Voice of America staff put on leave, Trump ally says agency 'not salvageable'

(Reuters) - -More than 1,300 Voice of America employees were placed on leave on Saturday and funding for two U.S. news services that broadcast to authoritarian regimes was terminated, one day after President
"I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced," Abramowitz said in a post on LinkedIn, saying it has played an important role "in the fight for freedom and democracy around the world."
VOA's parent agency, the
Trump's directives look set to devastate an organization that serves as a rare source of reliable news in authoritarian countries.
Founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, VOA now reaches 360 million people a week. As a group, USAGM employs roughly 3,500 workers with an
"All I've ever wanted to do is shoot straight and tell the truth, no matter what government I was covering. If that's a threat to anyone, so be it," he said on Bluesky.
On its website, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty notes that it has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government and warns readers in
Czech Foreign Minister
"From
The move follows Trump signing an executive order on Friday instructing USAGM and six other little-known agencies to reduce their operations to the minimum mandated by statutes, saying it was necessary to shrink bureaucracy.
FREE PRESS ADVOCATES CRITICAL
The president of the
"For decades, Voice of America has delivered fact-based, independent journalism to audiences worldwide, often in places where press freedom does not exist," Balsamo said.
Radio Free Asia's (RFA) president, Bay Fang, said the cancellation of its funding was "a reward to dictators and despots, including the
Some Republicans have accused VOA and other publicly funded media outlets of being biased against conservatives, and have called for them to be shuttered as part of the efforts by tech billionaire
So far, Musk's DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian workforce, frozen foreign aid and cancelled thousands of programs and contracts.
On Saturday, Musk made light of the cuts to USAGM.
"While winding down this global government propaganda agency, it has temporarily been renamed the
In addition to USAGM, Trump's order also targeted the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the
In a statement, the
(Reporting by
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