White House explains suspension of US state-run media

President Donald Trump’s order to slash funding for VOA and its parent company aims to free Americans from paying for “radical propaganda”

16 MAR 2025 CET RT: © Getty Images / narvikk

US President Donald Trump’s decision to terminate government funding for Voice of America (VOA) is aimed at ensuring that taxpayers no longer pay for “radical propaganda,” the White House has said.

In a statement on Saturday, titled ‘The Voice of Radical America’, the administration detailed a list of infractions committed by VOA.

Trump, a long-time critic of the broadcaster, signed an executive order slashing funding for the outlet’s parent entity, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), on Friday. The order mandates that the agency cut its operations and staff to the bare legal minimum and submit a compliance plan within seven days. On Saturday, VOA director Michael Abramowitz said he had placed nearly his entire staff of 1,300 on administrative leave following the order’s publication.

The move has drawn criticism from press freedom groups. National Press Club President Mike Balsamo claimed the cuts undermine America’s commitment to a free and independent press, while Reporters Without Borders warned that the decision “threatens press freedom worldwide.”

The White House argued that VOA has repeatedly violated journalistic standards and accused the outlet of systemic bias, citing over a dozen sources. Among them was Dan Robinson, a 34-year VOA veteran, who last year called the agency a “hubris-filled rogue operation often reflecting a leftist bias aligned with partisan national media.”

The White House also pointed to a Daily Caller report alleging that multiple VOA reporters had posted anti-Trump comments on social media in violation of the outlet’s impartiality policy. Additionally, it referenced a 2022 letter from US Representative Scott Perry, who accused VOA of tolerating “coercion for partisan political purposes.”

Other alleged infractions listed by the White House included misallocation of funds and coverage that was overly favorable to former President Joe Biden. The administration also cited a 2022 lawsuit alleging that VOA had been “infiltrated by anti-American, pro-Islamic State interests.”

USAGM’s Trump-appointed senior adviser, Kari Lake, echoed the administration’s stance. On Saturday, she described the agency as “a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer,” and argued that it is “not salvageable.” She pledged to reduce the agency’s scope to its legal minimum, outlining her own findings of irregularities, including claims that USAGM was infiltrated by spies and terrorist sympathizers and has funded ‘fake news’ organizations.