Trump admin begins mass layoffs at Voice of America
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump's administration has begun mass layoffs at Voice of America and other U.S.-funded media, making clear its intent to gut outlets long seen as critical for U.S. influence.
Just a day after all employees were put on leave, staff working on a contractual basis received an email on March 16 notifying them that they were terminated at the end of March.
The email told contractors that "you must cease all work immediately and are not permitted to access any agency buildings or systems."
Contractors make up much of VOA's workforce and dominate staffing in the non-English language services, although recent figures were not immediately available.
Many contractors are not U.S. citizens, meaning they likely depend on their soon-to-disappear jobs for visas to stay in the United States.
Most full-time VOA staff, who have more legal protections, were not immediately terminated but remain on administrative leave and have been told not to work.
Voice of America, created during World War II, broadcast around the world in 49 languages with a mission to reach countries without media freedom.
Trump signed an executive order on March 14 targeting VOA's parent U.S. Agency for Global Media in his latest sweeping cuts to the federal government.
The agency had 3,384 employees in the 2023 fiscal year. It had requested $950 million for the current fiscal year.
The sweeping cuts also froze Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, formed in the Cold War to reach the former Soviet bloc, and Radio Free Asia, established to provide reporting to China, North Korea and other Asian countries.
The White House said in a statement on March 15 that "taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda," a charge rarely leveled before Trump at the staid VOA, long aimed at countering communism.
