New Scandals Rock Government’s Foreign Broadcasting Service

The United States Agency for Global Media, the government’s foreign broadcast service, already struggling to clean house after a series of scandals at flagship operations like Voice of America and TV Martí, is now being rocked by two new cases that have raised further questions about its journalistic and financial management. 

• Tomás Regalado Jr., a reporter for TV Martí, which broadcasts into Cuba, and a cameraman for the network, Rodolfo Hernandez, were suspended amid allegations that they faked a mortar attack on Regalado during a broadcast from Managua, Nicaragua
• Haroon Ullah, the former chief strategy officer at the agency, which operates Martí and foreign-language networks around the world, pleaded guilty on June 27 in federal court in Alexandria (VA) to stealing government property. he claimed $37,000 in reimbursements for expensive hotels he did not book, double-billing the government for official travel and forging a doctor’s note to allow him to fly business class. He faces up to 10 years in prison.