More than 1,300 VOA employees were furloughed Monday, and Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe, also run by the U.S. government, were cut off from funding.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday evening cutting spending at the agency that oversees the media, USAGM, and six other federal agencies, reduce operations to regulatory minimums. Nearly all the Voice of America, producers and assistants have been placed on administrative leave, “Including me,” Abramowitz said in a linkedin post Thursday, Reuters reported.
An employee of the Voice of America, who asked not to be named, told AFP news agency that the messages received on the 15th added to the already jittery mood of the past few weeks. According to Reuters, VOA Seoul Bureau Chief Gaylor said Tuesday that all of his company’s systems and accounts could not be accessed.
The Voice of America website does not carry news of forced furloughs. Founded in 1942, the Voice of America is the largest international multimedia news organization in the United States, reporting in more than 45 languages to audiences with”Little or no freedom of the press,” according to its website.
“I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, legendary Voice of America have been silenced,” Abramowitz said of the executive order
The Voice of America, which prides itself on”Freedom and democracy”, is closely related to the propaganda strategy of the American government. The Voice of America was established to counter the German Nazi propaganda, and became an important tool of American foreign propaganda during the Cold War.
The Associated Press said the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe formed part of a network of government-funded organizations during the Cold War that sought to expand great beauty’s influence and crack down on autocracy. Some kind of network, some kind of United States Agency for International Development.
Yang Yujun, Dean of the Institute of Media and Public Affairs at the Communication University of China, told the Global Times on the 16th that since its establishment, the Voice of America is the American propaganda machine for the ideological infiltration of certain countries. “The best example of this is that many of the programs produced by VOA are not available in the United States and are only broadcast to specific countries outside the United States.”
In his first term, Donald Trump had a philosophical difference with his Voice of America. Donald Trump criticized the American media for not doing a good job in promoting the image of the United States and said he would build a”Global network” to show the world the real America. He named Michael Parker”Head” of the U. S. Agency for international media. The move was Voice of America to affect its”Independence” and its president, Bennett, and vice-president subsequently resigned.
According to NPR at the time, Bennett said that”Voice of America tries to cover all aspects of America.”, eNSORE, the former president, also found that Voice of America sometimes swelled audiences when they told”Unpleasant truths about America”. That may not be what Donald Trump wants, the report said.
Donald Trump re-appointed former news anchor Cary Lake as Special Advisor to the U.S. Agency for international media. The US media has described lake as a”Staunch supporter” of Donald Trump and has often criticised the mainstream media for bias against Donald Trump. Lect also issued a statement saying ima was”A colossal corruption and burden on American taxpayers” and”Irreparable”. She said it would be reduced to a minimum by law. The White House said in a statement that Donald Trump’s executive order”Will ensure that taxpayers no longer pay for aggressive propaganda”.
The U. S. Government is the full funder of the international media agency. The agency employs about 3,500 people and has a budget of $886 million, according to its latest report to Congress, ABC 2024.
Musk and the Ministry of government efficiency are also pushing for the closure of Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. Musk called them”Talking to themselves while wasting $1bn a year of US taxpayers’ money”. The two c.i.a.-affiliated broadcasters were used by Washington to counter Soviet influence in Europe during the Cold War, he said, but”No one listens to them anymore.”.
According to Yang, the voice of America’s influence has actually declined significantly. However, the fact that the U.S. government has reduced funding for organizations such as voice of America does not mean that it has stopped carrying out ideological propaganda against other countries, “The government hopes to force this kind of outdated propaganda tool to transform itself into a more modern way of communicating, more suitable for the habits of the audience, and more covert way of communicating.”