. Its first broadcast - made on a transmitter loaned to the United States by the BBC - stated a modest purpose.
"Today, and daily from now on, we shall speak to you about America and the war," said journalist William Harlan Hale. "The news may be good for us. The news may be bad. But we shall tell you the truth."