(TibetanReview.net, Mar16’25) – President Donald Trump has on Mar 14 signed an executive order, aimed at gutting the parent agency which runs the US government-funded media outlets Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia, among others, in his administration’s latest step to trim the federal bureaucracy. It is not clear yet what impact this decision will have on the Tibetan services of these two media outlets.
VOA, an international media broadcaster that operates in more than 40 languages online and on radio and television, is overseen by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The agency also funds Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The order says that this – and several other agencies targeted by the Mar 14 order – should eliminate all operations not codified in statute as well as “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.”
The order represents the latest step by Trump to downsize the federal bureaucracy, a task he has largely put in the hands of tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). So far, the DOGE effort has produced potential cuts of more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3-million-member federal civilian workforce, the freezing of foreign aid, and the cancellation of thousands of programs and contracts, noted Reuters Mar 14. The freezing of foreign aid already has a significant adverse effect on Tibetan projects.
The report said some Republicans have accused VOA and other publicly-funded media outlets of being biased against conservatives. Last month (Feb 9), Musk called for VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to be shut down in a post to his X social media platform.
Trump, who clashed with the VOA during his first term, picked former news anchor Kari Lake to be its director for his second. Lake, a staunch ally of the president, has often accused mainstream media of harboring anti-Trump bias. However, in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb 22, Lake said that while she understood calls to completely dismantle VOA, she believed it could be improved.
Meanwhile., some of VOA’s local-language radio stations have stopped broadcasting news reports and switched over to music to fill the airtime, reported edition.cnn.com Mar 15, citing listeners.
Even top editors at VOA have been ordered to stop working, so employees expect the broadcaster’s worldwide news coverage to grind to a halt, the report cited half a dozen sources who spoke with it on the condition of anonymity as saying.
“The Voice of America has been silenced, at least for now,” a veteran correspondent has said.
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While Trump allies argue that the broadcasters are bloated and outdated, advocates say that by dismantling the networks, the United States is ceding the airwaves to China and other world powers, thereby harming American interests abroad. They have called the broadcasters a bulwark for democracy. Those voices include Republican lawmakers.
“Gutting Radio Free Asia and other US Agency for Global Media platforms counters the principles of freedom our nation was founded on and cedes leverage to the Chinese Communist Party, North Korea and other regimes,” Rep. Young Kim, a California Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on East Asia and Pacific, has told Politicolast week.
The report continued that the United States has been funding international news and current affairs coverage intended for global audiences for decades. Both Republican and Democratic leaders have supported the attempts to promote accurate news — and democratic values — in places that are saturated by foreign propaganda.
This was in keeping with the agency’s mission statement, codified in law, which is to “inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.”
But the Trump administration has different expectations. An internal memo earlier this month said the mission is to “clearly and effectively present the policies of the Trump Administration around the world,” the report said.
Trump’s order is stated to be in line with Musk’s declaration in February that government-funded international broadcasters should be shut down altogether.
Following Trump’s decision, the American Foreign Service Association released a statement Mar 15, saying it “will mount a vigorous defense of USAGM and the Foreign Service professionals whose expertise is indispensable to its mission.”