Jokes that Breitbart News may become America's state media may not be that far off.
According to CNN, the body that controls American government-funded media outlets that broadcast overseas, might soon promote an ally of ousted national security adviser Steve Bannon as their chief executive.
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, an investigative reporter at the conservative Washington Times, was nominated by President Donald Trump to join the Broadcasting Board of Governors this summer as a senior adviser to their Spanish-language broadcast in Cuba. Now, the man with ties to Bannon is slated to control America's overseas media.
As CNN notes, Shapiro has close ties to the returned chairman of Breitbart, and told three sources close to the BBG that he plans to turn the agency into a "Bannon legacy."
Shapiro, The Daily Beast pointed out, is also a proponent of a conspiracy theory claiming that the Cuban Castro family has infiltrated the BBG's Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
If he is promoted to chief executive, Shapiro will control the OCB as well as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, as well as radio networks in Asia and the Middle East.
Founded in 1999, the BBG's stated mission is to "inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy."