amanda bennett is a big deal. she's a two-time pulitzer prize-winning journalist. also an editor at thor ghosni -- oregonian in portland. this is who has been running the voice of america for the past two years. but as of this week, she is gone. she resigned suddenly along with her deputy and without much of an explanation at the beginning of this week. if that wasn't interesting enough, within 48 hours, all the network heads were fired within the agency that runs voice of america. voice of america is just one network that runs alongside all the other international broadcasting entities in the u.s. government. you know, they're all ultimately derived from that original mission set in world war ii. it's voice of america, but it's also radio free europe, radio free asia. there's a cuban broadcasting service, the middle east broadcasting network. they're all run by the u.s. government. they're all supposed to be totally insulated from any domestic partisan politics in this country. they are supposed to be straight news organizations that bring both the values of the f

the voa chief, amanda bennett, and her deputy resign suddenly and without notice.o nights after that, in what's being headlined as a wednesday night massacre, the heads of all those other networks all get fired all at once as well. radio free europe, radio liberty, radio free asia, the cuban broadcasting service, the middle east broadcasting network, fired, fired, fired, fired. no reason given for any of those network heads being fired, they were all just wiped out. so what's going on here? a couple of months ago, the president started denouncing the voice of america as, in his words, disgusting. and that seemed kind of out of the blue. but, you know, welcome to the trump era. but then the white house also published like a blog post, a newsletter item, it's hard to tell exactly what this is, but they published this thing denouncing the voice of america, specifically because voa had the temerity to run an ap article, they ran an associated press article on their website about china lifting its lockdown in wuhan for the coronavirus. all sorts of news organizations ru

confirmed campaign contributor who has basically been purging the professional journalists including amanda bennettpulitzer prize winning editor who has been leading the agency for years. it's a storied legacy of the voice of america, going back to world war ii and radio free europe, it's an outrage what's happening at the state department with the politicization of a very independent and highly recorded journalism organization. let me leave it there for now. bill kristol, we're out of time, but we'll revisit that, i hope you'll come back and talk about that and dr. patel as well. >>> coming up next, former vice president joe biden out on the campaign trail with two stops in pennsylvania today. we'll talk to mike memoli covering the presumptive nominee. stay with us right here on msnbc. - oh. - what's going on? - oh, darn! - let me help. here we go. lift and push and push! there... it's up there. oh, boy. hey joshie... wrinkles send the wrong message. help prevent them before they start with downy wrinkleguard. hey! bud. hey, pop pop! so you won't get caught with wrinkles again. [woman laughs] no u

pack's first step force out amanda bennett. winner of two pulitzers prizes. this part of president trump's plan to gain control over an independent and federally funded organization? joining me undersecretary of state during the obama administration and he wrote this book. it comes out tomorrow in paperback. congratulations on that, and thanks for joining us. a lot of us have been really concerned about all the firings. not just taking out the top leaders of voa, bad as that was. a bad warning sign, but going to advisory boards that include people like ambassador ryan crocker. all of these independent non-partisan people, and the experts who run these different, these different video programs, language experts, all of these people who are so experienced as journalists. what do you make of it? >> yeah. it's -- it's a bit of a tragedy, andrea. u.s. international broadcasting is vast. it has a 750 million dollar budget, not trivial, even in the federal government it grew out of the cold war where we were trying to reach people around the world, and talk about fr

amanda bennett and her deputy director stepped down today. that came after the president charged v.o.a.'s coronavirus coverage was too easy on china. he also tapped conservative filmmaker michael pack to oversee v.o.a.'s parent organization. on wall street today, stocks slumped,hen rallied after the federal reserve said it will buy more corporate bds. the dow jones industrial average gained 157 points to close at 25,763.n it had bwn 760 at one point. thd,nasdaq rose 137 points, the s&p 500 added 25.3r and, the"oscars" awardsn will be heldril 25, 2021, two months later than originally planned.ed it's postpfter the coronavirus shutdown production, and postponed theater films in mid-march. the academy has also extended the deadline for movies to be eligible for the 2021 awards to february 28, 2021. still to come on the nshour: minneapolis becomes a testing ground for a nationwide push to why thousands are volunteering to be infected with covid 19 in the search for a vaccine.er two ans are imprisoned overseas by autocratic governments. and much m

government-funded "voice of america" have resigned amid .ashes with president tru amanda bennett andcter deputy di stepped down today. that came after the president charged v.o.a.'s coron coverage was too easy on china. he also tapped conservative filmmaker michael pack t oversee v.o.a.'s parent organization.on all street today, stocks slumped, then rallied after thev federal resaid it will buy more corporate bonds.w the nes industrial average gained 157 points to close at 25,763. it had been down 760 at one point. the nasdaq rose 137 points, and, the s&p 500 added 25. and, the 93rd "oscars" awards will be held on april 25, 2021, two months later than originally planned. it's postponed after the coronavirus shutdown production, mid-march.eater films in the academy has also extended the deadline for movies to be eligible for the 2021 awards to february 28, 2021. still to come on the newshour: minneapolis becomes a testing ground for a nationwide push to reallocate police funding. why thousands are volunteering to be infected with covid 19 in the search for a vac two americans are imprison

>> well, i think that what you'll see, i mean, one of the things -- amanda bennett and all these other agency. i think you'll expect to see more departures and more, you know, sort of more conflict within the agency, and i think that the most difficult thing is that for the people who are there trying to do their jobs, this kind of turnover is really distracting and undermining. >> right. >> so i think what you'll see is -- a lot of it is out of our view because much of what voa does is international. >> right. >> and that's one of the things that's most concerning about it. >> yeah, karen, the danger is you don't want people -- i think we might have just lost karen, actually, unfortunately. but, sarah, the problem is you don't want people around the world to view this as a propaganda machine. in fact, they have to fight against that perception already. if this becomes a pro-trump propaganda machine, it's going to prove its detractors right. >> and one of the things we've talked about a lot is how much donald trump is very obsessed with the media. to have this idea that there is a taxp