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Drastic cuts to Voice of America staff! The email that employees received after Trump's executive order
2025-03-15 21:13:17 / AKTUALITET
Voice of America employees were laid off on Saturday and funding for two US news services was cut, a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on government-funded media outlets and six other federal agencies.
Multiple employees at the Voice of America, an international media broadcaster that operates in more than 40 languages, told Reuters of an email asking them not to enter their workplaces, although it is not yet known how many employees were affected.
The US Agency for Global Media also cut funding to Radio Free Europe, which broadcasts to Eastern European countries, including Russia and Ukraine, as well as to Radio Free Asia, which broadcasts to China and North Korea.
On its website, Radio Free Europe notes that it has been declared an “undesirable organization” by the Russian government and warns readers in Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine that they could “face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on or saving our content, or for contacting us.”
The move comes after Trump signed an executive order Friday directing USAGM and six other little-known agencies to reduce their operations to the minimum mandated by law, saying it was necessary to shrink bureaucracy. Trump, who clashed with Voice of America during his first term, chose former news anchor Kari Lake as its director for his second term. Lake, a staunch ally of the president, has frequently accused the mainstream media of harboring anti-Trump bias.
The President of the National Press Club in Washington, Mike Balsamo, through a statement on social media opposed the moves at the Voice of America.
“ For decades, VOA has provided independent, fact-based journalism to audiences around the world, often in countries where press freedom does not exist ,” Balsamo said. The decision, he said, “undermines America’s commitment to a free and independent press.”
The Paris-based organization Reporters Without Borders also criticized the move, with its director general, Thibaut Bruttin, saying it "threatens press freedom worldwide and negates 80 years of American history in supporting a free flow of information."
Some Republicans have accused the Voice of America and other publicly funded media outlets of being biased against conservatives. Last month, billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading efforts to downsize Trump's government, called for the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe to be shut down in a post on his social media platform X.
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