Oh sorry, read the first paragraph on that page. You don't need to read anything else. Usually when someone shares a link I read the first few sentences if there's no further explanation.

[–] vinceman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Voice of America (VOA) is the largest U.S. international broadcaster, providing news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of more than 326 million people. VOA produces content for digital, television, and radio platforms. It is easily accessed via your mobile phone and on social media. It is also distributed by satellite, cable, FM and MW, and is carried on a network of more than 3,500 affiliate stations.

That's the first paragraph. What are you talking about?

[–] Hexadecimalkink@lemmy.ml -2 points 2 years ago

Whoops. My bad. Third paragraph.

[+] VoxAdActa@beehaw.org -7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Most literate tankie

[–] edward@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

lol you didn't even bother clicking the link did you?

VOA is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the government agency that oversees all non-military, U.S. international broadcasting. It is funded by the U.S. Congress.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

you didn’t even bother clicking the link did you?

I mean, ditto for not bothering to exposit your point earlier

But then:

The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) ... is an independent agency of the United States government that broadcasts news and information. It is considered an arm of U.S. diplomacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Agency_for_Global_Media

In the United States government, independent agencies are agencies that exist outside the federal executive departments (those headed by a Cabinet secretary) and the Executive Office of the President. In a narrower sense, the term refers only to those independent agencies that, while considered part of the executive branch, have regulatory or rulemaking authority and are insulated from presidential control, usually because the president's power to dismiss the agency head or a member is limited.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_agencies_of_the_United_States_government

And while it's true that Obama restructured the agency to operate under a single CEO appointed by him and Congress in 2008 rather than a bipartisan board, and was briefly caught serving some arguably innocuous political ads on Facebook to Americans violating the Smith-Mundt Act (brief pause to applaud the US for protecting its citizens), its reach and influence is largely limited to countries that have strict censorship laws.

I've yet to see something even remotely comparable to the egregious ethical violations that RT practices on the daily. Most of the times I've seen it mentioned online is by people using the big scary word propaganda to discredit whatever they publish. And when push comes to shove, all they have to show for it is "well, it's government-funded" and act all surprised when their headlines are milder than they had imagined, or cry out that their content is sending subliminal messages to advance Western Ideals for Democracy because they didn't like the wording. And to that I'd like to say, y'all have worse reporting coming from within the house from more than one outlet. This is a weird scapegoat to single out solely for its funding. Actually point out something it has done instead if we're gonna keep ourselves honest here.