EU Sounds Warning as Trump Slashes Funding for US-backed Media Outlets | DW News

Mar 17, 2025 | Voice of America employees have been placed on administrative leave as the Trump administration cut grants to publicly funded US outlets broadcasting into Russia, China, and North Korea.

Meanwhile, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia, which are also funded by the US government, have seen their funding cut. All three outlets focus on broadcasting free information to audiences outside of the United States, including in conflict zones such as Ukraine, US rivals such as China and Russia and dictatorships such as North Korea.

The decision closely follows an executive order by President Donald Trump to shrink the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to its minimum legal function. The agency oversees Voice of America and provides funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.

DW spoke to Anja Osterhaus from Reporters without Borders about the damage likely to be done by Trump's cuts.

DW Director General Peter Limbourg also joined us on air to express his concerns. He said that Trump had effectively abandoned millions of people in autocratic countries who had relied on the Voice of America, and others, for information.


THE GUARDIAN:

Chinese state media celebrates Trump’s cuts to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia: Global Times hails US president’s order to strip back government funding to news organisations he deems ‘radical’ / Chinese state media has reacted gleefully to the Trump administration’s decision to slash government funding to media organisations such as Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA). / The Global Times, a daily English-language tabloid and Chinese Communist party mouthpiece, celebrated the cuts to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees broadcasters such as VOA and RFA. »

Trump Silences Biggest US Global Broadcaster for ‘Radical Propaganda’

THE TELEGRAPH: Staff are blocked from accessing Voice of America offices

All full-time staff at the US’s biggest international broadcaster have been placed on leave after Donald Trump ordered the government-funded agency to be scaled back for being “radical” and “anti-Trump”. The 1,300 Voice of America (VOA) employees were informed of the decision via email on Saturday, US media reported.

Staff have been blocked from accessing the broadcaster’s offices in Washington, DC, meaning freelancers and stringers worldwide have had to stop working as there is now no way to pay them, an insider told CBS News.

Michael Abramowitz, Voice of America’s director, said nearly his entire staff of journalists, producers and assistants had been suspended, crippling the broadcaster that operates in almost 50 languages.

“I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” Mr Abramowitz said on LinkedIn, adding that the broadcaster has played an important role “in the fight for freedom and democracy around the world”. » | Cameron Henderson | Sunday, March 16, 2025

Clearly, the re-election of Trump has ushered in a ‘New Dark Age’. Enlightenment is quickly turning into benightedness. – © Mark Alexander

Iran: Tehran Blames West for Riots
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi has accused Western nations and media of supporting violent protests in an attempt to create anarchy and split apart the Islamic Republic.

The BBC and Voice of America “are the mouthpiece of their government's public diplomacy," Qashqavi said during a press conference today. "They have two guidelines regarding Iran. One is to intensify ethnic and racial rifts within Iran and secondly to disintegrate the Iranian territories."

He added: "Any contact with these channels, under any pretext or in any form, means contacting the enemy of the Iranian nation. How can they say they are unbiased when their TV channel is like a war headquarters and in fact they are blatantly commanding riots? Therefore their claims are absolutely wrong. Their governments have ratified decisions so that they can act in this way."

Iranian authorities have become increasingly agitated at what they claim is Western meddling. Britain and the U.S. have denied such accusations, but years of ill will between Washington and Iran are playing like background music as Tehran appears a city divided between reformist protesters and government-backed militias.

And as the power struggle inside Iran's political class appeared to intensify, with reformist and conservative leaders exchanging sharp statements that blamed each other for last week's deadly street violence, authorities announced irregularities that could affect 3 million votes in 50 cities. >>> Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo | Monday, June 22, 2009