VOA White House Reporter Investigated For Anti-Trump Bias By Political Appointees

An investigation by political appointees into the Voice of America's White House bureau chief for anti-Trump bias is the latest act that may break federal laws promising its journalistic independence.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The first thing to know about the Voice of America is this government-supported news service is supposed to deliver straight, independent news to the world. That's what the VOA advertises about America, a faith that the free flow of accurate information is good for everyone. Now President Trump's choice to run the agency overseeing VOA has thrown it into turmoil because his agency has been investigating VOA's White House bureau chief for alleged bias against President Trump.

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik broke this story of political interference. David, good morning.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: What did the VOA White House bureau chief, Steve Herman, allegedly do?

FOLKENFLIK: Well, he was accused by these two political aides at the parent agency of a conflict of interest. And usually in journalism, if there's conflict of interest, it might be that you have a close family member who works for one of the people you're writing about. Maybe you took money from it or participated from it.

In this case, it was an examination of White House bureau chief Steve Herman's reports and tweets. His reports, two of them were from early September - September 8, September 10. One was about an event that - Trump held a huge rally in North Carolina in defiance of local and state public health officials and their warnings about such gatherings during the time of the pandemic. The other, a report that the president said - he denied lying in the wake of the release of audiotapes between the president and the investigative journalist Bob Woodward in early part of the year in which the president talked about how severe and threatening the pandemic was, even as publicly he wanted to allay concerns.

Additionally, they pointed very much to tweets that Steve Herman made and even likes or retweets that he made of other people's tweets in which they said there was a conflict of interest shown because those individual tweets showed specific points of view from people that might be unflattering to or against the president.

INSKEEP: I'm a little confused here, David, because first you're telling me that Steve Herman covered ordinary news of the White House, and I think you're telling me that he's under investigation not for denouncing the president or something but for quoting people in news stories and tweets who had critical things to say about the president. That is the alleged conflict of interest, is quoting people who had critical things to say about the president?

FOLKENFLIK: That appears to be the case, yes. I've reviewed some of the material from the report that they compiled, and that's exactly what they're talking about. And let me just say, I read Herman's stories. They're very similar to standard and fairly straight-ahead stories that appeared in other kinds of news agencies about the very same events.

INSKEEP: And we should mention again, VOA is heard around the world, seen around the world. They're on the radio. They're on television. They're on the Internet and so forth. It's that kind of news agency. And what you describe is what they're supposed to be doing - is unremarkable news coverage, is straight-ahead news coverage, to inform people about what's going on in America and around the world. However, there is a Trump appointee running the agency that oversees VOA. He's in charge. What's wrong with him making demands or someone at the agency making demands into how the VOA covers things?

FOLKENFLIK: Right. Well, newsrooms at major and respected news organizations around the country, including our own - there are rules that insulate news coverage from the decisions of people who are at the very top of the business. In our case - let's be clear - John Lansing, the CEO of NPR, he used to be the CEO of the parent agency of Voice of America. And for that reason, there are policies protecting our newsroom from him, generally, in terms of interfering coverage and specifically on this kind of episode because it involves something he once had an involvement in.

In the case of Voice of America, the parent agency of that is enjoined by federal rules and federal law from being able to interfere with or direct specific coverage. That's something they're not supposed to be able to do. You can find that language on my story and in their website. So there's a problem with Michael Pack, the CEO, or his top aides being involved there.

INSKEEP: You're telling me that I can go on the VOA website and find language suggesting that what Michael Pack, the top executive here, is doing is illegal?

FOLKENFLIK: It appears to be laid out in black and white on his own website, and we reproduce that on our story as well. In their case, they say, we have the right to do this because we've conveyed this to Voice of America that they've got to handle it internally.

INSKEEP: David, thanks for the reporting. Really appreciate it.

FOLKENFLIK: You bet.

INSKEEP: An independent report from NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.