Alarming story just posted at Politico:
With sweeping new powers, the position would oversee public media reaching 100 countries.
The Trump administration’s leading candidate to head the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a position that with recent changes would give the single person unilateral power over the United States’ government messaging abroad reaching millions, is a conservative documentarian with ties to White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.
Michael Pack, the leading contender for the post, is currently president and CEO of the Claremont Institute and publisher of its Claremont Review of Books, a California-based conservative institute that has been called the “academic home of Trumpism” by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The truly alarming piece of this story:
Should he be appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate, Pack would be the first CEO of the BBG without a board as a firewall because of a little-noticed provision in last December's National Defense Authorization Act which disbanded the bipartisan board which controls the BBG.
Prepare for Breitbart conspiracy theory-driven propaganda to be spread around the globe — under the auspices of the U.S. government — should Pack be appointed and confirmed by the Senate.
Sinister? You bet.
The BBG controls Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcast Network, which constitutes the largest public diplomacy program by the U.S. government, reaching an audience of 278 million by broadcasting in 100 countries and 61 languages.
…
Under the new arrangement, the board of governors will be replaced by an advisory panel.
Once confirmed, the new CEO could hire their own directors for the five networks under BBG and theoretically push whichever message he or she chose without the board’s approval.
This is a big deal. The Senate must not confirm this propagandist should he be formally nominated.
Thursday, Jun 1, 2017 · 5:22:49 PM +00:00
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Bob Johnson
As Mother Mags notes downthread, yesterday it was revealed that Bannon was granted an ethics waiver that permits him to communicate directly with Breitbart:
In addition, a blanket waiver was given to all executive office appointees to interact with news organizations — a move that gives chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon permission to communicate with Breitbart News, the conservative website he used to run.