The Trump administration’s decision to cut public funding for radio programmes such as Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Radio Free Europe has been welcomed by Chinese state media, but lamented by listeners, journalists and people who support freedom over tyranny.
All three stations have a long history of reporting on authoritarian regimes.
However, a Donald Trump executive order on Friday targets the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which is supported by Congress and funds the affected news outlets.
According to the BBC, the White House defended the move, saying it would “ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda”.
The decision affects thousands of employees. Some 1,300 staff have been put on paid leave at Voice Of America (VOA) alone since Friday’s executive order.
The BBC reports that critics have called the move a setback for democracy, but Beijing’s state newspaper Global Times denounced VOA for its “appalling track record” in reporting on China, and said it has “now been discarded by its own government like a dirty rag”.
Although authorities in some of these countries block the broadcasts − VOA, for instance, is banned in China − people can listen to them on shortwave radio or get around the restrictions via VPNs.
Valdya Baraputri, a VOA – and former BBC World Service − journalist who lost her job over the weekend, is reported as saying: “Eliminating VOA, of course, allows channels that are the opposite of accurate and balanced reporting to thrive.”
The National Press Club, a leading representative group for US journalists, said the order “undermines America’s long-standing commitment to a free and independent press”.
Founded during World War Two in part to counter Nazi propaganda, VOA reaches some 360 million people a week in nearly 50 languages. Over the years it has broadcast in China, North Korea, communist Cuba and the former Soviet Union. It has also been a helpful tool for many Chinese people to learn English.
VOA’s director, Michael Abramowitz, said Trump’s order had hobbled VOA while “America’s adversaries, like Iran, China, and Russia, are sinking billions of dollars into creating false narratives to discredit the United States”.
[Image: Rhododendrites – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87634369]