Kari Lake has described how she intends to reshape Voice of America (VOA), committing to unbiased, editorially independent coverage while reiterating her loyalty to President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump tapped her earlier this month to lead the government broadcaster, which is aimed at overseas audiences.
Lake, who was a longtime Arizona television journalist before entering politics, also outlined potential future investigations, including ones focused on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). She indicated the outlet could build out coverage of Mexican cartels and Trump’s prospective mass deportation operation. In addition, she expressed an eagerness to consult with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, on possible cost savings in VOA.
The politician suggested that the outlet could reach more people and that its overall style could be altered. She characterized some government-funded broadcasting as less than engaging.
“I think President Trump chose me because he knows that I will make sure that we’re not putting out a fake news product,” she said.
In his announcement on Lake’s selection as VOA director, Trump said she would be appointed by his soon-to-be-announced choice for CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
The removal of the current VOA director, Michael Abramowitz, would have to be approved by the International Broadcasting Advisory Board, as would Lake as his replacement. The board is a seven-member panel: six members are appointed by the president and require Senate confirmation, and the final member is the secretary of state.
Abramowitz was a longtime reporter and editor with The Washington Post. He went on to positions at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and, more recently, the think tank Freedom House.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media, which supervises VOA, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and other American state media aimed at specific countries and regions of the world, is currently helmed by journalist Amanda Bennett, who led VOA during most of Trump’s presidency after being named during the final year of the Obama administration.
She stepped down in 2020 amid controversy over VOA’s COVID-19 coverage, which then-President Trump accused of incorporating Chinese state media messaging.
“We’ve got a huge communist threat with the CCP, so I want to make sure that we’re not putting out any pro-CCP propaganda,” she said.
Noting that VOA’s mission during the Cold War was to fight communism, Lake said she’d like to see an entire investigative unit specializing in the CCP and its transnational corruption.
VOA’s website states it has an audience of 354 million people per week across nearly 50 languages.
Lake said the reach could be much larger: “What if we aim for a billion?”
Lake spent several decades working at stations across the country, including over twenty years at KSAZ-TV, or Fox 10 Phoenix.
In her interview, she recalled some highlights from her journalism days. They included overseas coverage of men attempting to remove landmines from the ground in Cambodia. Lake also spoke to two presidents while they were in office: Barack Obama and, during his first term, Trump.
Lake became known for her criticism of COVID-19 coverage during the pandemic and hit similar themes to President-elect Trump while on the campaign trail.
In the interview, she shed more light on her views about journalism.
“When I ‘attack the media,’ as they say, it’s just the people who are the cowards in the media who never asked the questions that the public really needed them to ask,” she said.
Lake announced her departure from her anchor position in early 2021. In a video posted to Rumble, she voiced frustration with the direction in which her profession was trending. In doing so, she left a seven-figure contract.
Several months later, she announced she was running for governor of Arizona. She lost that 2022 race to Democrat Katie Hobbs, though she contested the outcome.
Lake went on to run for Senate this cycle. She was defeated by Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who won by 2.5 percent. President-elect Trump carried the same state by 5.5 percent in November.