In April 2020, Voice of America White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara was in the Rose Garden when a U.S. president called VOA reporting “disgusting.” Thursday evening, Widakuswara and three colleagues accepted a prestigious award for their coverage of an administration’s attack on VOA journalism.
The National Press Club’s 2021 Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism cited the VOA journalists’ “thoughtful and deliberately in-depth coverage of how the former U.S. Agency of Global Media CEO, Michael Pack, a President Trump appointee, attempted to dismantle the organization’s editorial independence."
NPC President Lisa Matthews presented the award Thursday evening as part of the press club’s 48th annual journalism awards. “Courageous” is how Matthews described the work of VOA journalists in 2020 and 2021.
“Our reporting looked at attempts by a politically appointed CEO to try to breach VOA’s editorial firewall,” said Press Freedom Editor Jessica Jerreat in the National Press Club virtual awards ceremony. Jerreat was named the recipient along with three contributors – now-White House Bureau Chief Widakuswara, Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson and Silicon Valley Bureau Chief Michelle Quinn.
“Voice of America’s decades-long commitment to independent and balanced journalism is powerfully underscored by our News Center team’s recognition through the National Press Club’s press criticism award,” said Acting VOA Director Yolanda Lόpez, who was director of the VOA News Center during former CEO Pack’s tenure.
Jerreat gave credit to senior editors and newsroom management for their role in the coverage of staff investigations under Pack, congressional hearings, lawsuits, whistleblower complaints and the denial of visa renewals for some of VOA’s foreign journalists.
“Throughout, we strived to be balanced, fair and accurate, driven by the knowledge that our colleagues were now a part of our coverage,” said Jerreat in a video accepting the award.
Gypson covered the story of Pack’s assault on the firewall as it played out on Capitol Hill.
“My own journalistic credibility comes first no matter what the situation,” said Gypson in the video. “I am so proud to represent the hundreds of VOA journalists who come to work here every day and report the news in an unbiased manner, and to support free press around the world.”
Michelle Quinn, the Silicon Valley bureau chief, wrote about former CEO Pack’s denial of funding to the Open Technology Fund, which put at risk the organization’s internet freedom tools often used by advocates and journalists in closed societies.
In early 2021, Widakuswara was removed from the White House beat by then-VOA Director Robert Reilly – a Pack appointee – for aggressively questioning the secretary of state at an event in the VOA building hosted by Reilly. Days later, after Pack and Reilly departed, she was reinstated.
