Michael Pack

Michael Pack is an American conservative filmmaker who is CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) under President Donald Trump. Pack assumed office in June 2020 after Senate confirmation.[1]

Michael Pack
CEO and Director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media
Assumed office
June 2020
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byGrant Turner (Acting)
Personal details
Born1954 (age 65–66)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Gina Cappo
Children3
EducationYale University
University of California, Berkeley (BA, JD)

Early life and education

Pack was born in New York City. He attended Yale University before earning a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and Juris Doctor from the UC Berkeley School of Law.[2]

Career

Michael Pack founded Manifold Productions, Inc., an independent film production company, in 1977. Through Manifold Productions, Pack has written, directed and produced 13 documentary films on a range of topics.[3]

In 1993, Pack served as Co-Chair of the International TV Council at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In 2002, President Bush nominated and the Senate confirmed Pack to serve on the National Council on the Humanities, which oversees the National Endowment for the Humanities.[4] He served from July 2002 to February 2005. From 2003 to 2006, Pack served as Senior Vice President for Television Programming at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.[5]

From 2015 to 2017, Pack served as President and CEO of the Claremont Institute in Upland, California, and Publisher of its Claremont Review of Books.[6]

Pack has collaborated with Stephen Bannon, former advisor for President Trump, and co-founder of the conservative website Breitbart News.[1] In 2019, Pack produced and directed a documentary about the conservative Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas.[1]

USAGM CEO
Pack at his confirmation hearing in September 2019

In June 2018, the White House announced that President Donald Trump intended to nominate Pack as the chief executive officer of the U.S. Agency for Global Media,[7] which among other things oversees the Voice of America (VOA). Pack's first confirmation hearing took place on September 19, 2019.[8] On May 8, 2020, Senator Jim Risch moved to schedule a committee confirmation hearing for Pack for the following week.[9] Pack's nomination was contentious, with critics arguing that the mission of VOA would be compromised by installing a conservative partisan as head of the organization.[1] The Senate invoked cloture on Pack's nomination on June 4, 2020, by a vote of 53–39,[10] and it confirmed him the same day[11][12][13][14] by a vote of 53–38.[15]

Pack assumed office over a week after his confirmation partially so his office could be swept for covert listening devices.[16] One of his first actions as USAGM CEO was to fire the heads of the outlets under his purview — among them Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, and the Open Technology Fund[17][18][19][20][21] — including certain officials favored by conservatives.[22][23] Pack also installed Trump loyalists in leadership positions within the organization and disbanded a bipartisan board that oversees the USAGM.[24][20][25] Pack continued making personnel changes, among other actions.[26][27][28] It was reported in July 2020 that the USAGM under Pack would not extend visas for foreign VOA journalists.[29][30] In late July 2020, Pack announced an investigation of a VOA video that purportedly promoted Joe Biden's presidential campaign.[31][32] In August 2020, USAGM required several of its outlets to return money allocated for internet freedom projects for the agency to reallocate for other internet freedom uses.[33]

Investigation

Pack is the founder and director of the Public Media Lab, a non-profit charitable organization. On May 12, 2020, Senator Robert Menendez raised with District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine the question of whether Pack has unlawfully directed funds from the Public Media Lab to his profit-making company Manifold Productions. According to Menendez, all of the millions of dollars raised by the Public Media Lab have been transferred to Pack's company. In response, Racine indicated that he has initiated an investigation.[34]

Filmography

Pack has written, directed, and produced numerous documentaries, principally for PBS, as well as corporate and educational films. His major credits include[3]:

  • Hollywood's Favorite Heavy: Businessmen on Prime Time TV, hosted by Eli Wallach (1987)
  • Campus Culture Wars: Five Stories about Political Correctness, narrated by Lindsay Crouse (1993)
  • Hollywood vs. Religion, hosted by Michael Medved (1995)
  • Inside the Republican Revolution: The First Hundred Days, hosted by Don Lambro (1995)
  • The Rodney King Incident: Race and Justice in America, narrated by Robert Prosky (1998)
  • The Fall of Newt Gingrich, narrated by Blair Brown (2000)
  • Rediscovering George Washington, hosted by Richard Brookhiser (2002)
  • God and the Inner City, narrated by Phylicia Rashad (2003)
  • Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton, hosted by Richard Brookhiser (2011)
  • RICKOVER: The Birth of Nuclear Power, narrated by Joan Allen (2014)
  • Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in his Own Words (2020)
Future releases
  • The Last 600 Meters, to be released

References
  1. Edmondson, Catie; Wong, Edward (2020-05-08). "With Push From Trump, Senate Moves to Install Contentious Filmmaker at U.S. Media Agency". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  2. "On Trump's Latin America team: Trump nominates Mauricio Claver-Carone to head the IDB". Global Americans. 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  3. "Manifold Productions - Films". www.manifoldproductions.com. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  4. "National Endowment for the Humanities Advisory Board Gains Five New Members". National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  5. "Current.org | Michael Pack named CPB program chief, 2003". current.org. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  6. "Claremont Institute | Recovering the American Idea". www.claremont.org. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  7. "Trump to Nominate Michael Pack as Next BBG CEO". NPR. June 3, 2018. Retrieved June 5, 2018. President Donald Trump plans to nominate conservative filmmaker and documentarian Michael Pack as the next head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the White House says.
  8. Schwartz, Brian (September 20, 2019). "Trump's nominee to lead federal media agency funded a private company with donations from his nonprofit". CNBC.
  9. Edmondson, Catie; Wong, Edward (May 8, 2020). "With Push From Trump, Senate Moves to Install Contentious Filmmaker at U.S. Media Agency" – via NYTimes.com.
  10. "U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 2nd Session". www.senate.gov.
  11. "Republican-led Senate confirms divisive Trump broadcasting nominee Pack". June 4, 2020 – via www.reuters.com.
  12. Edmondson, Catie (June 4, 2020). "Senate Confirms Conservative Filmmaker to Lead U.S. Media Agency" – via NYTimes.com.
  13. CassataBioBio, Donna Cassata closeDonna. "Senate confirms Trump nominee to lead agency overseeing VOA despite investigation". Washington Post.
  14. "Senate confirms Trump's pick to lead Voice of America". AP NEWS. June 4, 2020.
  15. "U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 2nd Session". www.senate.gov.
  16. Ellison, Sarah (June 19, 2020). "How Trump's obsessions with media and loyalty coalesced in a battle for Voice of America". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  17. Lee, Matthew (June 17, 2020). "US broadcasting chief fires agency heads in major reshuffle". Associated Press. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  18. Kelly, Laura (June 18, 2020). "Trump appointee ousts multiple officials within US media agency: reports". The Hill. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  19. Folkenflik, David (June 18, 2020). "Trump's New Foreign Broadcasting CEO Fires News Chiefs, Raising Fears Of Meddling". NPR. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  20. Wong, Edward (2020-06-17). "New Conservative Media Chief Dismisses Heads of U.S.-Funded News Outlets". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  21. "Trump administration purges news execs from U.S. agency meant to counter disinformation, leaving staff fearing more to come". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  22. Lee, Matthew (June 18, 2020). "Trump global media chief faces GOP backlash over firings". Associated Press. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  23. Kelly, Laura (June 20, 2020). "Trump's new head of US media agency under fire from both sides". The Hill. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  24. Schwartz, Brian (2020-06-17). "Federal media chief Michael Pack installs Trump loyalists to leadership posts, memo says". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  25. Schwartz, Brian (2020-06-19). "New directors at federal media agency have ties to anti-LGBT groups, fought pro-transgender policies". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  26. Lee, Matthew (July 13, 2020). "Undaunted, US global media chief plows ahead with changes". Associated Press. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  27. Lippman, Daniel (August 12, 2020). "Trump appointee deepens purge of U.S. global media agency". Politico. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  28. Lippman, Daniel (August 12, 2020). "U.S. global media agency hires shock jock who called Obama 'Kenyan'". Politico. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  29. Bernal, Rafael (July 9, 2020). "Voice of America not extending foreign journalists' visas: report". The Hill. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  30. Folkenflik, David (July 9, 2020). "U.S. Broadcasting Agency Will Not Extend Visas For Its Foreign Journalists". NPR. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  31. Lippman, Daniel (July 30, 2020). "Deleted Biden video sets off a crisis at Voice of America". Politico. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  32. Lee, Matthew (July 30, 2020). "Trump global media chief probes pro-Biden VOA content". Associated Press. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  33. Lippman, Daniel (August 13, 2020). "U.S. global media agency demanded outlets return money for internet freedom projects". Politico. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  34. King, Colbert (2020-05-15). "Did Trump's pick to lead the VOA misuse nonprofit funds? D.C.'s AG is on it". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
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