United States: CFWIJ condemns the intimidation of journalist Patsy Widakuswara

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January 18, 2021- VOA news correspondent Patsy Widakuswara was reassigned after her director stopped her from covering the White House. She questioned Mike Pompeo at an event held at the news agency’s headquarters. Patsy was reassigned to VOA Indonesian service after the director of VOA news shouted at her for raising questions to the Secretary of State, calling her out of order. In reaction to this retaliation of officials against the journalist, 26 reporters have called for resignations of VOA director Robert Reilly, and his deputy director Elizabeth Robbins. The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the news agency’s retaliation against Patsy Widakuswara. We believe that Patsy must be given the status and recognition she deserves.

On January 11, at an event organized at VOA headquarters, director Robert Reilly held a live broadcast with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In a brief Q&A session, the director did not ask Pompeo any of the questions submitted by the newsroom, asking only pre-approved questions. As Pompeo left the agency’s headquarters, Widakuswara tried to question him about the recent events, but she did not receive an answer.
Widakuswara posted a video on her Twitter account where you can hear her prompting questions. She asked the Secretary of State, “What are you going to do to repair the U.S. reputation around the world”, following with, “Mr. Secretary, do you regret saying there will be a second Trump administration?”. Widakuswara reported that the country's top diplomat ignored her questions.

In her tweet, the journalist also stressed that Pompeo spoke for 30 minutes at the agency headquarters about American exceptionalism, without any mention of the Capitol riots. She emphasized that asking tough questions is part of her job.

Hours after the Secretary left VOA headquarters, Widakuswara came to know that she had been demoted and was reassigned to the VOA Indonesian service, where she had worked two decades ago. She was scheduled to be part of the travel radio pool for President Trump’s trip to Alamo, Texas.

More than 26 VOA journalists have demanded the director Robert Reilly to resign after his unjustified actions towards the accomplished journalist. Widakuswara’s colleagues shared in a public statement, "Let us be clear: it is not out of order for VOA journalists to ask questions of U.S. government officials. It is our job”. 

The demotion of Patsy Widakuswara is clearly against the VOA standards of free expression. The statement issued by the whistleblowers also stated that the actions against Widakuswara are retaliatory and illegal.  According to the applicable federal statute, supervisory employees like Mr. Reilly are not permitted to take personal actions against employees who are whistleblowers.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism stands in solidarity with the joint action call of VOA journalists in support of Patsy Widakuswara. We hope that Patsy will be given the status she deserves and shall not face future intimidation.