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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has issued the following statement following Sarah Rogers' nomination hearing to become the CEO of the US Agency for Global Media.
Clayton Weimers, Executive Director, RSF North America said: “Today in her testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the US Agency for Global Media, Sarah Rogers, confirmed our worst fears: that speech won’t be free* under her leadership and that broadcasters like Radio Free Europe and Voice of America will be expected to serve the president’s political agenda.
“That is entirely at odds with USAGM’s mission. Rogers also reiterated that she serves President Trump*, which underscores the inherent problem with the head of an independent news organization simultaneously serving in the State Department. It is clearer than ever that Rogers would turn these independent news outlets into little more than the kind of state propaganda they were designed to counter.”
* The referenced remarks in the nomination hearing recording at 1:15:10 and 1:11:30
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