Voice of America journalists sound off on ‘betrayal’ after Trump dismantles broadcaster

In what is being described as “Bloody Saturday,” over 1,300 employees at Voice of America were placed on indefinite suspension this weekend after President Donald Trump issued a Friday night edict ordering the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the network’s parent agency, to eliminate its workforce and activities not required by law.

With the state-funded broadcaster — which has been seen as a vital part of America’s soft diplomacy — going largely silent after more than 80 years on the air, VOA journalists and executives are sounding off over what they see as a “betrayal of the ideals” that drove the organization, adding that it will only be “celebrated” by America’s adversaries.

Two days after Trump bristled at a VOA reporter for asking the Irish prime minister about the president’s proposal to displace all Palestinians from Gaza, the White House released an executive order on Friday night that outright gutted the USAGM, which also oversees Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, as well as other non-profit international media outlets.

The following morning, while the outlet’s reporters in Washington were preparing their broadcasts, the entire VOA staff was placed on indefinite administrative leave. While terminating all of the grant programs to USAGM, the White House also released a statement on Saturday justifying the dismantling of VOA, labeling it the “Voice of Radical America,” claiming “taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.”

The termination notices for the grants were signed by Trump senior adviser Kari Lake, the MAGA firebrand and failed Arizona political candidate he wants to lead the network. NPR reported that it doesn’t appear she had the “statutory authority” to carry out that order. Besides turning to Lake to oversee VOA, Trump has additionally appointed conservative media critic Brent Bozell III to lead the USAGM — who is still waiting to be confirmed by the Senate.

By Sunday night, many of the employees who were placed on leave were officially fired, effective at the end of the month. This included VOA’s press freedom reporter Liam Scott, who noted over the weekend that there were currently 10 journalists who worked for USAGM entities and are now “imprisoned around the world for doing their jobs,” adding: “I hope they will not be forgotten.” Meanwhile, newscasts across many of the VOA channels were being replaced by music to fill up airtime.

With the president’s effort to shutter Voice of America — which he’s long been critical of — seemingly part of his broader mission to debilitate legacy news media, reporters who have now been sidelined by Trump’s latest action lamented the death of the vaunted institution. They also warned that these radio stations going dark around the globe were essentially a gift to authoritarian regimes that had long been aggrieved by the outlets’ reporting. Many of those most angered by VOA’s reporting, such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban, enjoy friendly relationships with Trump.

“A silencing of VOA will be celebrated by communists, autocrats and ayatollahs whose lies we shed light on,” VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb tweeted. “What a mission I've been lucky enough to embark on — a mission to grow American influence around the world, not by sharing slanted American propaganda, but by giving them the TRUTH! Why? Because America has the truth on its side.”

Sharing a link to a story she had just published, Babb also hoped that it “isn’t my last report as a VOA journalist.” The article has already been taken down and deleted.

Voice of America chief national correspondent Steven Herman, who was placed on paid “excused absence” last month for social media posts that angered the White House, penned a “requiem” for the network on his Substack.

“T​he ​d​e facto destruction of the Voice of America — is nothing less than a betrayal of the ideals that gave birth to t​he institution and​ made it relevant throughout W​orld War II, the Cold War and in the decades after the collapse of the Berlin Wall,” he wrote.

“To eliminate ​t​hese institution​s turns our backs on those around the world who have counted on us​. It is to surrender a unique platform that no other country can replicate,” Herman continued. “It was never just about America’s voice — it was about America’s integrity.​ There will be celebrations in the autocratic halls of power this weekend in Moscow, Minsk, Beijing, Pyongyang and Tehran.”

The network’s director Michael Abramowitz, meanwhile, said he was “deeply saddened” that the storied organization was “being silenced” after 83 years.

“VOA needs thoughtful reform, and we have made progress in that regard. But today’s action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “That mission is especially critical today, when America’s adversaries, like Iran, China, and Russia, are sinking billions of dollars into creating false narratives to discredit the United States.”

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Steve Capus echoed those sentiments, calling the cancellation of the overseas stations’ grants “a massive gift to America's enemies,” who would “celebrate the demise” of RFE after decades on the air.

“Handing our adversaries a win would make them stronger and America weaker. We've benefitted from strong bipartisan support throughout RFE/RL's storied history,” Capus declared. “Without us, the nearly 50 million people in closed societies who depend on us for accurate news and information each week won't have access to the truth about America and the world.”

If Voice of America is somehow saved, meanwhile, some employees worry that Lake — who previously said she “had big plans to transform” the network — could revive it as nothing more than a pro-Trump propaganda arm.