Trump Initiates Mass Layoffs at Voice of America

The Trump administration on Sunday initiated mass layoffs at Voice of America (VOA) and other US-funded media outlets, signaling its intent to overhaul institutions long regarded as key instruments of US influence.

Just a day after placing all employees on leave, the administration notified contract workers via email that their employment would officially end in late March.

The email, confirmed by multiple employees to AFP, instructed contractors to “cease all work immediately” and barred them from accessing agency buildings or systems.

Contractors constitute a significant portion of VOA’s workforce, particularly within its non-English language services, though recent figures on their numbers were not readily available.

Many of the contractors affected by the layoffs are not U.S. citizens, meaning they may lose their visa status along with their jobs.

While full-time Voice of America (VOA) employees, who have stronger legal protections, were not immediately terminated, they have been placed on administrative leave and instructed not to work.

VOA, established during World War II, broadcasts in 49 languages worldwide, aiming to provide reliable news to regions with limited media freedom.

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order targeting VOA’s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, as part of broader federal budget cuts.

The agency had 3,384 employees during the 2023 fiscal year and had requested $950 million for its current budget.

With VOA operations in limbo, some of its services have resorted to playing music due to a lack of new programming.

The cuts have also affected other U.S.-funded media outlets, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which was originally created to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War, and Radio Free Asia, which provides independent reporting in regions like China and North Korea, where press freedom is heavily restricted.

Additionally, Persian-language broadcaster Radio Farda, which is blocked by Iran’s government, and Alhurra, an Arabic-language network launched after the Iraq invasion to counter narratives from Al Jazeera, have also been significantly impacted.

The White House in a statement Saturday said that “taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda,” a charge rarely levelled before Trump at staid VOA, long aimed at countering communism.

Trump has frequently criticized media coverage of him and has expressed skepticism about funding VOA, citing its “firewall” that guarantees editorial independence.

These cuts come at a time when China and Russia are ramping up investments in state-controlled media to challenge Western narratives. China, in particular, has been distributing free content to media outlets in developing nations as part of its broader influence strategy.

In an editorial on the demise of VOA, China’s state-run Global Times said that “the monopoly of information held by some traditional Western media is being shattered.”

“As more Americans begin to break through their information cocoons and see a real world and a multidimensional China, the demonizing narratives propagated by VOA will ultimately become a laughingstock of the times,” it said.