President Donald Trump ordered the dismantling of news agency Voice of America, the U.S.’s state-funded media outlet that Trump has railed against for promoting biased media reports.
“Voice of America has been out of step with America for years. It serves as the Voice for Radical America and has pushed divisive propaganda for years now,” a senior White House official told Fox News Digital.
Trump signed an executive order on Friday that commands the dismantling of seven government offices, including the United States Agency for Global Media, which is the parent company of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
“The non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law,” the EO reads.
Kari Lake, whom Trump named as the VOA’s next chief in December, is currently serving as senior advisor at the U.S. Agency for Global Media and told employees to “check your email” for more information on their employment futures.
“The President has issued an Executive Order titled Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy. It affects USAGM and its outlets VOA and OCB. If you are an employee of the agency please check your email immediately for more information,” Lake, who is also a former news anchor and Republican Arizona political candidate, posted to X. OCB refers to the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which is a Spanish language, government-funded radio and TV broadcaster that operates Radio and TV Martí in Miami, Florida.
Employees received an email on Saturday detailing that their employment was terminated, the Wall Street Journal reported, though it is unclear how many employees were affected.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media and Lake issued a press release on Saturday saying the agency is “not salvageable.”
“From top-to-bottom this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer—a national security risk for this nation—and irretrievably broken. While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule,” the press release said.
The seven government agencies targeted in the order include: the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; the U.S. Agency for Global Media; the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution; the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness; the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund; and the Minority Business Development Agency.
Voice of America has come under scrutiny for promoting biased content, including for allegedly “sanitizing” Hamas when the outlet neglected to note in an article in January that residents in Gaza cheered the terrorist group when it brought out coffins holding the remains of Israeli hostages, including children.
“Let’s get the facts straight: Hamas paraded the dead bodies of innocent Israelis, including two children, in front of cheering crowds. American taxpayers should not be paying the salaries of Hamas apologists who spout terrorist propaganda,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., told National Review at the time of VOA’s coverage.
Just days after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, VOA told its employees to “avoid calling Hamas and its members terrorists, except in quotes,” National Review reported that year.
The government-funded news outlet has also come under fire for other stories across the years, including running an article in 2020 that asked, “What Is ‘White Privilege’ and Whom Does It Help?” It was also criticized over publishing a story and video that was compared to a Biden campaign video in 2020, and downplaying the Hunter Biden laptop controversy that rocked the 2020 presidential campaign in its waning days.
“I have monitored the agency’s bureaucracy along with many of its reporters and concluded that it has essentially become a hubris-filled rogue operation often reflecting a leftist bias aligned with partisan national media,” a former VOA employee wrote in an op-ed last year calling for the outlet’s dismantling. “It has sought to avoid accountability for violations of journalistic standards and mismanagement.”
