As it has with other government agencies, the Trump administration is moving swiftly to assert its vision at the Voice of America. As it does so, a question hangs in the air: Is the news organization’s journalistic mission, which dates to World War II, in for some fundamental changes? …
The agency’s charter requires that its journalists deliver independent news and information, and not be a government mouthpiece. Conservatives have often chafed at that; outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the agency employees in 2021 that they often sounded like “Vice of America” and shouldn’t be afraid to extol the country’s greatness.
Trump has also been critical. He said on social media that Lake’s appointment will help “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the world FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media.”
Billionaire Elon Musk, leading Trump’s government efficiency efforts, has no use for the organization. He posted on X on Feb. 9 to “shut them down.” Musk wrote that “nobody listens to them anymore” and that it’s “just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching” taxpayer money.
Voice of America is ” the largest U.S. international broadcaster, providing news and information in nearly 50 languages to an estimated weekly audience of more than 354 million people.” And it is part of “the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the government agency that oversees all non-military, U.S. international broadcasting. It is funded by the U.S. Congress.”