"#VOA told the Chinese people about the military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in #Tiananmen Square and the deadly #COVID outbreak in Wuhan when their own government wouldn't. It beamed reports into Iran about the democracy protests in 2009, it told the people of North Korea about their government's gulags and Russians about atrocities in Ukraine. VOA has been supported by every president since 1942 – Republican and Democrat … all but one."
#voa
2 posts2 participants0 posts today
https://youtu.be/lAmhbchfxDA
Another Victim Of Musk’s DOGE Chainsaw: What The GOPs silencing of ‘Voice of America’ means for listeners worldwide | 60 minutes (CBS News VIDEO) #Ukraine #Mastodon #VoA #BoycottMusk #BoycottTesla #BoycottX #Tesla #Musk #ElonMusk #NukesForUkraine #SouthKorea #Japan #Press #Taiwan #Media #NukesOrNATO #USA #US #UK #EU #NATO #News #UnitedStates #EuropeanUnion #UnitedKingdom #russiaUkraineWar #11yrInvasionofUkraine #RussiaIsATerroristState
Replied in thread
Da said he learned some of his English in college while listening to #VOA broadcasts & also learned news that wasn't reported in the Chinese media.
Da acknowledges that in recent years, VOA was less important as the internet spread. But he says another agency mattered more: the U.S. Agency for International Development (#USAID).
A federal judge has issued a restraining order against #KariLake & the #Trump admin barring the cancelation of funding for #RadioFreeEurope.
The decision to terminate, the judge says, appears to violate the #law & the intent of #Congress.
Trump’s shuttering of global media agency endangers reporters, staff say
Foreign workers at US government-backed media outlets being cut by the Trump administration say they face deportation to their home countries,
where some risk imprisonment or death at the hands of authoritarian governments.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration moved to defund the US Agency for Global Media
( #USAGM ), an independent federal agency that oversees the Voice of America ( #VoA ),
the US’s largest and oldest international broadcaster,
and provides grants to Radio Free Europe and other news agencies.
Staff have been placed on administrative leave and contractors have been fired.
The agency had around 3,500 employees with an annual budget of $886m in 2024.
“We have many coworkers in different services, several of whom came here and sought asylum visas.
If their own government knew they worked for RFA [Radio Free Asia] and they went back to their own country, their lives would be at risk,”
Jaewoo Park, a journalist for RFA, who was placed on administrative leave along with all of his coworkers, told the Guardian.
“Authoritarian governments have praised what Trump is doing right now,” Park said.
“In Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, there were people who fought for freedom and democracy, and they came to work at RFA.
It’s very risky for them. Their lives are in danger if Radio Free Asia doesn’t exist.”
Chinese and Russian state media have praised the cuts of the news agencies,
with a Russian broadcaster calling the cuts a “holiday” for Russian state media outlets.
The shuttering of the agency was unexpected and has caused chaos for Park and others.
“My wife is 28 weeks pregnant and we’re very concerned because I might go back to South Korea because I’m on a working visa.
My wife is almost due and we just bought a home last year,” he added.
“It’s very concerning and depressing.”
But the impact of the decision will be felt globally, said Park.
He cited Radio Free Asia’s broadcasts to North Korea which, he noted, defectors from North Korea have cited as an important source of independent news.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/24/trump-shuttering-global-media-agency-endangers-reporters?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
The Guardian · Trump’s shuttering of global media agency endangers reporters, staff say