Trump Administration Fires Hundreds of Voice of America Employees
New York Times23 hrs
Trump Administration Fires 600 Voice of America Staff Amid Court Battle
Above: The Voice of America (VOA) sign is displayed on its building on March 17, 2025, in Washington, D.C., U.S. Image copyright: Alex Wong/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-Trump narrative
VOA has long been a dysfunctional news outlet, squandering American tax dollars on partisan reporting and ineffective diplomacy. Its Cold War glory faded into irrelevance, with Persian broadcasts now echoing Iranian propaganda and reporters fixated on criticizing Trump rather than promoting U.S. interests. Trump's cuts target a bloated agency that outsources news to biased wire services, neglecting its mission to tell America's story globally.
Anti-Trump narrative
Trump's gutting of VOA is a reckless attack on a vital tool for U.S. soft power. For decades, the outlet has reached millions in closed societies, countering dictators' propaganda with credible news. VOA's 360 million-strong weekly listeners, from Iran to China, rely on it for truth. Just as he did with USAID cuts, Trump is ceding ground to Russia and China, betraying democracy's cause and wasting a proven asset. Congress must act to save it.
Cynical narrative
From its Cold War inception, VOA, as well as Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia, were never real news websites reporting the truth; they were always CIA propaganda outlets. Even Trump, who is now rightly shutting VOA down, is guilty of using it as an anti-Iran propaganda machine during his first term. Whether a Republican or Democrat is in office, VOA has always been a warmongering government mouthpiece.