Latest news with #USAgencyForGlobalMedia
New York Times
28-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump Administration Rescinds Voice of America Layoffs After Errors in Notices
The Trump administration on Friday rescinded the layoff notices it had sent to employees at Voice of America after employees discovered errors in documents detailing the terms that could later nullify or significantly delay President Trump's attempts to gut the news organization. The email rescinding last week's layoff notices was sent by Voice of America's human resources office to employees based in Washington, where around 90 percent of its union-protected employees reside, according to the layoff plan the Trump administration sent to Congress earlier this month. But those reporters and support staff are not being called back to work, and Voice of America's parent agency, U.S. Agency for Global Media, 'will be running another RIF in the near future,' the email said, referring to federal layoffs with the acronym for 'reductions in force.' Hundreds of journalists and support staff at Voice of America had been scheduled to be laid off on Sept. 1. Kari Lake, a close Trump ally and the senior adviser to the global media agency, is leading the effort to gut Voice of America. She said in an email that her plan to reduce the agency's work force by 85 percent 'has remained unchanged.' 'The email that went out today allows employees to access and update their personnel files ahead of completion of the RIF,' Ms. Lake said. The Trump administration has accused Voice of America of spreading partisan 'propaganda,' calling it 'the voice of Radical America.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Independent
26-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Kari Lake's embarrassing flub on softball question on the language of Armenia
Watch as Kari Lake fails to answer a question on the language spoken in Armenia, in an awkward exchange on Wednesday (26 June) with a House Democrat. The Senior Advisor for the US Agency for Global Media was being questioned on the future of her agency at Capitol Hill when Rep. Jim Costa decided to ask her about the European country. Mr Costa asked her: 'I assume you know what language the people of Armenia speak?', to which Ms Lake replied: 'I've actually heard it. It's a beautiful language. I can't name it. Can you please tell me?' The democrat shot back 'yeah, it's Armenian', with Ms Lake laughing off the fumble, calling it a 'trick question'.
Washington Post
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
At committee hearing, Kari Lake defends dismantling VOA
The Trump administration's dismantling of the agency that oversees Voice of America and other government-funded news operations was 'incompetent, corrupt, biased, and a threat to America's national security and standing in the world,' Kari Lake told a House committee Wednesday. Making her first-ever appearance before Congress, Lake defended her tenure and said the U.S. Agency for Global Media needs to be shrunk until it can be eliminated.
The Guardian
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Voice of America aired Trump's message to Iranian people during US bombings
Voice of America (VOA) may have been used to broadcast Donald Trump's message to Iranians in Farsi during weekend military strikes, the president's senior adviser told Congress on Wednesday, revealing how the crumbling, traditionally independent news service is possibly functioning as a conduit for presidential messaging. Kari Lake, Trump's handpicked choice to oversee the US Agency for Global Media, told the House foreign affairs committee that VOA crews worked on Saturday to deliver Trump's message as bombing operations were under way. 'I'm very proud to say that when President Trump, when the bombings happened over the weekend, on Saturday, when President Trump started to speak, we had a crew in on Saturday delivering President Trump's message to the people of Iran in Farsi,' Lake testified. While VOA has historically served US interests globally, the comments from Lake, a former longtime television anchor who unsuccessfully ran as the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for Arizona's governorship then its Senate seat, suggest a more immediate, personal form of presidential communication than the service's traditional role of providing broader US policy context and news. Lake's testimony also came just days after the White House authorized the termination of 639 employees at VOA on Friday. The layoffs represent the final phase of Trump's assault on the broadcasting service, which has eliminated 1,400 positions since March and reduced the agency to just 250 employees across the entire US Agency for Global Media. VOA, founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, reportedly reached 360 million people weekly across dozens of languages as a major part of the US cold war broadcasting strategy to push American-centric ideas to populations under authoritarian rule. During Wednesday's hearing, Lake argued that Trump wants to completely eliminate VOA as an independent agency, claiming it 'does not know how to manage' and is disrespectful to American taxpayers. 'They shouldn't believe it. And I think this is why President Trump wants to eliminate the agency. The agency itself is not needed,' Lake said when asked why Congress should trust VOA. Lake made unsubstantiated claims that the agency had allowed 'dangerous people into our country' through allegedly improper security screenings of 1,500 employees, telling the House foreign affairs committee that intelligence officials had warned the agency was 'freelancing on your security screenings'. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion She suggested folding VOA's remaining functions back into the state department, where it operated in the 1940s and early 1950s during what she called its 'glory days' when there were 'guardrails on what the story of America was being told' and it wasn't 'anti-American'. The agency's demolition began in March when Trump signed an executive order targeting federal agencies he branded as bloated bureaucracy. In March, the White House issued a statement calling VOA 'propaganda' and 'leftist' and dubbed it 'the Voice of Radical America'. Three VOA journalists leading legal challenges against its near-shuttering said the cuts 'spell the death of 83 years of independent journalism that upholds US ideals of democracy and freedom around the world'.
Washington Post
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Judge chastises Trump administration in Voice of America hearing
In a hearing Monday to determine the future of Voice of America, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth scolded the government for not complying with his preliminary injunction from April. Lamberth lamented the 'paucity' of information provided by the Trump administration about how it is complying with the statutory obligations for running Voice of America and its parent, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, as ordered in an April injunction.
