Staff Reductions at US Agency for Global Media Signal the End of Voice of America

On Friday, the parent agency of the Voice of America (VOA) announced that it has sent out termination notices to an additional 639 employees, completing an 85% personnel decrease since March. This significant cut highlights an agenda initiated under U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at reducing staffing levels at the agency to its statutory minimum, effectively putting an end to a broadcasting network that was created to combat Nazi propaganda during World War II.

Kari Lake, a senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), explained that this reduction resulted in the elimination of 1,400 positions, and she characterized the agency as formerly burdened by "dysfunction, bias, and waste." Following these cuts, USAGM is now operating with approximately 81 employees, down from a significantly larger workforce, with a remaining staff of 250 across USAGM, Voice of America, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which provides news coverage to Cuba. Notably, no employees from the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which consists of 33 staff members, were affected by the layoffs.

The implications of these staffing reductions may signal the end of operations for VOA, which has historically worked in nearly 50 languages and reached around 360 million people weekly, many of whom reside under authoritarian governments. Recently, the agency had also dismissed nearly 600 contractors. Additionally, some Republican figures have accused VOA and similar publicly funded media entities of harboring anti-conservative bias and have advocated for their closure as part of broader governmental downsizing efforts. Meanwhile, another USAGM outlet, Radio Free Asia, has begun to implement more furloughs across various departments due to ongoing staffing challenges. Legal actions regarding the cuts are underway.