Kari Lake, whom President Trump put in charge of overhauling Voice of America, said the broadcaster would be fed with content from One America News Network.
Voice of America, a U.S.-funded international news broadcaster that was muted by the Trump administration in March, may sound quite different when it returns to the air.
Kari Lake, the former news anchor whom President Trump put in charge of overhauling Voice of America, said Tuesday that it would be fed with content from One America News Network, or OAN, a reliably pro-Trump television channel that has propagated falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election.
Ms. Lake, who in recent years mounted unsuccessful campaigns for governor and senator in Arizona, said OAN had offered to provide free news reports to Voice of America and another American-supported outlet, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. In a statement on social media, she called the arrangement “an enormous benefit to the American taxpayer.”
“I don’t have editorial control over the content of VOA and OCB programming, but I can ensure our outlets have reliable and credible options as they work to craft their reporting and news programs,” said Ms. Lake, using acronyms for Voice of America and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
Patsy Widakuswara, a former Voice of America White House bureau chief who was placed on leave, said she was concerned by the development.
“We’ve worked so hard to build trust for our brand,” she said. “This is 83 years of good journalism that’s going to be destroyed.”