Trump picks Kari Lake to lead Voice of America: 'She thrives off misinformation'
Kari Lake, a Trump “fangirl” who has previously refused to accept election defeat and shared Covid misinformation, will be director of the country’s largest state international broadcaster.
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In brief:
- Donald Trump has announced Kari Lake will be the new director of Voice of America, a US government funded media outlet.
- The hardline Republican and Trump “fangirl” has criticised “fake news”, spread Covid misinformation and never conceded defeat in the race to be governor of Arizona.
- The News Agents say journalists who do criticise Trump, or unearth things he doesn’t like, will live in even more fear of “the state being deployed against them”.
What’s the story?
Donald Trump has chosen controversial former news anchor Kari Lake for the role of director of Voice of America, a US government funded media outlet.
Lake, who Emily Maitlis has previously described as a “Trump fangirl”, was a television news anchor in Phoenix for nearly 30 years. She left 2021 after sharing Covid misinformation during the pandemic.
Not long after that she launched her political career, running for Arizona governor and a senate seat. When she lost the razor-tight election she refused to concede and filed several unsuccessful lawsuits to have the results overturned.
Lake falsely claimed that Trump won the election in 2020, claiming the election was won "fraudulently".
You may remember her telling Emily she “needs her head examined”, during an interview earlier this year at the Republican National Convention, when Emily questioned her on these false claims.
“You are a sad case of a human being and I feel sorry for you, I’m sorry you bought into the propaganda,” she told Emily.
Voice of America was founded in 1942, and is the largest and oldest of the US international broadcasters, producing digital, TV and radio content in 48 languages.
“If you're wondering what Voice of America is, it's sort of like the BBC World Service. It's projecting America's voice around the world,” Jon Sopel explains on The News Agents.
“What you want for that is news that you can trust, that you can believe, that will be absolutely rock solid as a way of countering propaganda.”
In a post on Truth Social announcing the appointment, Trump wrote that Lake will "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."
What’s The News Agents’ take?
Jon describes the role of director of Voice of America as a “very important job in an era of misinformation”.
Kari Lake, however, is someone Emily Maitlis says “thrives off misinformation”.
“She is now going to be the person who speaks for America. I mean, two years ago, she said she'd be a journalist's worst freaking nightmare if she won the race to be the governor of Arizona.
“She didn't win the governor of Arizona race, she didn't win the Senate race. She has yet to win an elected race, but she's still getting this top job”.
The appointment brings more fear for journalists who found themselves cast away during Trump’s first term when they critiqued him.
Jon remembers being a White House correspondent at the time when there were “half hearted attempts made by Trump to kick certain journalists out and deny them access to the White House grounds”.
The journalists who do criticise Trump, or unearth things he doesn’t like, have for a long time been “worried about the mechanisms of the state being deployed against them”, Lewis says.
Thinking about her own interview with Lake, in which she refused to accept her own defeat in 2022, Emily says;
“If you'd done that interview in America now as part of the BBC, as part of NPR, as part of a state broadcaster, you would be terrified”.
Jon has some words of advice: “Emily, don't sit by the phone waiting for it to ring with Kari Lake offering you the number two job at Voice of America.”