Voice of America (VOA), the U.S. government-funded media agency, created and uploaded to its YouTube channel a video of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speaking at a World War II anniversary ceremony in Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), Russia.
The footage included propaganda messages from the last two autocrats in Europe, which had already been widely reported by state media in Russia and Belarus. There was no added context or balance from VOA.
Why would Voice of America want to repeat, under its logo, what these two master propagandists wanted to say, without challenging their narrative? And was it appropriate to end the video with the VOA slogan "Free Press Matters"?
I posed these questions to several current and former VOA journalists and a few former VOA executives. For fear of career consequences and retaliation, some asked not to be named.
"This seems like some promo, worse yet, a platform for Putin," one wrote back, adding that "clips used in a BALANCED news report would have been in order (if some sort of news were made)."
Another one answered: "No! What's wrong with these people?"
A former VOA Russian Service broadcaster wrote: "Disgusting — why is VOA doing the job of the Russian/Putin's press service? I just don't understand it!"
Another journalist observed: "It's the bloody voice of AMERICA, not the former USSR. U.S. international broadcasting has gone to the dogs."
VOA did not hint anywhere in its reporting that there was anything inappropriate about this video. Instead, VOA helped convey Putin's not-so-hidden propaganda message that his aggressive war against Ukraine is a continuation of Stalin's war against fascism.
Of course, VOA should have explained to its international and domestic audiences (much of VOA's English-language content is viewed online in the United States) that Hitler and Stalin were allies at the start of World War II. Each attacked and occupied several countries with the help of the other before........