L. Brent Bozell III, once a critic of President Trump, now runs an organization that criticizes the media for perceived bias against Republicans, particularly Mr. Trump.
President Trump selected a conservative activist and media critic to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media, making a move likely to fuel concerns that his administration will try to politicize a group of federally funded outlets whose mission is to counter authoritarian propaganda with independent news.
His choice for chief executive of the agency, L. Brent Bozell III, is the founder and president of the Media Research Center, a watchdog group that churns out a steady stream of videos and articles highlighting alleged liberal bias — especially anti-Trump bias — on the part of network television hosts and mainstream media outlets.
The media agency oversees a number of government outlets, including Voice of America, about which Mr. Trump has been particularly critical. Mr. Bozell, if confirmed by the Senate, will manage an agency with a $900 million annual budget, 4,000 employees and more than 50 bureaus overseas. The agency’s networks reach 420 million people every week, broadcasting in 63 languages in over 100 countries.
During his first term, Mr. Trump repeatedly attacked coverage from U.S.A.G.M.’s outlets, calling it “disgusting toward our country” and the “voice of the Soviet Union.” His White House interfered with the editorial decisions of the agency’s broadcasters, and numerous employees at the agency accused his appointees of trying to turn it into a mouthpiece for his administration.
Mr. Trump’s decision to tap Kari Lake, a Trump loyalist and right-wing firebrand, as Voice of America’s director has already raised fears of politicization among journalists there.
Mr. Bozell, once an anti-Trump Republican, had written in a National Review essay in 2016 that “Trump might be the greatest charlatan of them all,” but by 2019 he had counted himself as a convert. His watchdog group has echoed Mr. Trump’s arguments that the media unfairly smears him and his allies (the group published an article on Election Day alleging that broadcast coverage of the race was “the most wildly imbalanced in history.”) Mr. Bozell also co-wrote a book called “Unmasked: Big Media’s War Against Trump.”