In this episode in the series Beyond Global Waves, we delve into the seismic events of Saturday, March 15th, 2025, a day that witnessed the dramatic silencing of a global broadcasting institution. President Donald Trump’s executive order brought an abrupt halt to the Voice of America (VOA), placing its entire staff of 1,300 journalists, producers, and assistants on administrative leave. This unprecedented action, lamented by VOA Director Michael Abramowitz as the silencing of a storied voice in the fight for freedom and democracy for the first time in 83 years, sent shockwaves through the media landscape.
The repercussions of this decision extended beyond VOA itself. As we discussed previously, the order targeted VOA’s parent company, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an organisation we established that stands for the U.S. Agency for Global Media. This move also involved the termination of grants to several of VOA’s sister news services that broadcast to regions with limited press freedoms. Among those significantly impacted were Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a crucial source of information for audiences in Eastern Europe including Russia and Ukraine, and Radio Free Asia, which served as a vital news outlet for individuals in China and North Korea.
This episode will explore the immediate aftermath of this dismantling, the criticisms levelled against the move as an undermining of America’s commitment to a free and independent press, and the broader questions it raises about the future of international broadcasting and the struggle for reliable news in an increasingly complex global environment. Kari Lake, the former news anchor and Trump loyalist nominated to be director of VOA, had previously described USAGM as a ‘giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer’ and declared it ‘not salvageable,’ indicating a clear intention to significantly reduce the agency’s operations.
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