United States President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Kari Lake, a former television news presenter who ran unsuccessful Senate and gubernatorial bids in Arizona, to lead the state-funded global media organization Voice of America (VOA). Trump stated on Wednesday that Lake, who has faced criticism for advocating strict immigration policies and disputing the results of the 2020 presidential election, would collaborate closely with the future head of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Keep reading. A list of four items. List one of four. South Korea’s Yoon vows to ‘fight to the end’ as leadership remains in limbo. List 2 of 4: Artificial solar eclipse: Why are satellites attempting to cover the sun? List 3 of 4: Somalia and Ethiopia reach an agreement.

US Election 2024 How might four more years of Trump look like? Immigrant rights groups prepare for Trump. Can Trump revoke birthright citizenship? What the ‘trifecta’ means to Trump Why is Jack Smith withdrawing the allegations against Trump? Who did Trump pick? News | US Election 2024 Trump appoints unsuccessful candidate Kari Lake to run Voice of America US President-elect picks supporter who denied the 2020 presidential election results. Kari Lake Kari Lake addresses supporters during a campaign rally in Mesa, Arizona, on September 4, 2024. [Ross D Franklin/AP]. Published on December 12, 2024. US President-elect Donald Trump has picked Kari Lake, a former television news presenter who ran unsuccessful Senate and gubernatorial runs in Arizona, as his pick.

“Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide,” Lake stated. During her campaign for Arizona governor, Lake regularly reiterated Trump’s baseless allegations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

After narrowly losing the contest, Lake refused to yield to her Democrat opponent, Katie Hobbs, and made baseless charges about election fraud. Yaqiu Wang, research director for China at the non-profit Freedom House, called Trump’s choice of Lake “deeply concerning”. “Despite its flaws, VOA has been an important source of human rights news in China, as well as for the global Chinese-language audience’s understanding of the United States and global politics.” “VOA is not CGTN precisely because it does real journalism,” Wang told X, referring to China’s English-language broadcaster.

VOA, which is supported by the United States Congress and broadcasts news online, on radio, and on television, operates in over 40 languages and has a weekly audience of more than 354 million people worldwide. During Trump’s first term, claims surfaced that political appointees at the USAGM initiated an inquiry into the VOA’s then-White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman for alleged bias against the former president, prompting outcry from media freedom organizations. “These actions violate the First Amendment, as well as a statutory firewall intended to make the US Agency for Global Media impervious to political interference in order to maintain ‘the highest standards of professional journalism,'” the Asian American Journalists Association stated at the time.

In 2020, a bipartisan group of senators said that they will investigate USAGM’s funding after then-CEO Michael Pack, a Trump-appointed conservative documentary filmmaker, sacked or reassigned multiple senior staff and network executives. Last year, the independent Office of Special Counsel discovered that Pack violated regulations designed to prohibit political intervention in editorial decision-making and abused his position.