FIRST ON TKNN: Greta Van Susteren has made her return to the world of journalism after having her MSNBC show cancelled earlier this year. She has joined Voice of America as a contributor and her first piece for the US government-funded outlet was a thirteen minute interview with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for an article on the Iranian nuclear deal.
Van Susteren parted ways with MSNBC in June of this year and publicly weighed her options via Twitter, a platform where she is highly active with over 121,000 tweets and one million followers (Van Susteren also has a how-to guide on social media coming out next month). She consistently told inquiring followers that she would only return to news if her two conditions were met: adequate newsgathering resources and no pressure from overheard to spin a story. VOA has over 1,000 employees and is mandated by law in its charter to “present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions.”
She has mentioned VOA as a possibility on Twitter. She tweeted that she was “very interested in VOA – I am interested in what goes on in world and how we deliver news.” She also took a public tour of VOA’s facilities in August and said at the time, “Just got a tour of @VOANews – fascinating work they do around the world.” She called the outlet a “favorite” and said she was a “big fan.”
The arrangement is also convenient for Van Susteren as she is based in Washington, D.C., as is the Voice of America’s base of operations.
Neither Van Susteren nor Voice of America responded to requests for comment by press time.
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