US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo on Monday urged the Voice of America (VOA) to stop
"denigrating"
the United States and promoting
"American exceptionalism"
, brushing
aside
criticism that the outgoing administration has attempted to transform public radio into a propaganda tool.
The Secretary of State delivered a speech at the headquarters of International Radio, founded in 1942 to combat the propaganda of the Nazi regime, but was not welcome to all its employees.
Read also: Trump ally reshuffles management of US public media
He admitted that a number of them did not want him to come and speak there.
"They do not want the Voice of America"
(translation of Voice of America, note)
retransmit the voice of American diplomacy "
, has he said about himself.
He criticized
"a dangerous censorship instinct"
and
"morally unjust"
, drawing a parallel with the suspension of incumbent President Donald Trump's accounts from Facebook or Twitter after his supporters stormed the Capitol.
"Everything is going in the same direction: authoritarianism disguised as moral uprightness"
, he insisted.
Despite this very marked political reference from a pillar of Trumpism, Mike Pompeo said he wanted to
“depoliticize”
international radio, which broadcasts in more than forty languages around the world.
"It is too important for the American people and for the world - this organization must return to its charter and its mission which is to propagate the message of freedom, democracy and American exceptionalism
,
"
said he hammered.
VOA has misguided its mission and
"too often denigrated America"
.
Read also: Pompeo: the United States is not "a banana republic"
Radio journalists were not allowed to ask questions when he came.
And his speech was criticized internally in a letter from
anonymous
"whistleblowers"
who denounced an attempt to disseminate
"political propaganda in the final days of the Trump administration
.
"
The Republican government is accused by its detractors of having wanted to take over Voice of America by appointing leaders supposed to promote its political choices, on the grounds that the programs are paid for with taxpayer money.
Michael Pack, the CEO appointed by Donald Trump, tried in October to reverse the rule that prevents him from intervening in editorial content.
But employees and elected officials retaliated by claiming he was not allowed to.
Democratic President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to fire Michael Pack.