Top Voice of America editors resign amid strife with White House, arrival of new Trump-appointed director

By Paul Farhi and Elahe Izadi
6/15/2020, 1:01:02 p.m.

The top two editors at Voice of America resigned Monday, amid White House criticism of the government-funded but editorially independent news agency and as a new overseer loyal to President Trump was about to take office.

It wasn’t immediately clear why VOA director Amanda Bennett and deputy director Sandy Sugawara submitted their resignations. In a memo to staff on Monday, they jointly wrote, “It is time for us to leave,” but cited no specific reason other than the arrival of Michael Pack, a Trump appointee who will head the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA.

The agency’s relationship with the Trump administration was already fraught, but over the weekend, a new rift developed. After news emerged that the Centers for Disease Control had instructed its communications staff to deny interviews to VOA reporters — a policy prompted by the White House’s criticism of the agency — Bennett issued a strongly worded statement condemning the policy.

“Efforts such as those outlined in the CDC memo can result in the kind of chilling effect on our journalism that we regularly see in the markets we broadcast to that have no free press,” Bennett wrote in response.

The White House in April launched an extraordinary public attack on the international news service in April, accusing VOA of promoting Chinese government propaganda in its reporting on the coronavirus outbreak. Bennett defended the agency’s independence then, citing numerous news reports that debunked the Chinese government’s claims about its handling of the virus outbreak and its false statements about American involvement.

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