The directors of four federally funded agencies that produce news and information for international audiences have been fired by a new chief executive appointed by President Trump, in a purge that has raised concerns among Democrats about editorial meddling.
Combined with the resignation of the director and deputy director of Voice of America on Monday, the firings ordered by Michael Pack, the new head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, represents a clean sweep of top officials who manage government-funded but otherwise independent news broadcasting operations.
The speed and sweep of the firings — Pack began work only Monday after a bruising Senate confirmation battle — raised fears that Trump was trying to exert greater control over the output of such venerable organizations as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting and the Open Technology Fund, the agencies whose heads Pack removed via a brief letter late Wednesday.
