The footage, which also includes a short shot by Representative Rashida Tlaib (Democrat of Michigan), was generously clipped from the live stream of Emgage Action’s Million Muslim Votes virtual conference earlier this month, for which Biden provided a video. Emgage Action is a left-wing 501c (4) group that has backed Biden and “seeks to mobilize American Muslims to advocate for the problems that define who American Muslims are for what they stand for,” according to its website.
One of those clips included audio from a voice-over narrator. Make no mistake, 2020 is our year. Let’s dive into that with a 20/20 vision, ”says the narrator in the video. “We can clearly see that the United States is fighting for its soul.”
Discussions about the fate of contractors come amid a politically charged overhaul of taxpayer-funded media, including VOAs. Its suspension would represent a less severe punishment than what the new VOA leadership had first contemplated, according to the two people: immediate termination.
Bill Baum, a longtime VOA veteran and current Senior Advisor to the Acting Director, told his colleagues earlier this week that VOA wanted to terminate their contracts immediately because the story looked like a campaign ad, it was not balanced and violated VOA journalism standards.
But after VOA’s parent organization’s attorney general, the US Global Media Agency, recommended that VOA simply suspend all four contractors, rather than fire them, they may end up keeping their jobs after all. Contractors will likely have an opportunity to explain why they shouldn’t be fired, according to a person familiar with internal discussions.
In a statement, a VOA spokeswoman, Bridget Serchak, said: “The VOA leadership is conducting a comprehensive review of the circumstances surrounding the matter. Corrective action will be taken once all the facts of the matter have been compiled and thoroughly evaluated. “
President Donald Trump and his allies have vociferously complained about the tone of VOA coverage, including an unusual explosion in a White House bulletin. In the case of the Biden video, people outside of USAGM had pointed it out to the new CEO, Michael Pack, and had expressed concern about the content, according to the person.
The video also attracted the attention of conservative journalist Sara Carter, who wrote a story Monday with the headline: “Voice Of America promoted a pro-Biden Muslim political campaign ad, then deleted it.” He quoted Speaker of the Freedom Chamber Caucus, Representative Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Calling it “outrageous that VOA … has used its platform to campaign for Biden” and demanded an investigation.
Pack, an ally of Steve Bannon, fired the heads of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and other media when he started as CEO of the taxpayer-funded media group, movements that drew criticism from members of both parties in The congress. Amanda Bennett, the VOA director at the time, resigned on her first day on the job.
Pack, a veteran documentary filmmaker, has championed the reorganization as needed to help him reform the organization to more clearly align with his original mission.
But there are deep suspicions of Pack’s true motives within USAGM and among his supporters on Capitol Hill.
“Unfortunately, you are trying to find an incident and examples that can show that you are improving the content,” said one of the people about Pack. (A USAGM official said VOA’s language services have been “scrutinized for a long time for not complying with journalistic standards and principles” and for not adhering to VOA statutes.)
Scrutiny of the Biden video has led top VOA officials to a close handling of the matter. Store office officials told colleagues that the Urdu video should have corrected Biden when he referred to the “Muslim ban” by saying that President Trump’s 2017 immigration action did not bar all Muslims from entering the USA, but only selected countries with a Muslim majority. , according to a person familiar with internal discussions. The video should also have pointed out that the Trump campaign is reaching out to Muslim voters and that some Muslim organizations support Trump’s re-election, they said.
Senior USAGM officials have demanded to know the names of everyone involved in the story and asked to interview them, according to a person familiar with the exchanges.
On Tuesday, VOA Acting Director Elez Biberaj held multiple meetings with Pack’s main office and Deputy Director of Personnel Diane Cullo asked the names of the journalists involved in publishing the story and the full translation of the piece, according to two people familiar with the matter. VOA shared that information with USAGM and promised to improve the editorial process to prevent this type of episode from happening again. Biberaj also proposed disciplinary measures against other people involved.
There is little doubt that the Urdu content violated VOA editorial standards, but the involvement of senior USAGM officials has raised tensions.
“It seems that the CEO’s office is extremely interested in moving from the other side of the firewall to VOA activities,” said the person familiar with the internal discussions. The source was unable to recall that VOA ever considered firing people based on story imbalance and without a history of underperforming.
“This seems to be so fast and out of the ordinary,” said the person, who called it a “witch hunt.”
