Following a personal meeting with Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48), the Voice of America (VOA), the largest U.S.-funded international news network, has officially rescinded an internal policy that prohibited its journalists from referring to members of Hamas as terrorists. The news was first reported by the National Review.
Specifically, Rep. Issa asserted that the previous policy compromised VOA’s ability to perform its core function – to “present a comprehensible, reliable and unbiased description of events” – in a letter written to VOA Acting Director John Lippman on November 3, 2023.
Following the letter, Rep. Issa met with VOA leadership last week.
“The VOA’s directive not to label Hamas correctly as ‘terrorists’ was always a mistake. It was a refusal to call evil by its name and a misunderstanding of the central charter that Congress wrote when the VOA was formed,” said Rep. Issa. “Following my meeting last week with VOA leadership, the official reversal of this error is obviously welcome. But it does not set aside what we know are challenges at the VOA or the need for a productive reform conversation. Continued congressional oversight is necessary and moving forward at this time.”
Darrell Issa is the Representative of California’s 48th Congressional District. The District encompasses the central and eastern parts of San Diego County and a portion of Riverside County, including the communities of Fallbrook, Valley Center, Ramona, Escondido, Santee, Lakeside, Poway, Temecula, Murrieta, and the mountain and desert areas of the San Diego-Imperial County line. Issa served as the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 2011-2015.
