President Trump has selected a well-known conservative media watchdog to lead the troubled U.S. Agency for Global Media, the panel overseeing federal broadcasting and a target for political housecleaning.
Mr. Trump revealed in a post on Truth Social that L. Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, is his nominee to be chief executive officer for USAGM. The position requires Senate confirmation.
The Biden administration budget request for USAGM for fiscal 2025 was $950 million. The agency has come under fire from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over corruption allegations among agency leaders.
“Brent will bring some much-needed change to the U.S. Agency for Global Media,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Bozell said he was honored to be chosen for the post.
“There is lots of work to be done,” he stated on X. “I look forward to meeting with senators ahead of my confirmation hearing to explore how best to ensure the priorities of the president are met.”
Mr. Bozell’s Media Research Center has been an outspoken critic of mainstream media, which for years has targeted Mr. Trump with what the president has said is unfair criticism.
Mr. Trump on his first day in office canceled the Biden administration’s succession plan for USAGM over concerns the agency would block his selection of Kari Lake, a conservative Arizona former television personality who lost a Senate bid in November, to be head of the Voice of America.
The succession plan made the VOA director the acting USAGM chief and thus complicated the new administration’s plans for placing Ms. Lake in charge of VOA.
Earlier this week, the new administration dismissed all board members of the USAGM International Broadcasting Advisory Board
The board is in charge of confirming all directors of the federal radio outlets, including VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other broadcasters targeting Cuba and the Middle East, according to people familiar with USAGM’s inner workings.
USAGM also directs the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
Kenneth Jarin, the broadcasting board chairman, declined to comment on the firings.
A USAGM spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Two people with knowledge of the Trump administration’s plans for federal broadcasting said on condition of anonymity that three options are being considered for reforming the radios.
“The game plan would be to immediately eliminate all useless entities,” one of the people said.
Mismanagement within all the broadcasters has led to greatly diminished audiences around the world, despite USAGM’s claim to have large numbers of listeners, the person said.
For example, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty has few listeners in Russia, the main target. For China, Radio Free Asia is heavily jammed and those in China caught listening are harshly punished.
One option being considered by the administration is to eliminate USAGM and fold functions and related programs into a centralized Voice of America. That would include all component radios, both those directly government-controlled and the three that are government-funded.
The consolidation option also would consider eliminating USAGM’s Open Technology Fund, a $40 million effort to advance internet freedom that critics say has been an ineffective boondoggle.
A second option is to eliminate USAGM and fold all broadcasting and internet operations into the State Department under the undersecretary for public diplomacy.
Current U.S. public diplomacy efforts have been criticized for failing to compete effectively with adversaries’ information operations of China, Russia and Iran.
The third plan being considered is to privatize all federal broadcasting, something critics of that plan say would be tantamount to creating another liberal-oriented National Public Radio.
In November, Rep. Michael McCaul, Texas Republican and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, harshly criticized the leadership of USAGM, asserting the agency covered up a scandal involving a Voice of America executive who lied about her education credentials and abused her authority.
Mr. McCaul called for the agency leaders to be held accountable for what he said was corruption.
The committee stated in a report that USAGM failed to investigate the case of the VOA executive.
“The committee’s work to expose this sort of corruption at USAGM does not end with this report,” the panel said, noting it could punish the agency through budget restrictions.
“Congress created USAGM, and it controls its budget,” the report said. “Even if the Agency decides that its insiders’ interests are paramount, we will continue to represent those of the American people.”
Mr. Bozell, the USAGM nominee, is regarded as one of the most outspoken national conservative leaders.
In 2010, he founded ForAmerica, an organization working to restore America to its founding principles.
He also founded the Parents Television Council, an organization working toward “restoring decency to Hollywood,” according to his online biography.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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