Washington: The Trump administration has initiated widespread layoffs at Voice of America (VOA) and other US-funded international media outlets, significantly downsizing institutions historically viewed as key to American influence abroad.
On Sunday, contractual employees at VOA were informed via email that their employment would be terminated by the end of March. The message, verified by AFP through multiple sources, instructed them to immediately stop working and restricted their access to agency buildings and systems.
This decision affects a significant portion of VOA's workforce, particularly within its non-English language services, where contractors are the majority. Many of these employees are non-US citizens, putting their residency status in jeopardy as their visas are tied to their jobs.
While full-time VOA employees have not been immediately dismissed, they have been placed on administrative leave with orders to refrain from working.
VOA, established during World War II, has long played a crucial role in broadcasting independent news to regions lacking press freedom. However, President Trump signed an executive order on Friday targeting VOA’s parent organization, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), as part of his broader efforts to reduce government spending. The agency had nearly 3,400 employees in the 2023 fiscal year and had requested $950 million in funding for the current fiscal year.
The sudden cuts have left some VOA services without new programming, forcing them to air music instead. The layoffs have also affected other US-backed broadcasters, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Persian-language Radio Farda (which operates despite Iranian government restrictions), and Alhurra, an Arabic-language network created in response to critical coverage from Al-Jazeera.
In a statement on Saturday, the White House defended the move, saying that “taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda,” a rare accusation against VOA, which has traditionally been seen as a counterforce to authoritarian regimes.
The move comes at a time when both China and Russia are significantly expanding their state-run media operations, providing alternative narratives to Western perspectives. China's state-run Global Times responded to the news with an editorial declaring that the dominance of Western media was "crumbling" and that VOA's narratives about China would ultimately be dismissed as outdated propaganda.
