The Trump administration has suspended most operations of the federally funded pro-democracy Voice of America and sister outlets, calling them vectors of “radical propaganda.”
In an executive order late Friday, President Trump targeted the outlet’s parent, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, as the “voice of radical America,” putting its employees on paid leave and locking them out of buildings and systems. Also affected are Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, famed for its Spanish-language broadcasts into Cuba. The axe came down on Saturday via Kari Lake, the Trump-appointed senior adviser to the agency, who directed employees in a post on X to check their email.
“I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” VOA director Michael Abramowitz, who took the reins last July, said in a statement Saturday. “I learned this morning that virtually the entire staff of Voice of America — more than 1,300 journalists, producers and support staff — has been placed on administrative leave today. So have I.”
Though USAGM is an independent agency established by Congress, Trump’s order directs that it and a slew of other small agencies be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law” as a way of “continuing the reduction of the federal bureaucracy.”
In a separate statement, the White House listed a handful of complaints and assertions made over the years against VOA regarding specific incidents and editorial judgments. Trump has held a public, longstanding grudge against VOA, Politico noted.
Abramowitz acknowledged VOA needs “thoughtful reform” but said neutering this “priceless asset,” given its “essential role in the fight against communism, fascism, and oppression,” was not the answer. That especially holds today, “when America’s adversaries, like Iran, China, and Russia, are sinking billions of dollars into creating false narratives to discredit the United States,” he said.
Press-freedom advocates expressed outrage and alarm.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called the move deeply concerning, as it “threatens press freedom worldwide and negates 80 years of American history in supporting a free flow of information,” RSF general director Thibaut Bruttin said in a statement. “RSF calls on the U.S. government to immediately respect the autonomy of VOA as an independent news organization and to cancel this decision. Furthermore, RSF urges Congress and international stakeholders to mobilize against this fateful move.”
The group also voiced concern for the 10 employees of the Agency for Global Media who are being detained abroad, noting they could be further endangered.
VOA and its sibling networks have for decades broadcast domestic news from the U.S. into other countries, reaching 427 million people in 48 languages. Radio Free Asia, Europe and Marti send news into countries yoked under authoritarian regimes, including China, North Korea and Russia. Along with the now-disbanded U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the broadcasts have traditionally been considered a form of soft diplomacy, a model for independent journalism, NPR noted.
Those countries’ dictators would likely relish the absence of such material, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement.
“The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies,” he said. “The Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years. Handing our adversaries a win would make them stronger and America weaker.”