Republican Congresswoman Young Kim of California has challenged a recent
executive order by President Trump that sought to dismantle the federal agency that oversees U.S. taxpayer-funded media outlets. The broadcasters — like
Voice of America , Radio Free Asia, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — have for decades served to project American values around the world while sharing fact-based news in a variety of languages. With the Voice of America falling silent, Kim said she worries the U.S. is
ceding the airwaves to foreign dictators. "And we're not there to counter that disinformation," she said.
What Voice of America does
Voice of America, overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, reached an audience of around 360 million people each week. It is prohibited by law from being broadcast in the U.S. It was
launched during World War II , beaming German language broadcasts into Nazi Germany to counter Hitler's propaganda machine. Voice of America expanded during the Cold War in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and China in an effort to challenge communist disinformation and propaganda. The broadcaster, with bipartisan support, spread American news and culture around the world, as well as information about specific regions where there is not a free press. The Voice of America
charter requires accurate, objective reporting. There's also a mandated
firewall that protects the editorial independence of its reporters from political meddling. "Our mandate was never to present the administration's story. Our mandate was always to present America's story," Patsy Widakuswara, Voice of America's White House bureau chief, said. Voice of America, which broadcasts daily news in 49 languages, has been supported by every U.S. president —- Republican and Democratic — since 1942, with one exception: President Trump.
Trump's problem with Voice of America
Worldwide, 86% of Voice of America's audience tell pollsters they find the broadcaster trustworthy. But President Trump's White House has called the broadcaster "radical propaganda." "The things they say are disgusting toward our country," he said in 2020. Back then, his Administration complained that Voice of America's coverage of the COVID pandemic praised Beijing's response and repeated Chinese propaganda. Mr. Trump has criticized many news outlets, but he seems to hold special disdain for Voice of America. Under both Trump Administrations, Steve Herman — Voice of America's former White House bureau chief and now chief national correspondent — has been investigated for his social media posts. In February, Mr. Trump installed
Kari Lake of Arizona, a former TV anchor who has lost two statewide political races, as senior advisor at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America and its sister services covering Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Cuba. "They've got national security risks inside this agency. The rot is so bad it's like having a rotten fish and trying to find the little portion you can eat. It's unsalvageable right now," Lake said earlier this month about the Agency for Global Media. 60 Minutes asked Lake for an interview regarding her plans for the Agency for Global Media and Voice of America. She declined. "I won't do an interview with a disreputable news outlet like 60 Minutes," Lake wrote. Two weeks ago, the White House released a statement titled "The Voice of Radical America," which listed a dozen specific grievances about Voice of America's reporting, including reports on White privilege, transgender migrants, and Hunter Biden's laptop. The statement came one day after Mr. Trump signed an executive order that called for the agency that oversees it to be eliminated to the "maximum extent consistent with applicable law."
What the silencing of Voice of America could mean around the world
The day after Mr. Trump's executive order,
Lake suspended Voice of America journalists and banned them from entering the Voice of America building. For the first time in 83 years, Voice of America went silent. "I knew at that point the Voice of America was gonna die very quickly," Voice of America correspondent Steve Herman said. Rep. Young Kim, a South Korean immigrant, is a longtime supporter of Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. She wants the president to reconsider his executive order. "When we are in an information war and we stop broadcasting into those repressive governments and into repressive societies … they are not going to hear the truth," she said. Shutting down the broadcasters, she said, plays into Chinese President Xi Jinping's hands. If America pulls back, China, ayatollahs, Kim Jong Un and dictators will fill the void, Kim said. "That concerns me because we're losing that information war," Kim said.
What's next for the broadcasters
VOA journalist Steve Herman questions whether the president's executive action is legal. "There are those who want to make the Voice of America the voice of the president," he said. "That's not up to the executive branch of government. That's up to the Congress. We're following the laws Congress passed." Patsy Widakuswara, Voice of America's White House bureau chief, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to resuscitate Voice of America. On Friday, a judge granted a temporary restraining order freezing the Administration's actions. But VOA remains off the air. Widakuswara fears the damage is already done. "If they bring back everybody next week, what kind of newsroom would that be?" she asked. "How can we continue to report without fear or favor with this hanging over us?"
