[K3VOA] FW: BBG Head

[Tony Riggs]

In regard to a conversation we had during the VOA ARC meeting this morning, here is the email Mollie King wrote concerning the White House nomination of Michael Pack to be CEO of the BBG.  Besides Mollie's comments, I have included others for your possible interest.

 

Tony - W1FHN

 

From: David Hyatt [mailto:davidfhyatt at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2018 2:32 PM
To: Mollie King
Cc: neilcurrie at radiofeatures.com; John Farris; OceanCityMike at yahoo.com; GButler00 at aol.com; jmeghna01 at aol.com; Philip Haynes; Alan Heil; gildeaarling at aol.com; RPKlein at aol.com; cflinner176 at gmail.com; sarabrown60 at yahoo.com; WFMcCrory at yahoo.com; cbg30 at aol.com; Blair Gately; Richard LaDieu; ckatvoa at gmail.com; Bob Knopes; wshill40 at wans.net; rmajestic at msn.com; odragan at aol.com; dgollust at yahoo.com; Taclan Suerdem; Dai Pham; psjurey at gmail.com; Deborah Cooper; k3hu at hotmail.com; dmcalary at icloud.com; Fred Cooper; Steven Lucas; Moazzam Siddiqi; lsarkis at comcast.net; gbistis at yahoo.com; Gary Thomas; John Zorger; David Dyar; Teresa Sullivan; 17droberts at gmail.com; Paul Westpheling; pourtet2 at aol.com; jwhuizenga at hotmail.com; Ismail Dahiyat; MOBKennedy at hotmail.com; fhs7776 at verizon.net; Deborah Gibson; Meredith Buel; Dan Robinson; jve at cox.net; maemae515 at aol.com; Art Chimes; Margaretbinda at gmail.com; kz3ab at arrl.net; MChris622 at aol.com; Leslie Daniel; vederma at cox.net; janief at shentel.net; Pemstein at aol.com; Sid Davis; Cindy Krasinski; John Stevenson; Judy Massa; vrytix .; Valerie Hopkins; Myrna Whitworth; Stephen Thompson; AINRiggs at verizon.net; Gloria Kamenske; Andrew Guthrie; ch76 at georgetown.edu; bmalko at hotmail.com; HelenDavidWms at aol.com; andredenesnera at gmail.com; Zora Hopkins; Robert Scherago; warnere56 at yahoo.com; ediesm at aol.com; dickbertel at msn.com; whillmd at yahoo.com; thebrewcrew4 at msn.com; debtate2001 at yahoo.com; alex.belida at gmail.com; dbensonjr2 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: BBG Head

 

Well said, Mollie

David

 

David F Hyatt

Mobile 202/281-4550

 

 


On Jun 3, 2018, at 3:21 PM, Mollie King <mollie.king at gmail.com> wrote:

There are people who get panicky because the NDAA provisions on US international media are being implemented during the Trump administration, even though the act was written during the Obama administration. 

 

But in many ways the pending change of having a director/CEO who is WH-nominated and Senate-confirmed - and relegating the Board to an advisory role - is much closer to the old USIA approach than the BBG ever was. 

 

That said, one of the biggest challenges will remain managing a cobbled together mishmash of federal and non-federal international communication networks that were created at different times for different purposes. They are now all handled together as "separate but equal" (with varying opinions about whether some are more equal than others), and tough choices need to be made about where the U.S. goes from here - that's the scary part.

 

Mollie

 

On Sun, Jun 3, 2018 at 12:31 PM, <neilcurrie at radiofeatures.com> wrote:

Those who are inclined to see conservative boogeymen where they never saw liberal ones might take solace in contemplating how ineffective the BBG has been over the years. Just for fun, check attendance at the next half dozen BBG meetings. See how often they muster a quorum, much less mount a mission. 

 

It’s no doubt too late to bring back the USIA but the mixing of the VOA’s public diplomacy with the State Department’s quiet “a word in your ear if I might, dear minister” has never worked and probably never will whoever heads the BBG.  

 

NC

 

From: John Farris <josufarris at aol.com> 
Sent: Sunday, June 3, 2018 9:08 AM
To: OceanCityMike at yahoo.com; GButler00 at AOL.com; jmeghna01 at aol.com; Pconradp13 at gmail.com; 58alanheil at gmail.com; gildeaarling at aol.com; RPKlein at AOL.com; cflinner176 at gmail.com; sarabrown60 at yahoo.com; WFMcCrory at yahoo.com; cbg30 at aol.com; davidfhyatt at yahoo.com; millgate521 at gmail.com; richladieu at gmail.com; ckatvoa at gmail.com; RKnopes at cox.net; wshill40 at wans.net; rmajestic at msn.com; odragan at aol.com; dgollust at yahoo.com; tsuerdem at gmail.com; pt99news at gmail.com; psjurey at gmail.com; dcooper1951 at gmail.com; k3hu at hotmail.com; dmcalary at iCloud.com; familyofcoopers at verizon.net; lucasteven at gmail.com; moazzam.siddiqi at gmail.com; lsarkis at comcast.net; gbistis at yahoo.com; voaguy at earthlink.net; jwz2568 at gmail.com; mollie.king at gmail.com; daviddyar at hotmail.com; teresa7610 at comcast.net; 17droberts at gmail.com; Paul.westpheling at gmail.com; pourtet2 at aol.com; jwhuizenga at hotmail.com; dahiyatmail at gmail.com; MOBKennedy at hotmail.com; fhs7776 at verizon.net; d0rs1do at verizon.net; buelteam at hotmail.com; dxace1 at gmail.com; jve at cox.net; maemae515 at aol.com; artsonline at gmail.com; Margaretbinda at gmail.com; kz3ab at arrl.net; MChris622 at aol.com; les278 at aol.com; vederma at cox.net; janief at shentel.net; Pemstein at aol.com; sid.davis.100 at gmail.com; itscak at gmail.com; johnstevensonmusic at gmail.com; JudyMassa at gmail.com; vrytix at yahoo.com; vhopkins at gmail.com; neilcurrie at radiofeatures.com; myrnawhit1825 at gmail.com; stephenbraxton at msn.com; AINRiggs at verizon.net; gloriakam at comcast.net; turtlelover64 at aol.com; ch76 at georgetown.edu; bmalko at hotmail.com; HelenDavidWms at AOL.com; andredenesnera at gmail.com; Zora.Hopkins at gmail.com; rscherago at gmail.com; warnere56 at yahoo.com; ediesm at aol.com; dickbertel at msn.com; whillmd at yahoo.com; thebrewcrew4 at msn.com; debtate2001 at yahoo.com; alex.belida at gmail.com; dbensonjr2 at gmail.com
Subject: Fwd: BBG Head

 

Thanks to Walt Hill for bringing this to my attention... 

 

JCF

-----Original Message-----
From: Walter Hill <whillmd at yahoo.com>
To: John Farris <JoSuFarris at aol.com>
Sent: Sat, Jun 2, 2018 4:54 pm
Subject: BBG Head

Posted Saturday, in  CNN Money. 

 

———

 


White House plans to nominate conservative documentarian, Bannon ally, to lead government media agency


Hadas Gold


President Donald Trump will nominate a conservative documentarian and Stephen Bannon ally to lead a large government agency that creates and distributes news to more than one hundred countries.


Late Friday, the White House announced its intent to nominate Michael Pack, a former president of the conservative Claremont Institute, to lead the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The board controls US government-funded media outlets like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe and is considered the country's largest public diplomacy program. It reaches an audience of 278 million in more than 100 countries and 61 languages. 

If confirmed, Pack would replace current CEO John Lansing, who is a holdover from the Obama administration. 

Pack's nomination has been expected for more than a year, but it was tied up as he disentangled himself from conflict of interest issues, according to two sources with knowledge of the process. 

Pack did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Pack is a former Corporation for Public Broadcasting executive, and an ally of Bannon, the former White House chief strategist and head of Breitbart. The two worked on two documentaries together and Pack wrote an op-ed last year praising Bannon as a pioneer in conservative documentary filmmaking. As head of the Claremont Institute, he also acted as publisher of the Claremont Review of Books, which the New York Times once dubbed the "bible of highbrow Trumpism." 

Several sources within the BBG have been privately expressing concern over Pack's nomination. Previous BBG CEOs, a relatively new position, have been more mainstream newsroom leaders, like Lansing, who is a former president of Scripps Network, or current NBC News head Andy Lack, who briefly led the agency in 2015. 

There is also concern Pack will turn what has been considered America's voice abroad toward a decidedly more pro-Trump bent, though the agencies under the BBG are independent of the presidential administration, with the board acting as firewall. Several staffers at the BBG have told CNN they plan to leave if Pack is confirmed. 

Other critics have said the <http://freebeacon.com/politics/partisan-tensions-bubble-bbg-voa-trump-delays-naming-new-leaders/>  BBG's media outlets are undermining the administration's efforts at home and abroad. 

Once Pack takes over, the structure of the BBG governance changes. 

Should Pack be confirmed, he'd have more unilateral power over the agency because of a provision enacted in the last weeks of the Obama administration that would disband the bipartisan board in favor of an advisory board, which supporters saw as a firewall between the administration and the agency. Proponents promoted the move as one to make the organization more efficient. 

Beyond Pack, there are others who feel Bannon's influence has already reached deep into the agency. 

A Trump appointee already working in the BBG, Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, a former investigative reporter who has ties to Bannon, <http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/06/media/steve-bannon-ally-broadcasting-board-of-governors/index.html?iid=EL>  has told colleagues that his goal is to turn the agency into a "Bannon legacy," according to three sources within or familiar with the agency. 

In March, the top Democrat of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Eliot Engel <https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/politics/eliot-engel-whistleblower-broadcasting-board-of-governors/index.html%20whistleblowers?iid=EL>  said he had come forward to allege that Shapiro and others were seeking to push the agency's journalism toward a viewpoint more favorable with the Trump administration by overthrowing the current leadership before Pack's nomination went out. 

CNNMoney (New York) First published June 2, 2018: 12:46 PM ET