Article in Salon by CK Smith, 6/21/25
Headline: ” ‘Dark day for truth’: Kari Lake slashes U.S. global media agency by 85%”
Subhead: “Critics say layoffs at Voice of America and others threaten press freedom and U.S. soft power abroad”
“Once a Cold War-era powerhouse for U.S. diplomacy, the U.S. Agency for Global Media has been gutted under a Trump executive order — slashing 1,400 jobs, or 85% of its workforce — in a move Kari Lake calls a win for taxpayers and critics warn is a death knell for press freedom. . .”
“But journalists and press advocates say the move silences independent reporting and undermines U.S. credibility abroad. ‘This spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism,’ said VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., called it ‘a dark day for the truth.’. . .”
Read the full article at:
https://www.salon.com/2025/06/21/dark-day-for-truth-kari-lake-slashes-us-global-media-agency-by-85/
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Article in The Guardian by Marian Dunbar, Maya Yang, and Tom Ambrose, 6/20/25
Headline: “Trump administration lays off hundreds of Voice of America employees”
Subhead: “The layoffs will reduce the staff at the agency to fewer than 200, around one-seventh of its total at the start of 2025”
“The Trump administration sent layoff notices today to more than 600 employees at Voice of America, a federally funded news organization that provides independent reporting to countries with limited press freedom, the New York Times reports.
“The layoffs will reduce the staff at the agency to fewer than 200, around one-seventh of its total at the start of 2025. The notices put journalists and support staff on paid leave until they are officially let go on 1 September.
“In March, Donald Trump accused Voice of America of spreading ‘anti-American’ and partisan ‘propaganda’ and called it ‘the voice of radical America’. . .”
