Trump Administration Shuts Down Voice of America, Radio Liberty

US President Donald Trump has cut federal funding for Voice of America (VOA), the US’s international radio station that was created in 1942 to fight Nazi propaganda.

According to the executive order signed on March 14, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) will have to reduce its activities, and severely cut its staff. The Trump-ordered cuts for USAGM will see radio stations like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia have their funds cut.

These radio stations cover news in 50 different languages for nearly 361 million people. They now risk disappearing as a result of the funding cuts.

Under the Trump administration, the Voice of America’s parent company USAGM will be run by Kari Lake

In the executive order, Trump labeled the Voice of America as the “The Radical Voice of America.” The feeling was echoed by one of Trump’s top advisors, Elon Musk, who said the Voice of America and Radio Liberty were “left radicals, that talk amongst themselves and burn billions of taxpayer dollars.”

Kari Lake, who runs USAGM for the Trump Administration posted on X, saying “I moved today to cancel expensive and unnecessary newswire contracts for US Agency for Global Media, including tens-of-millions of dollars in contracts with The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.”

I've been in fact-finding mode at the USAGM, & boy, am I finding a lot of nonsense that the American taxpayer shouldn't be paying for.

Today, I started the process of terminating the agency's contracts with the Associated Press, Reuters, & the Agence France-Presse. This will… pic.twitter.com/iYyaPnJ9lD

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 14, 2025

She added, that “USAGM is an American taxpayer-funded News Organization with an 83-year history. We should not be paying outside news companies to tell us what the news is—with nearly a billion-dollar budget, we should be producing news ourselves. And if that’s not possible, the American taxpayer should demand to know why.”

By March 15, the Trump administration had cut 1,300 Voice of America employees. Almost 550 of the journalists who were terminated by the administration were not American citizens, but were there on educational visas and are now forced to leave the country.

Chinese state media celebrated Trump’s decision to cut  VOA

Beijing’s state newspaper, Global Times, celebrated the Trump administration’s decision to end the Voice of America, saying the radio station that reported on China, Radio Free Asia, had “an appalling track record” on reporting on the country, and has “now been discarded by its own government like a dirty rag.”

Despite VOA being banned in China, people in the country could still listen to it through shortwave radio or VPNs. The radio stations under USAGM had won international recognition for reporting on places with authoritarian regimes that have no freedom of the press.

Yes, shut them down.

1. Europe is free now (not counting stifling bureaucracy). Hello??

2. Nobody listens to them anymore.

3. It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money. https://t.co/PnmN4erD91

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 9, 2025

For instance, the Voice of America aired on German radio waves in 1942, offering an alternative to the radio shows that were controlled by the Nazis.

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