Tag: USAGM

Michael Pack Stands His Ground Amid D.C. Firestorm

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Michael Pack Stands His Ground Amid D.C. Firestorm

One article asked whether Trump is putting “fascists in charge of the Voice of America,” even though Pack is Jewish, as are several of the other top officials he’s brought into front-office positions.

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Critics have also assailed Pack for installing interim heads of the USAGM media outlets, including Jeffrey Shapiro, who several media reports have cast as a Bannon ally, as leading the Office of Cuba Broadcasting – at least in an interim basis. Bannon made himself an easy target with several recent comments suggesting he could be involved in USAGM decision-making. Pack dismisses the notion that Bannon is playing or angling to play an influential role in running the agency – either officially or in an informal advisory capacity.

As Critics Rage, Pack Aims to Pierce China’s Info Firewall

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

As Critics Rage, Pack Aims to Pierce China’s Info Firewall | RealClearPolitics

Those predicting that Pack, who previously served as the vice president of programming at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, will transform the agency into Trump radio and TV cite Pack’s friendship with Steve Bannon, with whom he partnered to make two documentaries. Bannon has made himself and his relationship with Pack an easy target by implying in his daily podcasts that he will be involved in USAGM decision-making and targeting Liu.

Trump and Steve Bannon want to turn a US-funded global media network into Breitbart 2.0

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Trump and Steve Bannon want to turn a US-funded global media network into Breitbart 2.0

But Steve Bannon, who was deeply involved with getting Trump to nominate his ally Michael Pack, sees the ousters as a reckoning for an agency that he believes has been too soft on covering China.

“We are going hard on the charge,” Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist and executive chairman of Breitbart, told me. “Pack’s over there to clean house.”