VOA, Other International News Services, Marked for Cuts
/The US Agency for Global Media has been marked for defunding. Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and Radio Marti are among the international news services that the White House says it is preparing to dismantle. Kent Peterson KCØDGY gives us the details.
Voice of America, a shortwave service launched in 1942 during the Second World to bring news to countries under authoritarian control, is among US-based news programming for overseas audiences targeted in a deep cut by the Trump administration. According to various media reports, VOA employees have been notified that they were all being placed on paid administrative leave with full benefits - effective immediately.
“to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy”
Cuts to VOA, as well as Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, Radio Marti and others are the result of reductions taking place inside the US Agency for Global Media, where these programs originate. These cuts are part of the ongoing downsizing of the US government. The agency operates with congressional funding to deliver news in 64 languages to listeners around the world via six networks, some of which were created during the Cold War. VOA’s first broadcast, made in 1942, was in German and was transmitted to German listeners to counter Nazi propaganda.
On Friday the 15th of March, Trump signed the executive order for the cuts, noting in the language of the order itself that the services earmarked for reduction have been deemed “unnecessary.”
