More than 1,300 Voice of America employees have been placed on mandatory leave. They have been placed on leave since Saturday. In addition, the Trump administration has also canceled funding for two other US media outlets. Reuters reports
US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the parent company of the government-funded media outlet Voice of America and six other federal agencies to reduce staff.
Voice of America Director Michael Abramovich said that almost all of his organization's 1,300 journalists, producers and associates have been placed on administrative leave. This is almost paralyzing this broadcasting media outlet, which operates in about 50 languages.
Abramovich wrote in a post on the social media platform LinkedIn, 'For the first time in 83 years, the multilingual Voice of America is being silenced, and I am deeply saddened by this. It was making a significant contribution to the fight for freedom and democracy around the world.
The US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent organization of the Voice of America, has also canceled the allocation of two other media outlets, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. Radio Free Europe is broadcast in Eastern European countries. It is also heard from Ukraine and Russia. Radio Free Asia is broadcast in China and North Korea.
Trump's order is believed to destroy a popular media outlet. Voice of America is also popular as a reliable news outlet in authoritarian countries.
Last Friday, Trump signed an executive order. In that order, USAGM and six other little-known organizations were ordered to reduce the scope of their activities to the minimum level permitted by law. It is said that this is necessary to reduce bureaucracy.
Voice of America was founded in 1942 to campaign against Nazi propaganda. Voice of America still has 360 million subscribers worldwide in a week.
As a group, USAGM has about 3,500 employees. According to the latest Congressional report, its budget for 2024 was $886 million.
Former Voice of America host Carrie Lake, a known Trump loyalist, has been nominated as the organization's new director.
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