Trump silences Voice of America and RFE/RL

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order cutting funding for Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and five other federal agencies, effectively shutting down America’s international broadcasting networks after decades of operation.

The decision severs access to unbiased information for millions living under authoritarian regimes worldwide, inadvertently aiding Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and other propaganda outlets in filling the resulting void.

The order, signed late on 14 March, targets the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees several federal broadcasters, along with six other agencies focused on homelessness, labor disputes, and community development, RFE/RL reported. Hours after its publication, media reports surfaced of a USAGM letter stating that the Congress-approved grant funding RFE/RL had been terminated.

According to Michael Abramowitz, Voice of America’s director, “virtually” the entire 1,300-person staff has been placed on administrative leave.

“For the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” Abramowitz said in a statement, according to AP.

According to ABC News, full-time employees at Voice of America received an email on 15 March from human resources saying they have been placed on paid administrative leave. The email instructs employees not to access government buildings or systems and to be reachable by personal email and cellphone.

“We expected something like this to happen, and it just happened to be today,” one reporter told AP, speaking under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Impact on global media freedom

RFE/RL President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen Capus warned that cancelling the grant agreement would be “a massive gift to America’s enemies.”

“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,” he said in a statement.

Capus added:

“We’ve benefitted from strong bipartisan support throughout RFE/RL’s storied history. Without us, the nearly 50 million people in closed societies who depend on us for accurate news and information each week won’t have access to the truth about America and the world.”

AP says the press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders condemned the decision “as a departure from the US’s historic role as a defender of free information and calls on the US government to restore VOA and urges Congress and the international community to take action against this unprecedented move.”

Ukrainian military expert Tatarigami noted on X:

“News of the termination of funding for RFE/RL, emails placing Voice of America employees on indefinite leave, and the shutdown of the Wilson Center, on the same day, are a devastating blow to democracy and a major gift to anti-American authoritarian regimes worldwide.”

White House justification

The White House released a statement titled “The Voice of Radical America” on 15 March, claiming that the executive order “will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.”

The statement cited Dan Robinson, a 34-year veteran of Voice of America and its former White House correspondent, who claimed last year that VOA “has essentially become a hubris-filled rogue operation often reflecting a leftist bias aligned with partisan national media.”

The White House also claimed Voice of America told staff not to call Hamas and its members terrorists “except when quoting statements” and cited multiple allegations of anti-Trump bias among VOA reporters.

Additionally, the White House cited several cases that effectively amounted to alleged biased reporting not favoring Trump and his agenda.

Scope of affected organizations

The USAGM is an independent US government agency that oversees the broadcasting of news and information in almost 50 languages to some 361 million people each week.

Together, the networks reach an estimated 427 million people, according to Euronews. The cuts impact Voice of America, RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio Martí), Middle East Broadcasting Networks, and the Open Technology Fund.

RFE/RL reports that the total budget request for USAGM for Fiscal Year 2025 was $950 million to support all operations and capital investments.

Thomas Kent, former president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, told AP that without these news sources, it will be much harder for the country to get its messages to the world.

“Without the international broadcasting, the image of the United States and the Trump administration will be in the hands of others, including the administration’s opponents, (and) countries and people who consider the United States an enemy,” said Kent.

In addition to the USAGM, Trump’s executive order targets the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, and the Minority Business Development Agency.

Related:

You could close this page. Or you could join our community and help us produce more materials like this. We keep our reporting open and accessible to everyone because we believe in the power of free information. This is why our small, cost-effective team depends on the support of readers like you to bring deliver timely news, quality analysis, and on-the-ground reports about Russia's war against Ukraine and Ukraine's struggle to build a democratic society. A little bit goes a long way: for as little as the cost of one cup of coffee a month, you can help build bridges between Ukraine and the rest of the world, plus become a co-creator and vote for topics we should cover next. Become a patron or see other ways to support. Become a Patron!