With President Donald Trump installed for a second term, one big item on the new administration's agenda appears to be rearranging the media landscape , undermining its journalistic critics and giving a boost to the media that have supported it during the campaign.
Author
- Kate Wright
Academic Lead of Media and Communications Research Cluster, University of Edinburgh
Trump insiders have already suggested that there will be changes in terms of which journalists have access to the president, and Trump-friendly media will be given priority seating in the room in the White House where press briefings are held. There are hints that podcasters and influencers may replace mainstream TV networks at the front of the room. Meanwhile, Trump has three ongoing lawsuits against media organisations and reporters (including internationally acclaimed journalist Bob Woodward).
Most recently Trump has announced a defamation case against local Iowa newspaper the Des Moines Register for reporting on a poll that suggested Trump would not win the state in the presidential election.
Clayton Weimers, executive director of the media freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders , said that he believed that Trump will target the independent media that criticise him.
This is the context in which Trump has tapped conservative political activist and former news anchor Kari Lake as the next director of the oldest, and largest, US-funded international news network, the Voice of America (VOA).
Since its creation in 1942, the network has won many awards for its reporting. Its programmes are now available both in the US (via the website) and around the world. VOA produces online, social and broadcast media in nearly 50 languages to 354 million people worldwide . Although the network is funded by US Congress, VOA journalists have had their editorial independence guaranteed by law since the 1990s.
But the way that VOA operates could change under the supervision of the woman expected to lead it during Trump's second term. That is if indications from Trump's election campaign, the Heritage Foundation think-tank's Project 2025 report (which is believed to hold clues to the Trump agenda) and the president's first term are anything to go by.
Writing on social media network Truth Social in December, Trump said Lake would "ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media". Trump's announcement immediately alarmed some VOA staff .
A chapter in the Project 2025 report indicates what the agenda might be, suggesting there's a need to place VOA, and the independent agency in which it is embedded, "under the NSC" (the National Security Council) or the state department.
VOA's charter , enshrined in law in 1976, obliges the network to provide "accurate, objective and comprehensive" news and "present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions". The charter also tasks VOA with explaining the "policies of the United States clearly and effectively", including "responsible discussions and opinion on these policies".
It is worth stressing that although Trump has announced that Lake will be the next VOA director, the president does not actually have the legal authority to make this appointment. That decision rests with a bipartisan board , working with the CEO of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) in which the network is embedded.
This structural detail is important because it formed part of a raft of legal measures designed to protect VOA journalists' editorial freedom from presidential interference. These measures were introduced following an intense wave of politicisation that occurred during the last few months of the first Trump administration, when a Trump appointee, Michael Pack, was made CEO of USAGM.
So who is Kari Lake?
Lake has a background in local TV news, but is not an experienced national or international journalist. During her unsuccessful Senate and gubernatorial campaigns in Arizona, Lake repeatedly and falsely claimed that the 2020 election was "stolen" . Lake continued to contest her loss of the governorship in 2022 until November 2024, when Arizona's Supreme Court finally rejected the case .
Moreover, Lake is renowned for her combative political rhetoric, including telling Trump supporters to "strap on a Glock" .
Journalists have been a key target of Lake's ire, as she is a fierce critic of what she calls the "corrupt media", arguing that some reporters should be "locked up" for not telling the "truth" about COVID-19 and the election . Indeed, in a now-viral video , Lake stated that "reforming the fake news" was her "pet project".
However, in an interview with The Epoch Times , Lake said that she only wanted to ensure that VOA presented a "true story of what America is, and make sure that we're not doing in a biased fashion, but in a way that is fair and accurate".
What happened last time?
I coauthored a book about what happened at VOA during Trump's last term of office, analysing why and how this wave of increased politicisation occurred. This involved assessing rare interviews and 15,000 pages of documentation, most of which were declassified documents and correspondence drawn from Freedom of Information archives.
The book covers how VOA journalists' working conditions were radically changed during Pack's time in the job, leaving many overstretched, exhausted and stressed out.
There was a funding and hiring freeze , foreign journalists' visas were not renewed, and long-serving agency executives suspended without due cause. After Pack took over the role he said in an interview that he wanted to "advance America's broad foreign policy goals, [which] includes fighting for American ideas and institutions against … views from China and Iran". But VOA journalists became deeply demoralised by the repeated criticism of their work by Pack, journalists at Trump-aligned news outlets and social media users. Such criticisms went far beyond the normal rough and tumble of political reporting, including allegations that non-US citizens working as reporters might be foreign spies .
A federal judge ruled that these investigations had a chilling effect on VOA, and that Pack and his team had violated journalists' constitutional right to freedom of speech. Investigators for the US Office of Special Counsel found that Pack had violated several laws, rules and regulations designed to safeguard journalists' editorial independence.
Despite the new safeguards introduced after Pack's departure, VOA remains very vulnerable to politicisation, and given Trump's broader approach to press freedom this seems very possible.
The opportunity to undertake this research arose from an AHRC grant (AH/V006118/1) but the research itself was unfunded.
