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hello everybody welcome to our sessionmy name is Vivian Schiller and I’m theexecutive director of Aspen digital aprogram of the Aspen Institute since thedrafting of the Bill of Rights the UShas championed a free and independentpress as a cornerstone of democracy andsince World War two the US federalgovernment has directly funded overseasradio and then digital outlets for thepurpose of distributing fact-based newsand American values to those around theworld who may not have access to suchinformation first out of the gate in1942 was Voice of America but since thenother outlets have been added the MiddleEast Middle East broadcasting Radio FreeAsia Radio Free europe/radio Libertyradio marty and cuba their model hasbeen all the same straight factualreporting editorially independent fromthe american government and it’s been acritical tool of democracy beingtruthful evidence-based information intwo corners of the world kept in thedark by their own governments morerecently the open Technology fund becamepart of the portfolio with a mission tosupport global Internet freedom throughopen technologies that circumventcensorship and enable free expressionall of these entities have beenadministrated by our administrated by agroup called the US agency for globalmedia and while it’s gone by differentnames and it’s had differentorganizational structures throughout theyears presidents of both parties haveunderstood and respected that theseoutlets reputation depends on theirindependence yet in recent weeks thatindependence has come into serious doubton July 4thMichael Michael pack documentaryfilmmaker was confirmed and a trumpappointee was confirmed as the new headof USA GM less than two weeks later inwhat some are now calling the Wednesdaynight massacre he fired the head ofVoice of America the head of the MiddleEast Middle East broadcasting the headof Radio Free Asiathe head of Radio Free europe/radioLiberty and the head of the openTechnology Fund he also fired the entireboard that oversees them and while theseoutlets only operate overseas I thinkthat we can agree that how we talk aboutdemocracy to the world must beinseparable from how we talk conductedat home this is a critical moment at adifficult time for journalism array inthe US and around the world and that’swhat we’re here to talk about we havefour fantastic employees all of whomwere employed or part of us a GM mereweeks ago they are Steve kappes who wasuntil June 17 the senior advisor to theCEO of the u.s. AGM his role was toprovide expert advice and guidance onall matters involving the agency’smission operation strategic plan andpriority Steve is uniquely suited forthe role with more than 30 years ofexperience in in journalism including aneight-year tête tenure as the presidentof NBC News where I was honored to callhim my boss he’s also been the executiveproducer of CBS Evening News with ScottPelley and just has an incredible resumeRyan Crocker until June 17th was a boardmember of the US agency for global mediahe is also diplomat in residence atPrinceton he has an extraordinary careerin Foreign Service including sixdifferent stints as ambassador he wasambassador to Afghanistan Iraq PakistanSyria Kuwait and Lebanon not exactlyluxury posts Libby Lew until June 17thwas the CEO of the open Technology fundthe US that’s part of again the USagency for global media tree there sheprovided strategic and operationaldirection to meet OTS mission ofadvancing Internet freedom around theworldshe is also importantly the priorpresident of Radio Free Asia and lastlyBen Scott who is a member of the openTechnology Fund Board of Directorsalthough that is a titledispute we will get that in a minute Benis also the executive director at resetan initiative run by luminate inpartnership with the Sandler foundationfocusing on decaling digital threats todemocracy as we bring all of ourspeakers on camera I want to just remindyou that how this is going to work forthe first half of the session I willengage in a conversation with all of ourpanelists and and then a little bitlater we’re gonna be taking yourquestions so if you look on your screenat the bottom you see that Q&A button atany time starting now feel free to clickon that button enter your question don’tput it in the chat please put it in theQA and if you are comfortable doing soit’s really helpful if you can includeyour name and your affiliation I shouldwarn you that we’re not gonna be able toget to all the questions we never do wehave such wonderful audiences that arefull of curiosity but we will do ourbest and my colleagues are helping tocurate those questions so again enterthose at any time ok so welcomeeverybody where we’re missing abasa durrCrocker though who we were gonna startwith so not sorry we’re working on it okwell not exactly the shore where he wentbut he will he will be with us shortlyso I really want to start by justtalking about just level set before weget into the events that of today justtalk a little bit about how theseplatforms work how they operate howthey’re funded how they’re structuredwhen we get a Ambassador Crocker backonline we will ask them a little bitabout the origins but Steve I’m gonnabegin with you so you are thejournalists on this panel and of coursejournalism is at the center of the workof these platforms tell us a little bitabout your role and tell us a little bitof the what you’ve experienced as you’vebeen part of the organization in termsof the kind of journalistic a coveragethat you’ve seen how does it differ fromcommercial operations for example wellVivian thanks for having me in the otherpanelists today I look forward to thediscussion I think it’s an incrediblyimportant time for us AGM the UnitedStates Agency for global media is theparent organization if you will thegovernment agency that funds theseindependently operated networks thenetworks are vitally importantinstitutions with a long proud historyand tradition and I was drawn to thisagency about a year and a half agobecause after some 30 years in thecommercial journalism business I wantedto go into the public sector the publicmedia sector and that’s what drew meimmediately into this organization withas I say such a proud tradition when youthink about what Radio Free Europe didduring the Cold War when you think aboutthe voice of America and everything thatit represents when you think about RadioFree Asia breaking the news of the Wegernot a couple of years back they were thefirst to report the situation there withthe Weger Muslim population and and theexamples are endless but this is vitallyimportant work that is done in the nameof the United States funded by theUnited States however operatingindependently these are not statecontrolled entities with state fundedentities big difference it’s certainlyus think thank you Steve and ambassadorRyan I’m gonna call you a basa Dirk RockI’m gonna call you Ryan if you don’tmind glad we could have you back you’vebeen part of the USA GM it was thencalled BBG when you started broadcastBoard of Governors since 2013 can youtalk to us a little bit about how itoperates how is that independencemanifested how is the dista structure ofthe organization protect theindependence of the of the individualentities well thanks for having meVivian particularly at such an importanttime listening to Steve kappes just nowit calls to mind the very first do abroadcast that was February 1942we’d only been in the war a few monthsafter Pearl Harbor the days were kind ofdark and and here’s this wonderful quotefrom that first broadcast by WilliamWilliam Harlan Hale we we bring you newswe bring you voices from America todayand daily from now on we shall speak toyou about America and the war the newsmay be good for us the news may be badbut we shall tell you the truth and thatthat is as true today as it was in thosedark days of World War two it hasevolved a lot as you have noted as asSteve said we have had different namesin different forms over the years andthe organization is constantly evolvingfor the better and I think oneparticular example of that would be whatthe last if you will u.s. a GM board didwhich was to create a CEO position toimprove the efficiencies but mainly toget the best people in all the rightplaces and that as I look back I thinkwas our signal achievement we look atwho he had running VOA Amanda Bennetttwo-time Pulitzer Prize winner webrought in my former colleague andcurrent friend Alberto Fernandez to runour Middle East Broadcasting NetworkAlberto speaks flawless Arabic and wasable to penetrate into markets where weneeded to be and just hadn’t been beforehe is the only person I know in theForeign Service who could actually go onlg0debate our adversaries and prevail wegot a twofer with Libya loopLibby from whom you’ll be hearing laterjust revolutionized Radio Free Asia inthe process saw how important technologywas so we shifted her over to run thethe OTF while bringing up a thang hersuperb deputy thar if they to run thewhole show so on it goes Radio FreeEuropeJamie fly someone who speaks Russianknows the region knows the stakes soeven more than process I think thepeople that we brought in wereabsolutely critical to where us ATM waswhen we all left it early last month sothat’s it’s an 800 million-dollaroperation the taxpayers do not get theirmoney’s worth if we asked in the bestand we had the very best in the entityheads that that we helped select in apointthank you Ron we’re gonna come back in aminute so what is happening today LibyaI want to turn to you to talk a littlebit about the open Technology fundspecifically you started it while youwere also running Radio Free Asia andyou turned it into what appears to be anincredible weapon to combatmisinformationyou’d think particularly coming out ofChina that strikes me as an incrediblyvaluable set rules today so I read I’veread that you that nearly two-thirds ofmobile devices around the world use somepiece of open technology fund supportedtechnology so talk to us a little bitmore about OPF okay thank you so muchVivian and thank you Ryan um what can Isay a little bit about the structure sounder the BBG in the u.s. AGM there areboth federal and non-federal or privatecorporations that do this media in 1996when the Congress created Radio FreeAsia and the BBG there was a verythorough and lengthy debate over how theRadio Free Europe version for Asia wasgoing to be set up and in the conferencelanguage it’s really important to notethat the reason these are grantee thegrantees are private corporations is toprovide the US government with an arm’slength relationship because inherentlyin the work of the surrogates theprivate corporations is to provide newsand information that those nation-statesare censoring and keeping away frompeople so Radio Free Asia is work isdangerous by Nature we all know thatinformation is power and that’s whytyrants love to control the media inRFA’s markets news and information arecensored and manipulated to the pointwhere citizens don’t haveself-determination anymore so toinvestigate corroborate research newsand information that’s been purposefullyblacked out many many many lives are atrisk the extraordinary people in RFArisked their lives the lives of theirfamilies all in the pursuit of truth toshare with those who need it for thecommunities and the families in theirhomethat they’re never gonna see again sothe regimes invest mightily in tacticsto silence the truth and deter people soin many ways our people are targetedharassed detained jailed tortured anddisappeared including 60 family membersof our Weber journalists you can imaginehow intolerable a situation is when anorganization dedicated to telling thetruth is made up of individuals who arepersecuted for doing that so we thoughtthere had to be a better way and wecreated OTF with the Congress’s help in2012 and this was to try to bring theinternet back to its original visionright and the internet was envisioned toharken a world of enlightenment anddemocratizing ideas and we wanted thisworld to be where people could beconnected and engaged without thethreats they face offline but theenemies of the Internet including theCCPD Russia Iran quickly showed us thatthe internet could be weaponized andused against freedom so mad OTF wesupport and created and nurtured acommunity of people committed to thisvision of making the internet what itcan be rather than leaving it to beperverted by the power-hungry so OTF isa corporation of true believers in thepower of the Internet to realize itsearliest aspirations the Internet hasthe potential to restore basic humanrights that have been done to peopleoffline so I believe that if weneutralize the bad actors and empowerInternet freedom for all 3.8 billiononline citizens in harvest the good ofhumanity rather than have our worsthuman weaknesses exploited at theexpense of many for the profit fromtyrants so OTF is the backbone of aglobal ecosystem engaged insuringeveryone who’s online is connecting to afree and open Internet and as youreferenced before there are numerousachievements in OTF in the last eightyears the onethe key components of the rate of opentechnology funds that were radicallytransparent so everything we’ve everdone is on the website open tech gotfund every project we ever funded allthe money we gave those projects whatyears those projects did what theyaccomplished everything and more than 2billion people now use ODF supporttechnologies every day but that doesn’treally that aggregate number doesn’tcapture the power of the open technologyfund which was really to help people inclosed societies just a few examplesright we have we created a localizationlab which leverages the power of 7,000volunteer translators to make all thesetools available in 210 languages anddialects we have done Rapid Responseinterventions in more than 40 countrieswe have supported Internet accessprivacy security tools that areregularly recommended by the leadingdigital protection organizations and weare a field focused organization whichmeans that the OGF ecosystem spreads allover the world in all of these hotspotsas you probably know and last year wehad more than a hundred and close to 200shutdowns all over the world so peoplethe bad people the adversaries are usinginternet against their citizens and theopen technology fund is there to counterthat authoritarian approach thank youthank you Libby then Ben Scott I want toturn to you you in your work withilluminate of course you look atInternet freedom issues all over theworld so you have a very broad contextso can you talk to us a little bit aboutthe role of the open technology fundtheir tools that they have created anddistributed how does that interact withotherother other services around the world togive access to give people access toinformation and what’s at stake whatwhat is that what is it for in your viewwhat is they the most important role ofOTF I lost you for a bit of thatquestion but I’ll jump in as if I heardit all okaynot only does my current work reallyfocus on the free and open Internet butI’ve been doing this for a long time infact I was at the State Department whenHillary Clinton was secretary and theoriginal Internet freedom agenda and gotlost you yeah we can hear you you’regood Ben oh dearwe’ve been having our share of technicalissues today but that’s okay we aregoing to I want to turn now and and I’llcome back to Ben when we get him backonline I want to turn now to the currentsituation I think what you’ve all donevery nicely is set up the role a littlebit of the history a little bit of thestructure of the u.s. AGM and of the ofthe of the various outlets so I now wantto unpack a little bit unpack the excusethe expression that actually was not apun that was intended about whathappened when Michael pack was confirmedso just we just want to set the factshere hey Ben we’ll come back to you in aminute we’re gonna come back to you in afew minutes we lost you let’s just talkabout exactly what happened so Michaelpack was confirmed at the beginning ofJune correct and then Ryan I’m gonna letyou if you don’t mind maybe you can pickit up from here what happened after theconfirmation and how and to where we aretoday and the and the firings of theheads and the board of the u.s. AGMthey’re all some of these things we wedo understand some we don’t thelegislation that established the CEOposition also stipulated thatwhen the First Presidency nominatedsenate-confirmed Co CC CEO took officethat the the board on which I sat theu.s. AGM board would disappear that’s inthe legislation we knew that what wedidn’t know is what Michael Pak wouldwant to do visa vie the various entitiesso we stayed on really as mirror boardsreally to just to give him theopportunity to take over and not notreally not removing the people that weworked so hard to recruit for the thevarious entity and agency heads so hisdecision to abruptly fire all of themand to fire all of us for me at leastcame as a total surprise he had notcommunicated that or anything else inany way but with one stroke of the penhe removed those who are absolutely thebest and the brightest in their fieldsthat’s that is not the sort of thingyou’re going to replace overnight youare not going to find that quality againand I think it raises some verylegitimate concerns over where he isgoing to try to take this this agencyand its components again the mission hasbeen clear from 1942 all the way upuntil last month but I am deeplyconcerned that through these abrupttermination as his intent and the intentof the administration behind him is toeffectively turn us AGM into preciselythose state-controlled media agenciesthat we are locked in battle it our jobis to tell the truth their job is toproduce propaganda and it would be atragedy toto see us effectively become like thoseagencies and those those governmentsthat have tried the truth outyou have been Ryan ambassador to fivecountries all of them hotspots all ofthem places where access to informationis fraught to say the leastI would think did you have conversationswith Michael Pak or or any of hisassociates asking you for your for yourguidance your thoughts about how thathow the agency or how that the propertyshould evolve I would think he wouldhave sought you out for that well weconveyed early on that we were readywilling and able to talk to mr. Pak atany point his nomination as you know wasup there for quite a while before he hadthe hearing in the vote but ourconsistent signal was you know we wereready to engage we’re ready to have thatconversation and to my knowledge he didnot pick up that invitation from fromany of us there just was zero contactfrom mr. Pak back into the the agencyBen hopefully we’ve got your audioworking now you are you are not a boardmember of the u.s. AGM you’re got yourof the governing board for the opentechnology fund so I guess that’s aslightly different structure and I thinkdepending how you talk to your your youare considered either no longer in thatrole or you are in that role can youjust let us know what the status of theopen Technology Fund is right now mypoint of view is that the actions takenby the u.s. AGM were not lawful andtherefore the open technology board openTechnology Fund board still sits andthat the dismissals that took placeearlier this month are no employed thatquestions are currently sits before thecourtwe have put forward a lawsuit as you mayknow for a temporary preliminaryinjunction to halt that action and nosuch time as we can resolve thisquestion of authorities and as to thegovernance of the open Technology Fundin my view the independent governance ofthe open Technology fund like the otherentities under under review here iscritical it’s it’s not just that theseentities were set up to tell the truthand to defend human rights and tosupport political dissidents it’s thattheir ability to do sosits on the knife edge of trust andcredibility of some of the mostvulnerable and most persecuted people onthe planet and those are people who risktheir lives every time they turn on theradio or they tune into a broadcast ofone of these outlets every time theypick up their mobile device and they useit an application produced and funded bythe open technology fund they’re takinga risk and they take that risk based ontheir trust in the organizations thatdeliver it and the people they know whoare behind it so there’s a big questionabout perception and trustingcredibility and that sits right on thisgovernance issue which has long been atthe center of the debate about how USAGM and before at the BBG oversaw theindependent entities and you know I’vebeen in the internet freedom businessfor a long time I was at the StateDepartment working on Internet freedomfor Secretary Clinton when the openTechnology Fund was first founded whenthe whole idea of a bipartisan supportand a congressional appropriation forInternet freedom first came about it wasan extraordinary moment in time I justsupport was bipartisan from the verybeginning bipartisan if anything I wouldsay that the most vociferous advocatesfor the Internet freedom appropriationswere on the Republican side and it wasan interesting moment you’ll recall 2011a Arab Spring the moment when thesekinds of tools first became majorinfluential factors on the internationalstage in the international relations andforeign policy Secretary Clinton madeissued and then but what I want toremind everybody watching is whathappened the year after the openTechnology Fund was founded which is EdSnowden the Snowden disclosures were ashock to the system all around the worldof whether the United States governmentcould be trusted with securecommunications whether anything comingfrom Uncle Sam could possibly be takenwithout a grain of salt and the factthat the Oakland Technology Fund has notonly managed to sustain its community oftrust and credibility all around theworld the fact that the open technologyfunds tools are now used by 2 billionpeople around the planet despite theblow to American credibility that camefrom the Snowden revelations when itcame to secure communications is nothingshort of astonishing and what I want toconvey today is how critical it is thatwe not damage that trust and credibilitybecause it is so fragile and what itsupports is so important that any kindof action that destabilizes that trustand credibility that we have worked sohard to establish can be can tear it alldown in a matter of months and it willnot be easily rebuilt who who is runningthe open technology fund right now Libbyyou are you are not correct and Ben thatthe question about the board is indispute so who who’s in charge at thismoment of the open Technology Fund soyes you are right I was fired on the17th and as the CEO Laura Cunningham wasthe president was fired on the 18th Ialso want to make sure that we clarifythat on the 17th I received an emailfrom Michael pack that informed me thathe was removing the OTF bipartisanexpert Board of Directors and replacingit with a group of I assume people thathe knows with himself as the Chairmanwhich in and of itself justjoy’s the bipartisan nature that hasbeen so critical to the credibility ofall of these organizations for all theseyearsis that part of the lawsuit yes it ispart of the lawsuit and then and Ryancan speak to that more about the lawsuitbut I think it’s really important tonote that these issues are uniquelybipartisan and the open technology fundAuthorization Act was introduced in theHouse and the Senate both by partisanand bicameral with the originatingwriters being Senator Blackburn andranking member McCall so we have a longhistory of bridging the gap between theparties because this is so important andfundamental to u.s. national interestsin foreign policy frankly peacegeopolitical peace so but again who’swho’s actually has their hand on thetiller right now that crutch in who wasthe vice president in charge of all ofthe programming at OTF has been namedthe acting I say president acting CEOhe’s holding three hats now I say sothere’s not somebody right now the bigsdedicated running open Technology Fund Iwant to know he is he’s completelydedicated no I mean I mean he’s got he’sgot other other duties as well Steve Iwant it before I have a question for youbut before I do I just want to remindeverybody in a little while we’re gonnago to your questions please we want towe want to hear from you just click onthe Q&A button type in your question wewould really appreciate it if you couldinclude your name and your affiliationif you’re comfortable doing so we’regonna get to them soon so please keepthem coming Steve I want to talk aboutpart of your role was to protect the asto ensure journalists journalisticstandards and to protect the editorialintegrity of of the products who isdoing that now as far as you are awareyou were also you were also fired onthis 17th right do you have any CongressMichael Pak about your role never hadany communication with mr. Pak at all Iwas informed the day after the massacrethat I hope that mr. Pak that it wasnothing personal but that he wanted tomove in a different direction with myrole as senior advisor my concern isthat you listed my my experience at thebeginning of all of this I was drawn tothe agency because I believed injournalism I believe in public serviceand this was the perfect intersection ofboth but you know when you take anAmanda Bennett and force her out of therole with her experience at Voice ofAmericayou take the director of editorialstandards at Voice of America a veryhighly regarded individual and move himout of that job you you freeze thehiring of a standards editor for radioand TV Marti this was was to have beenthe centerpiece around a hugejournalistic reform effort that we hadlaunched during the time I was therethat that positions been frozen alongwith everything else so my question isreally or the concern is what is thedirection that USA GM is going to go inand one yeah we got one of the answersjust a couple of days ago when mr. Pakannounced that Voice of America wasbeing directed to run editorials pointof view editorials on the front page ofthe VOA news website this can youimagine Vivienne if Mark Thompson as theCEO of the New York Times Company daredto walk into the newsroom and say thisis what you should put on the front pagethe home page of the New York Times itwould not go over well and that’s theprivate sector this is the public sectorit’s a violation of the firewall statutethere is supposed to be a separationbetween the government political playersand the journalists who havejust talked about the reputation of thethese entities and the United States atrisk because of this assault you knowwhen you start saying these areeditorials that you must run on yournews page and and that’s being directedby the front office of u.s. AGM that’s abig concern right off right out of thegate I just want to make sure that Icompletely understand this so he wasfirst of all he was directing a moreprominent placement for those editorialsand was he directing what specificeditorials should be placed where theywere was he directing that it beeditorials that reflect a certain pointof view well the the there have beeneditorials that have existed for a longtime there’s nothing wrong with aneditorial however that there has alwaysbeen in a separate area not on the homepage of the news websitedo you have an editorial and and Michaelpack in his email to the staff said thatall of the language services of Voice ofAmerica were hereby directed to run theeditorials on their home pages and sonot only you saying to Voice of Americado this what you’re talking the u.s. AGMpresides over a vast network of services61 languages the this programming isbeing transmitted in any number ofdifferent ways but there is there is thefirewall that is supposed to separateand keep independent the journalisticoperations from the front office andfrom the political viewpoints and youknow so there’s that example let’s takethe example of what happened with Voiceof America back two months ago when theWhite House launched an all-out attackon an Associated Press wire story thatit labeled as Chinese propaganda andthen they went on to make the caseagainst VOA by using a doctored imagefrom their website they raised theystripped off sourcing informationto make the case against VOA I supposebecause they were trying to push to getmr. pack nominated and approved by theSenate but you know there’s big concernnot just from the people who’ve losttheir jobs but on Capitol Hill in theState Department even in the White Housethere’s real concern when you see thatcut the caliber of the people who werejust dismissed with an email not even aphone call to but former US ambassadorAlberto Fernandez didn’t even get aphone call or anything just gone and bythe way he was a a significantly highlyregarded player in the conservativecommunity doing a brilliant job runningMiddle East broadcasting as with Jaimefly at Radio Free Europe and it shouldbe noted that some of those the heads ofsome of those organizations were knownconservative so it wasn’t reallyunderstand it whether somebody is moreassociated with the Democrats or theRepublicans it was I was not a politicalplayer from us you know I came inbecause I wanted to make a differencewith the journalism and I’m proud of thework that we did I’m proud of the groupof people who are on the screen here nowwho who I loved working with when youget a chance to work side by side withan ambassador Ryan Crocker and everybodyelse that helped lead this organizationit’s it’s a it’s a highlight of a careeryeah I want it I’m going to start toleave in questions from the audience nowso the first one I’m going to bring upand reminder please just put yourquestions in the Q&A tour coming inthat’s great question from PatrickButler I actually know – Patrick Butlerso I’m not sure this might be the onefrom ICFJ his question which I’m gonnadirect to you Ryan is if Joe Biden iselected in November well this just be aharmless blip in a GM’s history or we’relasting damage still have been done thatthat’s obviously it’s I think thestatement but yeah I’ll let you answerit the way you see fit yeahwell thanks I it were just four monthsaway of course from the election damageas he pointed out has already been donebut I think that damage is reversible atthis stage and I think shining somelight on the issues as you were doingthrough the conversation we’re havingtoday will be very helpful in thatregardas the presumptive nominee I understandthat mr. Biden has already set out therethat if he is elected mr. pack will nolonger be CEO so I think again that thisis reversible but the damage is real youas I tried to indicate earlier you donot get that fabulous team that we puttogether painstakingly over the yearsyou do not automatically get a Stevekappesfor example to to come on board no oneno reasonable person could doubt hisobjectivity he he demonstrated it everyday through his own career as ajournalist and to have created anenvironment in which he would be verycomfortable working in I think speaksvolumes about the good that was done thebad is being done again I think it’sreversible but it’s going to take timeand a highly focused effort if if mr.Biden is not the next president UnitedStates I think we can say goodbye to thewhole notion of an objective andunbiased international media we’re wehave a number of questions from anindividual whose it was objecting tosome of the things this panel is sayingand I feel that that should berepresented it is from a Daniel Robinsonwho is described himself as a formerforeign domestic and chief White Housecorrespondent language service chieffrom 1979 to 2014 I assume that’sfor the broadcast Board of Governors andCity he doesn’t say I’ll just paraphrasebecause there’s a couple of very longstatements but he he’s he wanted toexpress that major media reporting onchanges under Michael Pak have all beennegative accusing him of beingunqualified and a threat to VOA andother agencies agency entityjournalistic integrity yet again I’mparaphrasing yetwhat have we you have yet to see theactions that have proven to be toodamaged or reduce the VOA agencies mediacredibility in fact he points toevidence to the contrary that the mr.Pak choy for acting VOA director mr.Beeber J and apologies if I’vepronounced that wrong has so far beenwarmly received by many current andformer vo vo a employees how do yourespond to to this to these statementsthat in fact I will to if I will toparaphrase I think his his severalquestions is that you are you you areexpressing concern about things thathave have yet to happen and for whichthere is no evidence that they willhappen then do you have do you want toadd something to the act from the pointof view of the Technology Fund I thinkI’ll say one once go to broad responseand then I’ll tell you what I thinkabout it from the open token TechnologyFund respected you know like like likesome of you perhaps and perhaps otherswho were watching who saw the recentNetflix documentary about the 1990sChicago Bulls it’s a little bit likecoming in and saying well we firedMichael Jordan but don’t worry the Bullsare still going to be a great team andSteve Kerr is now the captain and he’sbeen on the squad for a while andeverybody sort of like Steve but TBD onwhat the future direction of the team isgonna be but we’re gonna have a new nameand we’re not gonna play in the sameleague anymore so I don’t think thatthat is evidence in any way that all theprevious statements about the intentionsofthis group of leaders towards the betowards the USA GM have changed I willsay from an open technology funperspective it’s a completely differentgame that open technology fund could becompletely destroyed by the next fourmonths you know it’s not this yes is badenough the damage that has been done tothe trust and credibility of a veryfragile system and in terms of providingsecure communications technologiescircumvention tools to the world’s mostvulnerable communities but if the grantagreements are not honored if the moniesare not flowing through to the opentechnology fund if the tools come offthe market if they are not supportedwhat that means is that the opentechnology fund as it is existed for thelast seven years will be wiped from themap it will not be rebuiltin six months it will not be rebuilt intwo years it will take a long time toreestablish both the institution and thetrusted it has the lead the removal ofthe people with the institutionalknowledge and the internationalcredibility to run this organization isit can hardly be overstated so I thinkthat the only thing that restores thisto some semblance of normalcy is toestablish leadership clear statementthat there’s going to be leadership ofthese organizations that I can maintainthe direction and the credibility thatthey’ve had before that there’s going tobe a bipartisan leadership group incharge of each of these entities to makesure that they maintain the same levelof journalistic independence the samelevel of institutional integrity if theyhave had up to now this is not about anyof us as board members I think Ryanwould join me in this this is not aboutus as board members what we’re lookingto see is that these organizations arestewarded properly according to theirlong traditions and histories and thatthe services that they provide tovulnerable communities around the worldcontinue to be at the top level ofquality that represents the USgovernment and the American values thatwe want to see in the world and I mean Ithink that’s a baseline requirement forany kind ofof a story where this comes out okay inthe endyep got it Steve um I want to just addsomething to in answer to the questionas well look at what’s happening aroundthe world right nowHong Kong is on the brink u.s. AGMspending is frozen was frozen by mr.pack you know at a time this is acritical time in world history andspending is frozen in Hong Kong MiddleEast broadcasting is off the air in Iraqso there are things that are actuallyhappening right now Middle Eastbroadcasting is off the air and and allspending is frozen you’re saying I’m notsure exactly when they plug was pulledbut it was right about at the same timeand the friend the Hong Kong and otherexamples of you know the spending freezeare real time that’s happening as wespeak and the other question I wouldhave is what is the purpose of removingthe head of editorial standards from thevoice of America what possible reason isthere to remove somebody with the kindof experience that a Steve Springer hadand yes and he’s he’s out of that roleand like I said we we had set in motionthe hiring of a highly regardedjournalist to hit editorial standards atthe Office of Cuba broadcasting andMarty look look at the look at the messthat we inherited at Marty there wereall kinds of problems there and this hasbeen for the last year plus a majorsource of a major project where we weretrying to rebuild that entity to rebuildradio TV Marty in the aftermath ofpublishing anti-semitic garbage directedat George Soros and in broadcastingmanufactured news events staged newsevents and we took action againstemployeesall of that is in is potentially goingto be reversed so I think there is realdebt real damage happening as we speakthis is not just looking at the forecastand seeing rain cloudsthe storms already here I have aquestion next question is from Jason andforgive me I’m gonna mangle his lastnamepeel Myer I believe with the globalnetwork initiative his question ischanges at OTF seem like they may alsobe motivated by long-standing lobbyingby certain advocates pushing particularanti censorship tools what steps canCongress take to ensure that OTFcontinues to support a diverse suite ofvalidated evidence based projects LibyaI’m going to direct that one to youThank You Vivian so I I mentioned theOTF authorization acts that have beenintroduced both in the House and theSenate both acts have codified the OTFapproach methodology and so if thosebills become laws than the ability foranyone even all-powerful CEO Michael Pakto direct funding at the open TechnologyFund will not be allowable in fact thereare many pieces of legislative languagethat are in our current appropriationsbills governing how Internet freedomfunds can be provided and what kind ofrequirements and due diligence andsecurity code audits and all of thosethings that we you know put togetherwhen we birth this program and has toBen’s point given us a lot ofcredibility and Trust with communitiesthat are not you know because of theirpersecution they’re not easy to earn thetrust of this next question I’m going todirect to you Brian this is from AparnaAparna Mukherjee who I used to work withthese entity she asked these entitiesnotably VOA and radioyou free where Europe had such aninfluence on the perception of Americafor generations do you have a sense ofhow important u.s. AGM properties are onthe youngest digital generationsworldview we have tried to make theshifts that keep us relevant todeveloping technologies and the peoplewho use them as you know the youngergeneration and that Libby everyone hascontributed to that effort it says it’sa subject of conversation and everyboard meeting we had I think over theyears you know we we have good contenthave we got the means to deliver it andthis gets at both again it changes insocietal views from between generationsbut also what our adversaries are doingto keep us out and that OTF under Libbywas geared precisely to that the sensewe have and we try to check these thingsis it yes we are getting through wecertainly during board meetings andoutside of our beings we’re constantlyasking those questions you know are weare we sure we’re doing this and youlook at tough media markets like Cubaand China the extent they they go toblacas tells us that it’s a message theydo not want their people to hear it is acompliment if you will even even ifbackhanded and that is why we’ve got tostay on top of the advancingtechnologies both for those who wouldtry to keep our broadcasts out but alsoto be relevant to a new generation yeslet me I want I want to also augmentwhat Ryan said because it’s reallyimportant to realize that even in amarket like China which has all theresources in the world andunbelievably sophisticated censorshipand surveillance technologies and PLA anRFA made huge penetrations in 2017 RFA’sweekly branded audience was estimated at14 a million but the RFA unbrandedbecause you know to survive in theInternet in China you have to take theRFA name off it accounts for 44 millionweekly users so it does work and thesepeople they know what they’re risking toget this information the least we can dois provide them information that’s worththe risk they’re taking thank you I’vegot to take on moderators prerogativeand ask ask my own question and thencome back to you two other questions bythe way before I do I want to note thatDaniel Robinson who provided thatchallenge earlier has been in the in thequestion section which the audiencecan’t see has been refuting some of thethings that you saying rather than doinga back and forth I’m going to invite mr.Robinson after the fact to please if youwant to write something and share thatwith us we’ll take a look at it andprovide a forum for you know fact checkverified opinion pieces about aboutwhat’s happening so I just want tomention that we’re not trying to shutdown dissent it’s just the nature ofthis format so anyway I’m directing thisat Daniel Robinson that is an openinvitation Mike my question is you knowcertainly look like any organisation theu.s. AGM properties have not beenwithout their challenges without theirproblems without their controversiesover the years you know we’ve seen thatwe don’t need to do a whole litany ithappens at every organization givengiven the challenges that theorganization you know has faced overover you know over decades like anyother organization and given the factthat we now live in a world that is verydifferent than 1942 when informationis so ubiquitous in much of the world’snot all of the world is there puttingaside the need for the technology bypath is there need for an Americangovernment-funded entity when there arethe bbc’s of the world the cnn’s of theworld and everything else Ryan I lovethat direct that to you first it’s agreat question and it’s a question thatI asked actually when I first came onthe board back in August of 2013 I hadbeen ambassador to Iraq and I had beenambassador to Afghanistan and for all ofthe challenges both countries face onething they do have going was a a freemedia they really just about every pointof view could be broadcast by somebodyso I put that question on the table partof the answer came from AlbertoFernandez our former CEO of middle-eastBroadcasting Network not in what he saidbut what he did he launched ourauthorized a very hard-hitting set ofbroadcasts on corruption in Iraq wellthat’s something that no Iraqi mediaoutlet would would really touch becausethe consequences could be very veryserious physical harm whatever might beso Alberto whose focus on thatgetting that message into Iraq and toIraqis was something that no one elsecould do or would do and again as longas you are maintaining your reputationfor honest honesty and and andtruth-telling 1942 up until last monthat least then you’re you’re going to beable to go into sensitive areas and havepeople find youand again it’s something no one even inthe statutory free media environment ofIraq local broadcasters aren’t going torun that risk we can’t thank youheadache go ahead SteveI was just gonna say Vivian it’sinteresting to me that you know thisthese reputational issues are real thatwe can we can you know the Radio FreeEurope has been targeting young newsconsumers in Belarus using tik-tok to inanswer to your question earlier abouthow to stay relevant and how to how toreach people with current technology soyou’re using tick-tock well what are youprogramming in there if it becomes asteady stream of propaganda orinformation that’s not really relevantto that market or that audience theneverything’s going to be lost duringthis period of the pandemic we have seenrecord-breaking performance across theboard all around the world so what whyshould a Radio Free Asia still exist orwhy should American taxpayers fund thatsort of thing you know if you’re in Cubaright now arguably the most reliablesource of accurate information about thepandemic is going to come from thejournalists in Miami at radio and TV anddigital Marty if Marty instead choosesto just broadcast a steady stream ofpropaganda that is is not of value ornot useful why should anybody take thetime to tune into it when in fact theyhave been focusing on this in recordnumbers all around the world the onlyway the people in North Korea are goingto get accurate information about what’shappening in the world is arguablyfrom Radio Free Asia and so on and soforth across the board and you know nowokay mr. pack wants to putdifferent leaders in charge of thesenetworks ambassador Crocker just listeda terrific example of what’s at stakewith middle east broadcasting Radio FreeAsia with the kind of work that they’vebeen doing Jamie fly was doingincredibly strong work at Radio FreeEurope and he’s now out of the picture Iknow it is we’re out of time but I dowant to share some breaking news in ourlast moments which is it was just sharedwith me a letter that went to Michaelpack I will read just the first sentenceit says we write to express our deepconcern regarding your recent actions toterminate the heads of the three privategrantee networks it goes on to talkabout this as a critical moment inhistory we’re Malaya actors includingRussia China and Iran are using advancedtools I won’t read the whole thing but Iwill add that these are the signatoriesMarco Rubio Lindsey Graham Jerry MoranSusan Collins dick Durbin Patrick LeahyChris Van Hollen that is a partbipartisan group so bori is not over Ireally appreciate all of you being withus thank youoh ma done we’ll need this car therebuddy we’ll post the video later look atAspen Digital Twitter feed thanks somuch

Since the Bill of Rights, the US has championed a free and independent press as a cornerstone of democracy. And since World War II, the U.S. federal government has directly funded overseas radio and digital outlets for the purpose of distributing fact-based news and American values… with editorial independence at the core. Yet on June 17th, the heads of Voice of America, the Middle East Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Open Technology Fund were fired by a newly installed political appointee at the head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. How we talk about democracy to the world is inseparable from how we conduct it at home. What are the risks to these critical outlets?

Speakers

• Steve Capus, Former Senior Advisor to the CEO, U.S. Agency for Global Media; Former President, NBC News
• Ryan Crocker, Diplomat-in-Residence, Princeton; Former Ambassador; Member of the Open Technology Fund Board of Directors
• Libby Liu, Former CEO, Open Technology Fund; Former President, Radio Free Asia
• Ben Scott, Executive Director, Reset and Policy & Advocacy Advisor, Luminate; Member of the Open Technology Fund Board of Directors
• Vivian Schiller, Executive Director, Aspen Digital

Steve Capus

Former Senior Advisor to the CEO, U.S. Agency for Global Media; Former President, NBC News

Steve Capus was the Senior Advisor to the U.S.A.G.M. CEO. In his capacity as a management expert, Capus provides expert advice and guidance on all matters involving the Agency’s mission and operations, as well as developing and implementing the Agency’s strategic plan and priorities. With more than 30 years of experience, Capus is renowned for his proficiency in journalism, production, senior management, multi-platform newsroom transformation, strategy development, communications and executive education. Capus’ 20-year career with NBC included a nearly 8-year tenure as President of NBC News. He directed overall editorial and management oversight of the global news organization and served on NBC corporate management committees under the ownership of General Electric and Comcast. From 2014 to 2018, Capus was the executive editor of CBS News and the executive producer of the “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley.” Capus also managed and executive produced CBS News’ Campaign 2016 Presidential debates in Iowa and South Carolina; RNC & DNC convention broadcasts and live election night coverage. Capus graduated from Temple University in 1986 and serves on the Board of Visitors of Temple’s Klein School of Communications. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ryan Crocker

Diplomat-in-Residence, Princeton; Former Ambassador; Member of the Open Technology Fund Board of Directors

Ryan Crocker is Dean and Executive Professor at the George Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University, where he holds the Edward and Howard Kruse Endowed Chair. He was the James Schlesinger Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia (2012-2014), and he served as the first Kissinger Senior Fellow at Yale University (2012-2013). He retired from the Foreign Service in April 2009 after a career of over 37 years but was recalled to active duty by President Obama to serve as US Ambassador to Afghanistan in 2011. He has served as US Ambassador six times: Afghanistan (2011-2012), Iraq (2007-2009), Pakistan (2004-2007), Syria (1998-2001), Kuwait (1994-1997), and Lebanon (1990-1993).He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the Association of American Ambassadors. In August 2013, he was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees all U.S. government-supported civilian international media. He is also on the Board of Directors of Mercy Corps International.

Libby Liu

Former CEO, Open Technology Fund; Former President, Radio Free Asia

Libby Liu is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Open Technology Fund, where she provided strategic and operational direction to meet OTF’s mission of advancing internet freedom around the world. Prior to leading OTF, Ms. Liu served as President of Radio Free Asia, where in addition to directing editorial and administrative policies and procedures, she coordinated issues in these areas with USAGM and other associated entities. Her responsibilities included ensuring the highest quality administrative and technical support to the editorial staff. In this capacity, she worked to facilitate effective, timely communication and broad-based collaboration among all divisions and bureaus. Prior to assuming this role in 2005, Liu served as vice president for administration and finance from 2003–05. A California native, Ms. Liu is the daughter of Chinese immigrants and she has traveled widely in East Asia. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California-Berkeley, an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ben Scott

Executive Director, Reset and Policy & Advocacy Advisor, Luminate; Member of the Open Technology Fund Board of Directors

Ben Scott is Executive Director at Reset, an initiative run by Luminate in partnership with The Sandler Foundation focussed on tackling digital threats to democracy. Prior to joining Luminate, Ben co-led the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (SNV) in Berlin, where he helped to develop it into a leading tech policy voice in German politics. He also was a senior adviser to New America in Washington DC. Previously, Ben was Policy Adviser for Innovation at the US Department of State, where he helped steward the 21st Century Statecraft agenda, with a focus on technology policy, social media, and development. Before this, Ben led the Washington office of Free Press, a public interest organisation expanding affordable access to an open internet and fostering more public service journalism. 

Vivian Schiller

Executive Director, Aspen Digital

Vivian Schiller is Executive Director of Aspen Digital. Over the last 30 years, Vivian has held executive roles at some of the most respected media organization in the world. Those include: President and CEO of NPR; Global Chair of News at Twitter; General Manager of NYTimes.com; Chief Digital Office of NBC News; chief of the Discovery Times Channel, a joint venture of The New York Times and Discovery Communications; and head of CNN documentary and long form divisions. Documentaries and series produced under her auspices earned multiple honors, including three Peabody Awards, four Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards, and dozens of Emmys. Schiller is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; and a Director of the Scott Trust, which owns The Guardian. She is also strategic advisor to Craig Newmark Philanthropies.