8. Media Agencies (USAGM, CPB) · Minor
Refocus USAGM's mission on presenting the truth about America
Printed page 235 8. Media Agencies (USAGM, CPB)
“To fulfill its mission, USAGM should also aim to present the truth about America and American policy—not parrot America’s adversaries’ propaganda and talking points.”
What has happened
- Partially done
A CEO Policy Memo from the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, effective 2025-12-23, makes the November 2025 National Security Strategy the framework for USAGM programming: the Strategy's identification of U.S. policy priorities "must be the focus of the Agency's broadcast networks" and should "guide our interview subjects, story selection, and coverage going forward"; "we will continue to present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively"; and "we are no longer in the business of habitually 'countering' the narratives of competing powers". The memo grounds itself in 22 U.S.C. 6202(a)(1) and (b)(3). A mechanism in place, so `partial`; the agency's statutory mission statement and the published VOA Charter language are unchanged.
- Attempted
USAGM's own announcement of its compliance with Executive Order 14238 frames the reduction in the Quote's terms — it lists "$100s-of-millions being spent on fake news companies a product that often parrots the talking-points of America's adversaries" among its findings, and the Senior Adviser says she looks forward to "modernizing the core mission of telling America's story throughout the world". A statement of intent attached to a downsizing order; nothing yet changes what the networks broadcast.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- The USAGM mission page (usagm.gov/who-we-are/mission/) still carries the pre-window mission text and the 1976 VOA Charter, which is why this is partial and not done: the change is a programming directive, not a restatement of the mission.
- USAGM’s press output in the window is thin — the site’s own feed of posts published since 2025-01-20 lists nine, of which four are substantive: 2025-03-15, 2025-10-01 (shutdown notice), 2025-11-21 and 2026-01-02. That feed is the reliable way into the site; the HTML press-release index is a mixed listing going back to 2012.
- Action
- other
- Object
- USAGM mission statement
- ID
- 614