After coming to power in the US, the Trump administration has taken several steps to assert its authority over Voice of America. Recently, it cancelled contracts that allowed VOA to use material from independent news organisations, such as The Associated Press.
US President Donald Trump’s administration began to make deep cuts to Voice of America (VOA) and other government-run, pro-democracy programming on Saturday. The organisation’s director, Michael Abramowitz, has said that all VOA employees have been sent on leave.
The director underscored that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced, as he added that “virtually” the entire 1300-person staff was placed on leave.
After Congress passed its latest funding bill on Friday, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law.
The agencies that Trump targets include the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia, and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba.
One reporter, under the condition of anonymity, said, “We expected something like this to happen, and it just happened to be today.
The Agency for Global Media also sent notices terminating grants to Radio Free Asia and other programming run by the agency.
Voice of America transmits United States domestic news into other countries, often translated into local languages.
Radio Free Asia, Europe, and Marti beam news into countries with authoritarian regimes in those regions, like China, North Korea, and Russia.
The press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said it “condemns this 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.”
The reduction is a dramatic blow to a staple of the post-Cold War order that has long had bipartisan support.
The Trump administration has already taken other steps to assert its authority over Voice of America and this week cancelled contracts that allowed VOA to use material from independent news organisations, such as The Associated Press.
(With inputs from AP)
