Listeners to KPFA and other Pacifica stations have a wide range of opinions on issues within the progressive spectrum . But numerous listeners who may disagree on other issues have all expressed strong disapproval of a promotional pitch recording currently airing on KPFA, that defends and praises the so-called “Voice of Americaˮ (VOA) and compares it to KPFA as an “independent” media outlet under attack by Trump.

Listen (click on the link to play the clip) and judge for yourself:

     In fact, for over 75 years the VOA has been the propaganda arm of the US State Department, the Pentagon, and the CIA. From the Korean War, to backing dictatorships like Marcos in the Philippines, to the US-financed war on Gaza, the VOA has whitewashed or lied outright about US imperialist actions and interventions. It is part and parcel of “US Global Media”, along with Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio-TV Marti. They are designed to support regimes that uphold and align with the goals of the US empire. They try to foment dissent and subversion within countries like Cuba or Venezuela that want independence and do not align with or accept US domination and corporate exploitation. The roots of VOA and the others are in the Cold War that is still going on long after the end of the USSR.

     The pitch promo recording may be right in lining the VOA up with NPR & PBS. After all, many officials at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and at the public media they support, come out of the propaganda operations of US Global Media, like the VOA, RFE, Radio Liberty, and Radio/TV Marti.

But the VOA should not be defended on KPFA’s airwaves, and KPFA should not be aligning itself with, parroting, or whitewashing the VOA or other state propaganda.

     KPFA management has previously refused to comment editorially on air to defend journalists like Mumia Abu-Jamal, Frank Sterling or Julian Assange against state attacks. But it has decided to play a pitch promo defending the VOA as “independent journalism,” and comparing it to KPFA. This exposes how the current management of the station and Foundation, installed by the New Day majority in control of the Pacifica national board and KPFA’s local board, is corrupting, abandoning and debasing the Pacifica Mission and our commitment to the cause of peace and of freedom of speech, cultural expression and the press.

     Again, this recording has been played over and over. It’s not a sentiment by some misguided guest or an opinion of an individual host, but presented as an editorial statement and self-promotion by KPFA, voiced by a former station manager and approved by current management.

The VOA is the exact opposite of what Pacifica stands for!  Pacifica Fightback calls on KPFA to take this recording off the air. That is not a violation of freedom of speech, but a defense of the principles of true freedom of the press that KPFA and Pacifica should defend and uphold.