US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), is a US government agency that operates five media entities and a funding arm (Open Technology Fund) that finances internet freedom technologies in countries known to block access to information.
In 2018, following a rebranding process that lasted one year and a half, BBG changed its name to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), according to the latest USAGM annual report.
USAGM runs the following media organizations:
- Voice of America (VOA), a media outlet providing news in 47 languages to an audience of over 280 million people;
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a news outlet that provides content in 27 languages in 23 countries mostly from Eastern Europe/Former Soviet Union and South Asia (including Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and Ukraine);
- Radio Free Asia (RFA), Washington, D.C.-headquartered news outlet that services six Asian countries;
- Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), an Arabic-language news organization that targets 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region through its television networks (Alhurra and Alhurra-Iraq), Sawa radio and the news portals Alhurra.com, RadioSawa.com, Irfaasawtak.com, MaghrebVoices.com and ElSaha.com
- Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), which operates from Miami, Florida, the news outlet Radio and Television Martí, a news conglomerate that caters to the people of Cuba.
State Media Matrix Typology: Independent State-Funded and State-Managed (ISFM)
Media assets
Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Office for Cuba Broadcasting, Middle East Broadcasting Networks
Ownership and governance
USAGM oversees two federal organizations (the Voice of America and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting), and three non-profit organizations (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks).
USAGM’s operations are governed by the following acts:
- The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (known as the Smith-Mundt Act) laid the legal basis for “the creation of an information service to disseminate abroad information about the United States, its people, and policies.” The establishment of the Voice of America (VOA) was an important part of the information service envisaged by the Smith-Mundt Act, which was amended in 2013 to allow the USAGM to make programs available also for domestic consumption.
- The International Broadcasting Act, adopted in 1994, and amended later, consolidated all U.S. Government international broadcast services under one agency, which as of 2018 has operated as the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM).
- The VOA Charter, drafted in 1960 and signed into law in 1976 by President Gerald Ford, is a document that protects the integrity of the VOA programming. (see Editorial Control)
The Committee on Foreign Relations in the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the House have jurisdiction over the U.S. international broadcasting. The two Committees review the budget ceilings of the U.S-funded broadcasting operations, vote on changes in the administrative authorities, and provide policy guidance. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee considers nominations for USAGM Presidential appointments.
As of 2017, USAGM’s CEO has been appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the American Senate. Until 2016, the agency was governed by a nine-member bi-partisan board. Eight members of that board were appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and the ninth member ex officio was the US Secretary of State (the ex officio member was added following an amendment to the International Broadcasting Act in 1998). To prevent political interference with the editorial line of the media outlets run by USAGM, no more than four members of the USAGM board could come from the same political party. The President had the power to appoint the Board chairman (other than the Secretary of State).
However, following the adoption of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, which further amended the International Broadcasting Act, the agency was placed under the management of a CEO whereas the board, which was renamed the International Broadcasting Advisory Board, was shrunk to five members who are all appointed by the President and have only an advisory role. According to the 2017 reform, the agency’s CEO is nominated by the U.S. President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Previously, the CEO of the agency was appointed by the BBG Board.
In June 2018, President Trump announced plans to nominate documentary producer Michael Pack as CEO of USAGM. Pack was confirmed by the Senate in June 2020. The appointment led to the disbandment of the board of directors.
The changes in the governing structures of the USAGM were indubitably a step backward for the organizational independence of USAGM and, indirectly, of the media outlets operated by the agency. Concerns about the independence of the agency’s governing structures were confirmed in June-July 2020 as Pack, only weeks after his appointment embarked on a process of purging the leadership of the media outlets run by USAGM. Pack dismissed the heads of all news outlets as well as employees and board members at the Open Technology Fund (OTF). Media reports indicated that Pack was appointed by President Donald Trump precisely to do that. Trump had in the past expressed dissatisfaction with the USAGM’s critical coverage of the work done by his administration. VOA’s director Amanda Bennett and deputy director Sandy Sugawara both resigned in June 2020 following the appointment of Pack. In early July 2020, the media reported that Pack started to review the employment agreements of longtime USAGM officials, including senior managers at RFA, RFE/RL and MBN. The review was seen by the USAGM staff as a step towards a new wave of purges.
The changes made by Pack met with some pushback from courts and lawmakers. On 21 July 2020, a federal appeals court decided to block a bid by Pack to install a hand-picked board that was to replace the leadership of the Open Technology Fund (OTF), which has a different statute and structure than the media outlets run by USAGM. Earlier on, concerned about Pack’s decisions, top members of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the State Department put some of the funds earmarked for USAGM on hold (a measure that only affected the operation of some USAGM’s media).
All in all, although there were still mechanisms (such as release of payments that can be approved only by the appropriations committees) that can be used to prevent the management (CEO) of USAGM from acting discretionarily, the measures taken by Pack were worrying as, according to existing legal provisions (adopted in 2017), the USAGM CEO has expansive powers over all of the U.S. government-funded civilian broadcasters. The CEO, for example, has the power to set budgets and slash funding of any of the media run by the USAGM as well as to appoint himself the boards of the individual media outlets run by USAGM. In fact, in an “unprecedented” move, Pack replaced after his appointment all the bipartisan boards of the media outlets operated by USAGM with six people, including himself, “who appear to have been selected for no discernible reason beyond ideological purity,” Anne Applebaum wrote in The Atlantic in June 2020.
Yet, these threats to the editorial independence of the outlets run by USAGM disappeared after Pack resigned in January 2021 at the request of the then newly appointed president John Biden.
Source of budget and funding
The USAGM is fully funded by the U.S. government. The USAGM budget is approved yearly by the Committees on Appropriations of the House and Senate, which also provide guidance on how these funds should be used. While the Voice of America and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting receive funds directly, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks are funded through grants received from USAGM.
In 2018, USAGM had a budget of US$ 794m, the largest share of it (30%) being allocated to VOA. In 2019, the budget increased to US$ 797m, according to an annual report. The USAGM budget continued to increase, reaching US$ 830m in 2023. For 2024, the President asked the Congress for an increased budget of US$ 944m, a response to growing information manipulation by authoritarian governments.
Editorial independence
Although the mechanisms designed to protect the editorial independence of the USAGM have remained in place, the massive changes in the appointment procedures at the agency and the sweeping decisions made by Pack had been sharply criticized by independent journalists and the USAGM’s own staff. “Veterans of the organizations have said the massive leadership change undermined their traditional independence,” according to Politico.
However, the resignation of Pack on 20 January 2021 after the inauguration of the President-elect Jon Biden ended the series of measures that seemed to threaten the editorial independence of USAGM.
The media operated by USAGM have a series of internal mechanisms and guidelines that were introduced with the aim of protecting the outlets’ editorial independence. They include the VOA Charter, drafted in 1960 and signed into law in 1976, and a series of ethical norms and editorial codes followed by the other USAGM media outlets (RFA, RFE/RL, MBN).
VOA has been effectively protected by a “firewall” enshrined in the 1994 US International Broadcasting Act, which bans interference by US government officials in the editorial coverage of the broadcaster. Part of the firewall, the VOA Charter requires VOA to be “accurate, objective, and comprehensive” in its reporting; to provide “a balanced and comprehensive” account of American opinion, and to describe U.S. government policies “clearly and effectively.”
The firewall policies at USAGM ensure a varied and independent oversight of the editorial coverage on USAGM’s media.
August 2023