The White House accused Voice of America, a federally funded but independent news organization, of promoting Chinese propaganda through their coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
The statement was published on the official White House website with the title: “Amid a Pandemic, Voice of America Spends Your Money to Promote Foreign Propaganda.”
The unsigned statement noted that VOA spends $200 million each year, but argued that it “too often speaks for America’s adversaries — not its citizens” and said the coronavirus pandemic is “no exception.”
“Journalists should report the facts, but VOA has instead amplified Beijing’s propaganda. This week, VOA called China’s Wuhan lockdown a successful ‘model’ copied by much of the world — and then tweeted out video of the Communist government’s celebratory light show marking the quarantine’s alleged end,” the statement read.
“Even worse, while much of the U.S. media takes its lead from China, VOA went one step further: It created graphics with Communist government statistics to compare China’s Coronavirus death toll to America’s,” it continued. “As intelligence experts point out, there is simply no way to verify the accuracy of China’s numbers.”
VOA’s leadership is apparently unsure what prompted the attack.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you what prompted it,” said Amanda Bennett, VOA’s director, told the Washington Post. “I don’t actually know. It just came out of the blue.”
A day before the statement was posted, Dan Scavino Jr., an assistant to the president and the director of social media at the White House, responded on social media to VOA‘s tweet about the celebratory light show meant to mark the quarantine’s end that was mentioned in the White House’s statement.
American taxpayers—paying for China’s very own propaganda, via the U.S. Government funded Voice of America! DISGRACE!! https://t.co/mng8oYwz4l
— Dan Scavino Jr.?? (@Scavino45) April 9, 2020
He tweeted, “American taxpayers—paying for China’s very own propaganda, via the U.S. Government funded Voice of America! DISGRACE!!”
The White House also alleged that VOA has given a voice to other authoritarian leaders whom it says are undeserving of it.
“Last year, VOA helped highlight the Twitter feed of Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif while he was issuing threats against the U.S. and sharing Russian anti-U.S. propaganda videos,” it said.
Bennett pushed back on the accusation as well, saying, “We have never promoted propaganda for anyone. We cover stories from all different sides. That’s part of the reason we are so trusted by people around the world.”
