For the Record

Engel Warns of USAGM FIrings:

In a press release late Tuesday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) alleged that incoming U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack "intends to force out a number of the agency’s career senior leadership tomorrow morning [...] my fear is that USAGM’s role as an unbiased news organization is in jeopardy under his leadership." According to Julian Borger of The Guardian, congressional aides said Wednesday that the "feared purge appeared to have been put off after Engel’s intervention, but that the threat remained." Previously, former Pulitzer Prize Board member Amanda Bennett and past Pulitzer Prize juror Sandy Sugawara resigned from leadership positions at the Voice of America (a unit of USAGM, formerly known as the Broadcasting Board of Governors) Monday. In a statement, they said: "Michael Pack swore before Congress to respect and honor the firewall that guarantees VOA’s independence, which in turn plays the single most important role in the stunning trust our audiences around the world have in us."

Trump Administration Sues Bolton in Book Dispute:

The Trump administration asked a federal judge Tuesday to order former National Security Advisor John Bolton "to stop the publication of his upcoming book on his White House tenure, arguing in a lawsuit that Bolton had breached non-disclosure agreements and was risking national security by exposing classified information," according to David Shortell, Kaitlan Collins and Jeremy Diamond of CNN. However, Bolton's publisher, Simon & Schuster, was not named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, leaving the book on track to be published next week. "Ambassador Bolton has worked in full cooperation with the NSC in its pre-publication review to address its concerns and Simon & Schuster fully supports his First Amendment right to tell the story of his time in the White House to the American public," the publisher said in a statement. The American Civil Liberties Union added: "[I]t has been firmly established that prior restraints on publication are unconstitutional and un-American."

Facebook, Google Open to Antitrust Testimony:

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai "signaled they are open to testifying to Congress as part of lawmakers’ ongoing antitrust probe into the tech industry" in letters sent to the House Judiciary Committee last weekend, according to Tony Romm of The Washington Post. Amazon previously announced that CEO Jeff Bezos will testify; Apple "told the committee that it would send a senior executive yet did not clearly commit its leader, Tim Cook, to appearing before lawmakers, according to one of the people with knowledge of the matter."

Google Ads Bans Zero Hedge, Warns Federalist:

Google Ads announced Tuesday that it has banned the conservative financial blog Zero Hedge "for racist content" in addition to reversing an initial decision to demonetize The Federalist after "[working] with them to address issues on their site related to the comments section," according to Adi Robertson of The Verge. The decision "followed a report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which called out a number of companies for hosting ads on sites promoting unsubstantiated or false claims about recent Black Lives Matter protests." A Google spokesperson said that the demonetization effort was prompted by "endemic racist commenters" on both sites. 

Former Governors of Hawaii Attempt to Curb Star-Advertiser Layoffs:

In a letter to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, three former governors of Hawaii implored the newspaper to "not to go forward with their plan to lay off half its newsroom," according to Christina Jedra of the Honolulu Civic Beat. "As former governors, we know how much democracy depends on a free press," said John Waihee (1986-1994), Ben Cayetano (1994-2002) and Neil Abercrombie (2010-2014). “Please support them so that Honolulu’s only daily newspaper can weather this economic crisis and come back strong. We cannot afford to lose it." Since March, most staffers have been furloughed one day a week, while eight were furloughed indefinitely.

Voice of America Officials Resign:

Voice of America Director Amanda Bennett (a former member of the Pulitzer Prize Board) and Deputy Director Sandy Sugawara (a past Pulitzer juror) resigned Monday as incoming CEO Michael Pack prepares to assume leadership of the broadcaster's parent agency. "As the Senate-confirmed CEO, he has the right to replace us with his own VOA leadership," the duo said in a statement. "We depart with the gratitude and joy that has marked our time together, with a dedication to our mission and admiration for each one of you." A VOA employee told Brian Stelter and Jim Acosta of CNN that "there are internal discussions about a sizable shakeup coming to the agency that may include former White House official and conservative radio host Sebastian Gorka taking on a leadership position" at the organization.

Trump: Bolton Could Face Charges:

President Trump said Monday that former National Security Advisor John Bolton could face a “criminal problem” if he doesn't withdraw his forthcoming memoir from publication, according to Deb Riechmann of the Associated Press. "We'll see what happens," Trump said. "They're in court — or they’ll soon be in court.” Although Bolton worked with classification specialist Ellen Knight for months on the book, attorney Chuck Cooper said that the administration's reluctance to fully clear the work "is a transparent attempt to use national security as a pretext to censor Mr. Bolton, in violation of his constitutional right to speak on matters of the utmost public import." As of Tuesday morning, the book is scheduled to be released on June 23.

Sulzberger on Bennet's Departure:

In a Saturday interview with The Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove, New York Times Publisher A. G. Sulzberger reflected publicly for the first time on the recent resignation of former Editorial Page Editor James Bennet following the publication of an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton calling for "an overwhelming show of force to disperse, detain and ultimately deter lawbreakers" in the George Floyd protests. "I really lament the loss of a talent that I respect and admire more than you could know," Sulzberger said. "But at the end of the day, the most important thing, when you have these crises, is: Can you show up on Monday morning and lead the team out of it," he added. "I really regret that the answer we all got [for Bennet] was 'no.'" 

Bennett Issues Statement on CDC Exclusion:

Former Pulitzer Prize Board member and Voice of America Director Amanda Bennett issued a statement Sunday on the Centers for Disease Control's decision to refuse media requests from the organization on the basis of White House allegations that Voice of America disseminated Chinese propaganda, according to internal documents released last week under a FOIA request by Columbia's Knight First Amendment Institute. "VOA, a federally funded independent news organization, strongly rejects the accusations and calls on the CDC to immediately withdraw the instructions," Bennett said. "For a federal agency’s public affairs office to categorically deny in advance interview requests from VOA journalists [...] based on a White House opinion statement referring to an Associated Press story about COVID-19 shared by the VOA newsroom as 'propaganda,' is even more troubling."

Ressa Guilty in 'Cyber Libel' Case:

Philippines journalist Maria Ressa "was found guilty of 'cyber libel' Monday, in a case she and press freedom groups have described as a politically motivated prosecution by the Duterte government," according to James Griffiths of CNN. Ressa, who founded digital news organization Rappler in 2012, was arrested early last year for publishing a story linking businessman Wilfredo Keng to drug and trafficking enterprises. The prosecution hinged on a correction made to the 2012 story after the libel law went into effect. Ressa, who will remain free on bail pending an appeal by attorney Amal Clooney, faces six months to seven years in prison.