MAGA KILLS VOICE OF THE COLD WAR

Kari Lake makes it official: Hundreds of Voice of America employees given pink slips

Justin Baragona
Fri, June 20, 2025 

THE INDEPENDENT


Kari Lake announced on Friday that 639 employees from Voice of America and its parent agency would be terminated effective September 1. (Getty Images)


In its latest attack on Voice of America, the Trump administration sent out layoff notices to hundreds of the government-funded news network’s employees, making official what had long been expected after all contractors were fired last month.

This latest move, which eliminates 639 full-time staffers from VOA and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the network’s parent bureau, comes just days after USAGM Senior Adviser Kari Lake called back dozens of employees for the network’s Persian-language service amid Israel’s conflict with Iran.

A significant portion of the VOA Farsi staff recently brought back to work are included in Lake’s reduction-in-force order, two sources familiar with the matter told The Independent.

Since mid-March, the vast majority of VOA employees have been on paid administrative leave following President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for USAGM and the state-run media outlets it oversees to be gutted of all “non-statutory components and functions.” At the time, Trump called VOA “the voice of radical America” and accused it of peddling “anti-American” and liberal propaganda.

Lawsuits brought by VOA staffers and executives have sought to stop the administration’s efforts to effectively dismantle the network, claiming that the president didn’t have the constitutional authority. While a federal judge issued an injunction in April that would have allowed VOA employees to return to work, an appellate court stayed most of that ruling, leaving the majority of the staff in limbo.

In recent weeks, Lake brought back a skeleton crew to keep Voice of America staffed at a “statutory minimum,” a move that left those employees “angry most of the time” as the “amount of programming that’s being produced is not a credible replacement for what was on air before.” Additionally, Lake cut a deal with MAGA cable news channel One America News to become a content provider for VOA down the road.

Earlier this month, Lake – a former local TV anchor and twice-failed Arizona political candidate – sent Congress a letter detailing her reduction-in-force plan to eliminate most of the 800 full-time jobs at VOA. This came after she had terminated roughly 500 contract employees. Based on the proposal to Congress, Voice of America would be reduced to just 18 employees and 81 staffers across USAGM.


Still, just last week, Lake frantically recalled roughly 75 employees to staff up Voice of America’s Farsi news division, as well as the network’s Pashto and Dari services, following Israel’s missile strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Those divisions had previously been stripped down to just a handful of journalists in an effort to demonstrate to the federal courts that the administration was fulfilling its statutory mandate. “History is being made, and VOA Persian news service is rising to the occasion to cover it,” Lake boasted to Fox News.

On Friday, however, the vast majority of Voice of America employees received a “special notice of reduction in force” letter from Lake. The Trump aide then followed that up by releasing a letter announcing that the USAGM had “completed a significant workforce reduction” that eliminated 85 percent of the agency’s personnel.

“Today, we took decisive action to effectuate President Trump’s agenda to shrink the out-of-control federal bureaucracy,” Lake wrote in the letter. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America – part of a long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy.”

She added: “American taxpayers have been forced to bankroll an agency that's been riddled with dysfunction, bias, and waste. That ends now.”

Letter from Kari Lake announcing that 85 percent of the workforce of Voice of America has now been reduced following Friday's layoffs. (USAGM)

The layoffs will leave USAGM with roughly 200 employees, and the terminations will take effect on September 1. In her announcement, Lake noted that employees who had been placed on paid leave in March had been given opportunities to take the “Fork in the Road” offer – which would pay staffers through the end of September if they resigned.

Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s White House Bureau Chief who is suing the administration alongside VOA Press Freedom Editor Jessica Jerreat and USAGM Director of Strategy and Performance Assessment Kate Neeper, is calling on Congress to intervene.

“USAGM has launched its mass layoff of VOA and USAGM staff, including some of our Persian colleagues they called back to work just last week to cover Israel’s war with Iran. Their last day on the payroll will be Sept 1, Labor Day,” she said in a statement to The Independent.

“This move follows USAGM’s firing of more than 500 contractors last month. It spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism that upholds U.S. ideals of democracy and freedom around the world,” Widakuswara continued.

Expressing concern that authoritarian regimes are “flooding the global information space with anti-American propaganda” now that Voice of America is silenced, she urged Congress “to continue its long tradition of bipartisan support for VOA” amid the ongoing lawsuit.

Meanwhile, all three plaintiffs in the lawsuit confirmed that they have now received reduction-in-force notices from Lake.


Voice of America parent terminates over 600 more staff in likely death knell

Reuters
Fri, June 20, 2025 

FILE PHOTO: The Voice of America building in Washington


WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The parent agency of Voice of America said on Friday it had issued termination notices to over 639 more staff, completing an 85% decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda.

Kari Lake, senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum.

"Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy," Lake said in a statement.

She said the agency had been "riddled with dysfunction, bias, and waste."

Lake said the move meant USAGM now operated near its statutory minimum of 81 employees. She said 250 employees would remain across USAGM, Voice of America, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which transmits news into communist-run Cuba. She said none of OCB's 33 employees had been terminated.

The move likely marks an end to VOA, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, operated in nearly 50 languages and reached 360 million people a week, many living under authoritarian regimes.

In May, nearly 600 VOA contractors were dismissed.

Some Republicans have accused VOA and other publicly funded media outlets of being biased against conservatives, and called for them to be shuttered as part of wider efforts to shrink the government.

Another USAGM station, Radio Free Asia, which has already been reduced to skeleton staffing, said in a staff email on Friday that it was implementing additional furloughs in its human resources, ordinance, journalist security, and research, training & evaluation teams.

Various court cases are in train against the USAGM cuts.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)


Hundreds of Voice of America reporters fired as Trump guts outlet
Max Matza - BBC News
Sat, June 21, 2025


[Getty Images]


Hundreds of journalists for Voice of America (VOA) - most of its remaining staff - have been fired by President Donald Trump's administration, effectively shutting down the US-funded news outlet.

The administration said the layoffs were because the agency was "riddled with dysfunction, bias and waste".

Steve Herman, VOA's chief national correspondent, called the dismantling of the outlet, which was set up during World War Two to counter Nazi propaganda, a "historic act of self-sabotage".

Among those axed were Persian-language reporters who had been on administrative leave, but were called back to work last week after Israel attacked Iran.

According to the Associated Press news agency, the Persian reporters had left the office on Friday for a cigarette break, and were not allowed to re-enter the building after the termination notices went out.

"Today, we took decisive action to effectuate President Trump's agenda to shrink the out-of-control federal bureaucracy," Kari Lake, whom the president appointed to run VOA, said in a statement on Friday announcing the layoffs of 639 employees.

In total, more than 85% of the agency's employees - about 1,400 staff - have lost their jobs since March.


She noted that 50 employees would remain employed across VOA, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and VOA's parent company, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).

A statement issued by three VOA journalists who have been suing to stop the elimination of the network said about the latest firings: "It spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism that upholds US ideals of democracy and freedom around the world."

The move had been expected since March when Trump ordered VOA, as well as USAGM, which oversees VOA and funds outlets such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, to be "eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law".

The agencies have won acclaim and international recognition for their reporting in places where press freedom is severely curtailed or non-existent, from China and Cambodia to Russia and North Korea.

But Dan Robinson, a former VOA news correspondent, wrote in an op-ed last year that the outlet had become a "hubris-filled rogue operation often reflecting a leftist bias aligned with partisan national media".

Trump's criticisms of VOA come as part of his broader attacks against the US media, which studies suggest American news consumers view as highly polarised.

The president has also urged his fellow Republicans to remove federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

'Discarded like a dirty rag': Chinese state media hails Trump's cuts to Voice of America

Judge halts Trump's shutdown of Voice of America



Kari Lake claws back $17M for ‘mission support’ amid deep cuts to US-funded media

Anthony Adragna
Sat, June 21, 2025 
POLITICO

The United States Agency for Global Media is reprogramming more than $17 million in various agency funds already subject to deep cuts for unspecified “mission support,” according to a memo from senior adviser Kari Lake obtained by POLITICO on Friday.

Lake, a close ally of President Donald Trump, has looked to slash USAGM — which either directly controls or gives grants to media outlets that report predominantly for international audiences — as part of the administration’s campaign to slash the size of government and punish media outlets it views as hostile toward the president.

The memo says the agency is taking back $7.2 million from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, $3 million from Radio Free Asia, $5 million from the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and $2.18 million from the Open Technology Fund. Lake’s letter says the funds will go toward “mission support” without providing further details.

Lake’s letter offered a briefing to senators on the financial transfers.

The move comes as Lake on Friday delivered termination notices to hundreds of employees at Voice of America, which lies under the control of the USAGM — an overall cut of roughly 85 percent of her agency’s workforce.

“Kari Lake’s actions are a gift to Iran’s Supreme Leader, the [Chinese Communist Party] and the Kremlin,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) in a post Friday about the job cuts. “Her decimation of US broadcasting leaves authoritarian propaganda unchecked by US backed independent media and is a perversion of the law and congressional intent.”

Lake’s decision also landed as a federal district court judge on Friday ordered the agency to fund the Open Technology Fund, a technology nonprofit promoting global internet freedom, as intended by Congress for the rest of the fiscal year.

Lake’s agency did not respond to a request for comment on Friday night, nor did the offices of Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the top Senate appropriators for the agency.

Congress won’t have to wait long for answers, though. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to receive testimony from Lake on June 25.


‘Dark day for truth’: Kari Lake slashes U.S. global media agency by 85%

CK Smith
Sat, June 21, 2025 
SALON


Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images

Once a Cold War-era powerhouse for U.S. diplomacy, the U.S. Agency for Global Media has been gutted under a Trump executive order — slashing 1,400 jobs, or 85% of its workforce — in a move Kari Lake calls a win for taxpayers and critics warn is a death knell for press freedom.

Lake, senior adviser to the agency, said the cuts fulfill the March 14 directive from President Donald Trump to shrink the federal workforce and eliminate non-essential operations. “This is a decisive action to shrink the out-of-control federal bureaucracy,” Lake said Friday, calling USAGM “bloated, unaccountable” and plagued by “dysfunction, bias and waste.”



Only 250 employees remain across USAGM and its affiliates, including Voice of America, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and Radio Free Asia. The latest round included 639 layoff notices, following earlier buyouts and retirements. No OCB employees were terminated, though staffing was capped.

Lake also terminated a $250 million lease for a Pennsylvania Avenue media facility, which the agency says lacked proper studio space. She is set to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee next week regarding what the agency describes as years of “self-dealing and national security failures.”

But journalists and press advocates say the move silences independent reporting and undermines U.S. credibility abroad. “This spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism,” said VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., called it “a dark day for the truth.”

Voice of America is required by law to report the news accurately. Could Donald Trump change that?

LAURIE KELLMAN and DAVID BAUDER
Fri, January 17, 2025 



Voice of America-What Will It Say
FILE - President-elect Donald Trump talks to reporters after a meeting with Republican leadership at the Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Washington.

 (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

LONDON (AP) — It’s called the Voice of America — a storied news outlet that has promised “the truth” since it first broadcast stories about democracy into Nazi Germany during World War II. Now, it’s the voice of a country in which a majority of voters chose incoming presidentDonald Trump, a man famous for insistingthe truth is what he says it is.

What VOA will tell the world about the United States and democracy during a second Trump administration depends heavily on the once and future president. Trump has jolted foreign leaders with statements about somehow adding Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal to the United States. He wants to project America — and himself — as dominant. And fighting independent reporting that conflicts with this goal — what he considers “fake news” — is one of Trump’s signatures.

During the first Trump administration, his targets included Voice of America in an uglychapter that included firings, a lawsuit, whistleblowers and a federal investigation. Media experts and current and former VOA journalists see this history potentially repeating itself in a landscape of creeping autocracy, rampant misinformation and Russian propaganda..

“I expect that VOA will be put under intense pressure to promote the USA. This seems likely to involve ... only selecting news that paints the country in a positive light,” Kate Wright, associate professor of media and politics at the University of Edinburgh, wrote in an email. Trump, she predicted, will try to correct supposedly “liberal bias” at VOA. “The risk is that this will push journalists to create false balance — treating perspectives or statements as equally valid when they are not.”

This time, Trump knows where the levers of power lie. He is poised to test Voice of America’s statutory “firewall” that protects its editorial operations from interference by any government official. Trump and Kari Lake, his choice to lead the newsgathering organization, have been clear about their intent to “reform the media” in a series of statements that have rattled many of VOA’s 2,000 employees and delighted Trump’s fans.

Lake said in an interview published Thursday that her job won’t be to turn VOA into “Trump TV.”

“But it’s also not our job to go in there and unduly criticize President Trump,” she told The Epoch Times. “I just want to see fair coverage."

Already, Trump’s nomination of Lake has resurrected a question that has shadowed Voice of America from its founding: Can a $260 million, government-funded news outlet ever really operate independently?

The law sets it up that way. President Gerald Ford signed VOA’s charter in 1976. Congress tightened its editorial protections in 1994 and did so again in 2020, after a federal judge ruled that a Trump appointee had infringed on the editorial independence and First Amendment rights of VOA journalists.

That was the clear intent from the first words anyone ever heard from the outlet, when the voice of William Harlan Hale beamed a message into Nazi Germany in 1942. “The news may be good. The news may be bad,” Hale announced, in German. “We shall tell you the truth.” That approach carried the outlet through World War II. It survived hearings in 1953 on allegations that VOA journalists were communist sympathizers.

“Unlike Soviet broadcasts, the Voice of America is not only committed to telling its country’s story, but also remains faithful to those standards of journalism that will not compromise the truth,” President Ronald Reagan said at VOA’s 40th anniversary celebration in 1982. Within a decade, Voice of America was broadcasting inside Russia 24-7.

“If you were interested in hearing something different from propaganda, you would seek out these voices,” said Mark Pomar, head of the Russian Service for VOA in the 1980s and the author of “Cold War Radio.”

Trump and Lake, a former Arizona broadcast journalist and a denier of multiple elections, have described a different approach. “Under my leadership,” Lake posted in December, “the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide.”

Lake’s mission statement is a far cry from what VOA’s charter says. But Trump has made his name upending tradition, undermining institutions and seeking to unravel the so-called “deep state.” He views the Voice of America as “disgraceful.”

Under the charter signed into law by Ford, the Voice of America “will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.” It goes on: “VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions.”

And finally, the broadcaster will present the policies of the US “clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinion on these policies.” So by law, Voice of America must broadcast editorials.

There, Wright and others say, lie some potential opportunities for Trump. Leading VOA from the news side of the “firewall,” Lake could have wide latitude to appear on air herself, for example, or to steer coverage to topics the administration favors.

Together, those are some of the factors that could open the door to what’s known as “government capture” of an independent agency, in which a government controls what is broadcast to domestic audiences. VOA is legally set up to broadcast news to international audiences, but in reality, anyone can access it. That leaves VOA open to transforming into a news-like organization that speaks to Trump's American constituency.

“These provisions always risked opening the door to any administration which wanted to turn the network into a mouthpiece,” said Wright, the co-author of the 2024 book “Capturing News, Capturing Democracy: Trump and the Voice of America.”

Lake was a broadcast journalist in Arizona for decades, winning two Emmys for her team’s coverage of landmine recovery in Cambodia, a Fox News spokeswoman said. Then Lake quit and ran for governor. She’s falsely denied two election losses — Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in 2020 and her own for governor in 2022. Last year, she ran for Senate in Arizona and lost.

Throughout, Lake built a national profile as an unflinching Trump ally. Her showy on-camera clashes with mainstream reporters — “monsters,” she said — got plaudits online and apparently Trump’s attention as well.

Spokespersons for Lake and for Trump’s transition did not reply to queries about her plans for VOA, including whether Lake intends to appear on air. Current and former VOA journalists who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation said there was a sense of resignation that under Trump, Lake could clean house. Many are thought to be looking for other jobs.

___

David Bauder covers media for The Associated Press and reported from New York. Laurie Kellman has reported for the AP from Washington, Israel and London for 27 years. Follow her at http://www.x.com/APLaurieKellman

 

Czech Minister Urges EU Response In Wake Of Trump Cuts To Radio Free Europe 

 March 17, 2025  

By EurActiv

By Aneta Zachová and Charles Szumski

(EurActiv) — Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said he plans to raise the issue of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) at Monday’s gathering of foreign ministers from across the European Union in Brussels, following moves by US President Donald Trump to yank funding from several media outlets over the weekend.

Lipavský argued on Czech TV on Sunday that Europe should launch a broader political discussion given what the broadcaster means for the continent, although he wasn’t sure exactly what steps the EU could take. In a post on X, Lipavský wrote that he wanted to explore “how to at least partially maintain” RFE/RL’s broadcasting operations.

The Czech minister’s comment comes after the Trump administration placed journalists at several US-funded broadcasters – including RFE/RL and Voice of America – on leave on Saturday after it froze their funding.

The White House framed it as part of an effort to reduce US federal bureaucracy and a purge of “radical propaganda”. But in Prague, where RFE/RL has its headquarters, the reaction has been one of alarm. The media outlet played an important historical role in opposing communist rule in Czechoslovakia, and across the Eastern Bloc, before 1989.

It is in Europe’s interest that such broadcasting continues, Lipavský said, adding that RFE/RL provides crucial support to democratic forces in Eastern European and Asian countries.

He also called RFE/RL a “beacon” for those under totalitarian rule.

“From Belarus to Iran, from Russia to Afghanistan, RFE and Voice of America are among the few free sources for people living without freedom,” he said on X. He also suggested that those outlets are important for countering Kremlin narratives.

“This is a gift to America’s enemies,” warned RFE/RL President Stephen Capus in an articlepublished on Saturday, a sentiment echoed by the international press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, which condemned the move as a betrayal of America’s historic commitment to press freedom.

However, Trump’s allies, including senior US Agency for Global Media adviser Kari Lake, defend the cuts, arguing the agency is a “giant rot” wasting taxpayer dollars. Lake claimed that projected savings could hit $700 million by 2026.

Elon Musk, a key administration figure, cheered the decision on the X social media platform, which he owns. Musk dismissed the US government-backed outlets as “radical left crazy people talking to themselves”.

Centre-right Czech MEP Danuše Nerudová said she also intends to raise the broadcaster’s future within the European Parliament.

File photo of the Czech Republic’s Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky. Photo Credit: VOA

EurActiv publishes free, independent policy news and facilitates open policy debates in 12 languages.

Trump cuts off funding for pro-democracy media outlets VOA and RFERL

Copyright Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

By Euronews with AP

Published on 16/03/2025 - 

This article was originally published in Russian

President Trump's administration has cut off funding for Voice of America, Radio Liberty and other pro-democracy media that broadcast to undemocratic states.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has launched a broad cutback of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other government programmes aimed at defending democracy. The organisation's director said all Voice of America staff have been placed on "administrative" leave.

On Friday night, shortly after Congress passed the latest funding bill, Trump instructed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. These included the U.S. Global Media Agency, a budget-funded government organisation to which the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia, and Radio Marti, which broadcasts Spanish-language news to Cuba, all report.

On Saturday morning, Carey Lake, a failed gubernatorial and US Senate candidate from Arizona whom Trump appointed as a senior adviser to the agency, wrote on website X that employees should check their emails.

In another post she described the U.S. Global Media Agency as "the most corrupt agency in Washington DC."

The video released by Lake talks about cost-cutting measures but does not mention Voice of America's staff or mission. The video was filmed in a building leased by VOA, which Lake called a waste of money. She said she would try to terminate the agency's 15-year lease on the building.

"We're doing everything we can to cancel contracts that can be cancelled, save money, reduce staffing and make sure your dollars are not misused," she said.

The letter places employees on administrative leave and says they will continue to receive pay and benefits "until notified otherwise." The letter instructs employees not to use the Global Media Agency's facilities and to return equipment such as phones and computers.

In a post on X the Czech Republic's foreign minister said he would raise the cuts with the Council of Europe on Monday.

"Radio Free Europe is one of the few credible sources in dictatorships like Iran, Belarus, and Afghanistan. Tomorrow at the Council of Foreign Ministers, I will discuss with my colleagues how to at least partially maintain its broadcasting," Jan Lipavský said.

"A gift for America's enemies"

"For the first time in 83 years, the illustrious Voice of America has gone silent," the organisation's director Michael Abramowitz said in a statement. He added that virtually the entire staff of 1,300 people has been put on leave.

"Voice of America promotes freedom and democracy around the world by telling America's story and providing objective and balanced news and information, especially for those living under tyranny," Abramowitz said.

One reporter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said: "We expected something like this to happen, and it happened just today."

Reporters Without Borders, an international non-governmental organisation, said it "condemns the decision as a departure from the historic role of the United States as a defender of free information and calls on the US government to reinstate Voice of America and calls on Congress and the international community to take action against this unprecedented move."

The US Global Media Agency has also sent out notices terminating grants for Radio Free Asia and other programmes under its purview. "Voice of America" broadcasts United States domestic news to other countries, often translated into local languages. Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and Marty broadcast news to countries with authoritarian regimes in those regions, particularly China, North Korea and Russia.

"The cancellation of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty grant agreement will be a huge gift to America's enemies," network president and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement.

Двое сотрудников в радиорубке "Голоса Америки" в Нью-Йорке, через которую ведутся все голосовые трансляции, 27 февраля 1953 года,1953 AP

Together, the networks reach about 427 million people. They date back to the Cold War and are part of a network of government-funded organisations trying to expand US influence and fight authoritarianism. These organisations include USAID, another agency that Trump has opposed.

The cuts are a sharp blow to a key element of the post-Cold War order, which has long enjoyed bipartisan support. Voice of America executives included Dick Carlson, father of conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.

Thomas Kent, former president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said Trump's intentions for those agencies are still murky. Without these news sources, he said, it will be much harder for the country to get its message out to the world.

"Without international broadcasting, the image of the United States and the Trump administration will be in the hands of others, including opponents of the administration, (as well as) countries and people who view the United States as an enemy," said Kent, an international media ethics consultant.

Trump's downsizing order also includes several other lesser-known government agencies such as the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (a nonpartisan think tank), the US Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.

Trump mutes Voice of America, makes space for Russian and Chinese influence

US President Donald Trump last week cut funding for international public radio stations Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, which broadcast programmes aligned with “democratic values” to millions of listeners around the world. In their absence, Russia and China are now set to fill the gap with their own state media offerings.


Issued on: 19/03/2025 - 
FRANCE24
By:Sébastian SEIBT

President Donald Trump signed an executive order reducing the scope the US Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America, as part of his campaign to downsize the US government. © Algi Febri Sugita, ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters


The decision was met with dismay in Europe and delight in Beijing, Moscow and Tehran. Trump on March 14 decided to cut funding for the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) – home to international radio stations Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

Hundreds of staff members – categorised as “radical left crazy people” by Trump ally and advisor Elon Musk – were placed on leave at the decades-old media outlets which, together, broadcast in more than 60 languages to 420 million listeners in more than 100 countries.

They are among “the few credible sources in dictatorships like Iran, Belarus, and Afghanistan", said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky at a meeting in Brussels on Monday as he urged EU leaders to stump up funds to save RFE/RL.

Watch moreVoice of America staff put on leave, Trump ally says agency 'not salvageable'

A ‘lie factory’

But in Russia, China and Iran, media outlets celebrated the news. “This is an awesome decision by Trump!” said Margarita Simonyan, editor of Russia’s RT network. “We couldn’t shut them down, unfortunately, but America did so itself."

The Kremlin did not comment but current and former Russian officials told independent media outlet The Moscow Times that it was glad to see the outlets go.

In recent years, the Kremlin was “especially irritated” by RFE/RL’s attempts to undermine “the wartime censorship Moscow imposed after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine” in Russia and former Soviet countries, the news outlet said.

An editorial in China’s Global Times branded VOA a “lie factory” that was “widely recognised as Washington's carefully crafted propaganda machine”.

15:04SCOOP © FRANCE 24

“When it comes to China-related reporting, VOA has an appalling track record,” it said, criticising its coverage of China’s treatment of the Uighurs, tensions in the South China Sea and Beijing’s economic difficulties.

In Iran, some media outlets said Trump had put a stop to “wasting money” to pay “corrupt” journalists who wanted to overthrow Tehran’s regime.
Soft power

Silencing VOA and RFE/RL “is not just like any other news organisation closing”, says Martin Scott, professor of media and global development at the University of East Anglia in the UK.

Both organisations are symbolic of the US itself, and its position in the world order, Scott adds. “They are an expression of US values in relation to press freedom and democracy."

VOA was founded in 1942 to promote democratic ideas in Nazi Germany, including sharing content like American music programs as a form of cultural diplomacy. During the Cold War, RFE began broadcasting to Soviet satellite states while its sister station RL focused on the Soviet Union.

VOA, especially, is “a soft power tool that has been used since the Second World War”, says Jack Thompson, a lecturer in the American studies department at the University of Amsterdam. “It has been part of US foreign policy for the entire post-World War II era."

Its success in building global reach was due, in part, to its annual budget of $267.5 million – a large sum compared with other public service international broadcasters.

“Voice of America had the means and the scale,” says Scott. “It was effective because of its massive reach in so many different languages to so many hard-to-reach precarious parts of the world.”

Both radio stations had undeniably political aims. “Their entire job was to highlight aspects of regimes that are run counter to what you might call liberal democratic values," Thompson says.

The impact of their loss will be “enormous”, Alsu Kurmasheva a Radio Free Europe journalist who was freed from detention in Russian as part of a prisoner exchange in August 2023, told CNN. “How is America going to tell its story?”
A ‘democratic disaster’

Why would Trump want to silence pro-US media? Their government-funded but independent stance goes against the project 2025 plan to reshape the US federal government put forward by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation and endorsed by members of the Trump administration.

“The idea is that the president is the sole repository of all democratic authority, and there should not be democratic checks and balances against him – including independent federal agencies like the USAGM," says Kate Wright, senior lecturer in media and communications at the University of Edinburgh and co-author with Martin Scott of "Capturing News, Capturing Democracy: Trump and the Voice of America".

The president has attacked the USAGM since his first term and has been spurred on by new advisor Musk, who is in charge of overseeing sweeping government cuts.

Musk “is one of the first people that started saying the US needed to get rid of Voice of America", says Thompson, “in part because he is an economic libertarian and he wants to dramatically shrink the size of the US government, and in part because he and a lot of others on the right viewed VOA and FRE/RL as essentially being captured by extreme left-wingers. They thought that too much of their content was woke.”

Read moreTrump administration escalate layoffs: Musk touts cuts at cabinet meeting

But as the US decreases its media footprint, it risks ceding influence to other global powers. Around the world, “authoritarian countries are pushing more and more money into international media networks”, says Wright. “Media is the first and most consistent target for would-be autocrats.”

Amid a global wave of democratic backsliding, she says “the decision to withdraw a course of credible and independent journalism is a democratic disaster".

If sources such as Voice of America disappear, their vast audiences will not stop seeking out news – they will get it from the few alternative sources they have available to them. “Often all you're left with is news and information that is perhaps unreliable, untrustworthy, or not independent," says Scott.

American think tank the Lowry Institute found that in Asia in 2024, VOA was the number one ranked foreign media radio broadcaster by a considerable margin. But in second place was Russia’s Sputnik.

The average listener may not be able to distinguish much difference between the two says Thompson, meaning that if one becomes unavailable, “they will get their information from another source. And if the next best source is Sputnik, then they are going to get their information from Sputnik."

“There can’t be empty space in media,” adds Kurmasheva. Without organisations like RFE/RL, she says, “Russian and Chines propaganda will fill [the gaps]."

She hopes her organisation will find a way to survive with its values intact. “We are still in business. Nobody quit. Nobody resigned. Our leadership is working on it and we hope we will stay in business one way or another,” she said.

But the Trump administration may have other plans for its diminished global networks. “It may be that their intention is to replace these journalists with perhaps more compliant journalists,” says Wright, “or to create a new network, which perhaps would not be bound by the sort of legal restrictions that protects Voice of America from political interference. We can't assume this is the end of the road.”

This article was adapted from the original in French.

 Voice of America

Trump ally gets blowback for attacking GOP judge who ruled against her: 'Keep losing'

David McAfee
March 8, 2026 

RAW STORY


Kari Lake (Shutterstock)


Donald Trump appointee Kari Lake vowed to fight a ruling by an "activist" judge, but an insider was quick to point out that the judge was appointed by Ronald Reagan.

Lake's actions in office were ruled "void" on Saturday after a conservative judge found that she was "illegally elevated." She was put in charge of the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) by Trump, and soon went down a path of trying to systematically destroy her own agency.

Then, as part of a lawsuit brought against Lake, a judge has ruled that she was improperly put in charge.


David Folkenflik reported that Lake told NPR that "she will appeal Judge Lamberth's ruling, invoking what she says is President Trump's mandate to cut waste in spending."

"An activist judge is trying to stand in the way of those efforts at USAGM," she said in a statement.

But ex-GOP lawmaker Barbara Comstock was quick to point out how ridiculous that notion is.

"Judge Royce Lamberth, a Texan, former JAG, former US Attorney and appointed to the court by President Reagan is a well known conservative, you ignoramus," Comstock wrote. "Keep Losing girl."

Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the suit, also weighed in:

"Today is a win in the fight against autocracy. The court confirmed what we have long known: Kari Lake took over not to lead U.S. Agency for Global Media, but to dismantle it. Not only are Lake's actions contrary to the mandate of Congress, but the president's installation of her at the agency without Senate confirmation also violated the Constitution. Voice of America has played a critical role since World War II to combat misinformation and disinformation, often promulgated by the world’s autocrats. This decision is a powerful affirmation of the rule of law and comes as threats to democracy loom not only around the world, but here at home. The court’s action protects federal media professionals across the Voice of America and affirms the power of independent journalism."

Perryman further added that, "We are honored to have represented workers, unions and journalists in resisting this administration's power grab."

US court voids mass layoffs at Voice of America parent


By AFP
March 8, 2026


President Donald Trump has ordered a funding freeze on US-funded outlets such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - Copyright DVIDS/AFP -

A federal judge ruled Saturday that President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee mass layoffs at Voice of America and other government-funded media was unlawfully appointed, rendering the job cuts invalid.

Kari Lake, a former TV anchor, was hired by Trump to head the US Agency for Global Media, part of his administration’s efforts to clamp down on what he considers unfriendly journalism.

She soon announced funding and job cuts, including the dismissal of more than 500 employees of Voice of America, created in the wake of World War II as a key instrument of American soft power worldwide.

Employees sued Lake over the firings, which were temporarily halted last September pending judicial review.

In his ruling, US District Judge Royce Lamberth determined that Lake’s appointment as senior advisor to the agency was made “in violation of the Appointments Clause and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.”

As a result, he wrote, “any actions taken by Lake during her asserted tenure as acting CEO between July 31 and November 19, 2025, including but not limited to the August 9 reduction-in-force efforts…are void.”

The Agency for Global Media is an independent agency tasked with promoting democracy and countering propaganda overseas through entities that include VOA, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.

Trump frequently attacks media outlets and denounced the editorial firewall at VOA that prevents the government from intervening in its coverage.

Lake, a Republican, unsuccessfully ran to be a US Senator representing Arizona in 2024.