Pompeo Demands Voice of America Promote U.S. as the Greatest

  • He says broadcaster isn’t ‘Vice of America’ focused on wrongs
  • Whistle-blowers at agency challenged speech aired globally

Michael Pompeo

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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Secretary of State Michael Pompeo pressed the Voice of America to be less critical of the U.S., delivering a speech that appeared at odds with the news organization’s mandate to maintain editorial independence from the government.

Pompeo’s address Monday at the Voice of America headquarters in Washington -- where he said VOA “isn’t the place to give authoritarian regimes in Beijing or Tehran a platform” -- adds to efforts in the waning days of the Trump administration to rein in the government-funded broadcaster.