Five members of the Urdu service, including the Republican candidate in the US presidential election and a rival of Donald Trump, have been suspended over the broadcast of a video of Joe Biden's video on social media. A member of the Voice of America's Urdu service, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC that Tabanda Naeem, the web and social media editor of a government-funded broadcaster in the United States, was suspended on Wednesday. Earlier, four contract employees have also been suspended. These employees include the producer of the video and the social media in-charge of VOA Urdu, as well as journalists connected to the web service. The VOA member said that the four employees were issued show-cause notices on Tuesday informing them that in case of an unsatisfactory response, the contracts with their company would be terminated from August 19. Will According to Voice of America's sources, three of the contract employees have appeared before the Voice of America's watchdog, the US Agency for Global Media, which is investigating the case, while one producer has refused to appear. While hinting at legal action. Biden's video, aired on Voice of America Urdu, was called a violation of journalistic values and the VOA Charter The BBC contacted the head of VOA Urdu in this regard, but no response has been received from him so far. Note that VOA generally does not give management powers to contract employees and only permanent employees hold such positions. The scandal erupted after Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, addressed an American Muslim organization online on July 21. Addressing the ceremony, he said that if he came to power, he would lift the ban on citizens of Muslim countries coming to the United States on the first day. The presence of Muslim members of Congress, such as Ilhan Omar and Rashida Talib, in the video and the urge of Muslims to vote for Biden, was objected to on social media by supporters of President Donald Trump as part of the election campaign. Voice of America Urdu removed the video from its social media after complaints surfaced about it, and authorities began investigating the matter.
The investigation into VOA's Urdu service comes at a time when the new head of the US Agency for Global Media, Michael Peck, said last month that visas for foreign journalists affiliated with VOA in the United States had been issued. They will not be extended after the expiration of the term, after which they will have to return to their homeland. The move by the Agency for Global Media is likely to affect foreign journalists who have been invited to the United States on J1 visas under the exchange program, but the move could lead to the suspension of their visas. They will have to return to their homeland. In this situation, a member of Voice of America told the BBC that at least three female journalists of the Urdu service could be affected. He said one of the female journalists had recently arrived in the United States but was not being issued a job contract. It should be noted that VOA's Urdu service employs about 40 people, most of whom work on annual contracts that are renewed annually.
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