Secretary of State Mike Pompeo championed a free press for Kazakhstan Sunday, days after cutting a National Public Radio journalist from the trip following his rant over questions about Ukraine.
Pompeo told Kazakh journalist Aigerim Toleukhan in an interview that freedom of the press helps “build out civil societies” — and that the United States was willing to show the media there how to do it. “As a journalist, I’m sure you know the good work the State Department does to train journalists in press freedoms,” he said.
Toleukhan pressed him to reconcile his praise for a free press with his treatment of NPR and his “confrontational” interview over Ukraine. “What kind of message does it send to countries … whose governments routinely suppress press freedom?” she asked. Continue reading.