Michael L. Pack is an American documentary filmmaker who was CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) from June 2020 to January 2021.

He disbanded a bipartisan board that oversees the USAGM, and spent millions of taxpayer dollars on law firms to investigate journalists for purported bias against Trump.

[1] In January 2021, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine sued Public Media Lab and Manifold Productions, alleging that they funneled $4.1 million in tax-protected nonprofit funds to Pack.

[19] Pack's nomination was contentious, with critics arguing that the mission of VOA would be compromised by installing a CEO whom they considered a conservative partisan.

[1] On May 12, 2020, Democratic Senator Robert Menendez raised with District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine the question of whether Pack unlawfully directed funds from the non-profit charitable organization he ran – Public Media Lab – to his profit-making company Manifold Productions.

[28] 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 (MBN), and the Open Technology Fund[29][30][31][32][33] – including certain officials favored by conservatives.

[38] Pack continued a purge of USAGM, firing at least seven longstanding agency officials,[39] including chief financial officer Grant Turner and general counsel David Kligerman.

[39] Under Pack, USAGM hired Frank Wuco, a former conservative talk radio "shock jock" known for spreading conspiracy theories and calling President Barack Obama a "Kenyan.

[42][43] In late July 2020, Pack announced an investigation of a VOA video that purportedly promoted Joe Biden's presidential campaign.

[48][49] Career employees at Voice of America accused Pack of seeking influence over the outlet's reporting[50] and filed suit in federal court, seeking injunctions that prevent Pack from making personnel decisions about journalists employed by the agency, directly communicating with them and conducting any investigations into editorial content or individual journalists.

[51] The U.S. Office of Special Counsel revealed on December 2, 2020, that it had found "a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing" at USAGM, including "gross mismanagement" by Pack and violations of the legal firewall meant to protect Voice of America's journalistic integrity.

[56] On January 14, 2021, six days before Joe Biden's inauguration as president, a group of Voice of America journalists signed a letter demanding the resignation of the director of VOA and his deputy.

[57] The controversy concerned the reassignment of reporters Patsy Widakuswara and News Director Yolanda Lopez after the journalists questioned outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.