Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, March 18, 2025 Real World News
Is the Voice of America (VOA) really America's voice?
Critics would contend that, no, it is not. The taxpayer-funded media agency has contracts with wire services The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse that are objectively challenged, to put it mildly, in covering U.S. news.
Kari Lake, who was brought on as special adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA and sister organizations like Radio Free Europe, said on Thursday that those contracts have been canceled.
“We should not be paying outside news organizations to tell us what the news is,” said Lake. “With a nearly billion-dollar budget, we should be producing news ourselves. And if that’s not possible, the American taxpayer should demand to know why.”
Meanwhile, several employees at VOA, the U.S.'s international news broadcast service, have been placed on administrative leave.
In an executive order signed Friday, President Donald Trump outlined seven federal agencies to be reduced in size, including the United States Agency for Global Media. The reduction was made to agencies Trump saw as "unnecessary," the order states.
"President Trump is delivering on his promise to make our government more efficient," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told USA TODAY on Saturday. "American taxpayers should not be funding anti-American propaganda in the name of journalism."
An email sent to Agency for Global Media employees instructed them to turn in identification badges and press passes and return all official government property. Employees placed on leave are also not allowed to enter Agency for Global Media buildings or systems.
According to a White House Fact Sheet, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) helped identify the agency as a target for budget cuts.
DOGE leader Elon Musk has repeatedly stated on X that the Agency for Global Media has been paying media organizations to push "left-wing" propaganda.
Lake estimated the move to terminate contracts with the AP, Reuters, and AFP would save $53 million.
In a social media post, Lake said that she is in a fact-finding mode and “boy, am I finding a lot of nonsense that the American taxpayer should not be paying for.”
In a meeting on Friday, VOA staffers were told to stop using wire service material for their reports, according to journalists who spoke under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
