Voice of America staff placed on administrative leave following cuts

Employees at Voice of America have been placed on paid administrative leave until further notice in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s executive order slashing funding for government-backed media outlets and six federal agencies.

The staff at Voice of America, an international media broadcaster that operates in more than 40 languages, said they received emails that placed them on administrative leave with full pay and benefits “until otherwise notified.”

The emails from a human resources executive at the US Agency for Global Media, the VOA’s parent agency, instructed the employees not to access their workplace or internal systems until further notice.

“For the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” Michael Abramowitz, the organization’s director and a veteran editor at the Washington Post and former head of Freedom House, said in a statement. He added that “virtually” the entire 1300-person staff was placed on leave.

USAGM is the federal agency that oversees the US government’s worldwide international broadcasters and distributes money to media outlets.

Apart from Voice of America, other broadcasters such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia have also faced funding termination.

Trump’s executive order not only targets government-funded media outlets but also affects six other federal agencies.

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On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a former local TV news anchor from Phoenix, Arizona, whom Trump named a senior adviser to USAGM, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that employees should check their email.

That coincided with notices going out placing Voice of America staff on paid administrative leave.

“While at USAGM, I vow to fully implement President Trump’s executive orders in his mission to reduce the size & scope of the federal government. Today we continue the process of doing that by streamlining our operations to what is statutorily required by law,” she wrote.

“It’s just a fraction of what I’ve found at US Agency for Global Media. There’s a reason it’s referred to as “pound-for-pound the most corrupt agency in Washington DC.”  Because it is!”

Lake, on Saturday posted a video on X at a building leased by VOA. She described the building as a waste of money, saying she would try to break the agency’s 15-year lease on the structure.

“We’re doing everything we can to cancel contracts that can be cancelled, save more, downsize and make sure there’s no misuse of your dollars,” she said.

Elon Musk, a senior Trump adviser and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said last month that Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Free Asia needed to be shut down because nobody listened to them anymore.

“It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money,” the X owner tweeted.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir