"• The Trump Administration targeted private universities — canceling $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University; pausing $175 million for the University of Pennsylvania; and Johns Hopkins cut research after losing $800 million in USAID grants
• Trump began dismantling Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia"
#Musk #Trump #Republicans #DOGE #fascism #destruction #chaos #universities #research #grants #USAID #VoiceofAmerica
/14
Really glad to hear that Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is challenging the termination of its grant under the United States Agency for Global Media.
Also good news that Europe is voicing support for RFE/RL.
"Lipavsky's Polish counterpart, Radek Sikorski, also voiced support for RFE/RL, recalling how his father listened to the station as well as the Voice of America broadcaster during the Cold War.
"'It's how we learned the basic facts about our own countries because communist propaganda was so tightly controlled,' he told reporters. 'And these institutions continue to do similar work for autocracies today.'"
https://www.rferl.org/a/rfe-rl-prague-eu-trump-musk-lawsuit-usagm/33352384.html
"By Monday, 1,000 [USAGM] journalists were placed on indefinite leave for not being MAGA cheerleaders. Others were locked out of their Washington, D.C., headquarters."
~ Dan Rather
#Musk #Trump #DOGE #purges #fascism #authoritarianism #diversity #DEI #USAGM #VoiceofAmerica
/6
#Cambodia’s Hun Sen, #Myanmar Junta Celebrate Closure of US-Funded Media Outlets: The US-funded broadcasters #RadioFreeAsia and #VoiceofAmerica have long been a thorn in the side of the region’s repressive governments. “The effusive response extended also to…China’s state-backed Global Times…” | Sebastian Strangio, The Diplomat https://thediplomat.com/2025/03/cambodias-hun-sen-myanmar-junta-celebrate-closure-of-us-funded-media-outlets/ /1
Mass layoffs have begun at Voice of America (VOA), the U.S.'s government-funded media network. The move came after Trump signed an executive order to effectively eliminate the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which supervises VOA, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and six other federal agencies. Here's more from Al Jazeera. At the second link, find a @CNN story about how the news of VOA's dismantling has been received in China.
@fulelo @Remittancegirl @randahl
That is a really sad story. Consider during the #Nazi times in #Germany many people were execute because listening to #BBC and #VoiceofAmerica because these were considered enemy stations.
Brave people that put their life at risk because they wanted to know the #truth
@Free_Press I remember listening to both "Rádio Svobodná Evropa" and "Hlas Ameriky" in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s. I was a kid then but there was a thrill to it, as tuning them in was illegal under the regime.
Those radio stations certainly contributed to the revolutions in Eastern Europe then, but also later carried neoliberal propaganda. I don't understand why on Earth even Orange Pig T. would cancel them
Some #Republicans have accused #VOA & other publicly-funded #media outlets of being biased against *conservatives* [liars, criminals & extremists]. Last month, billionaire #ElonMusk, who is spearheading #Trump's government *downsizing* [destruction] effort, called for VOA & #RadioFreeEurope / #RadioLiberty to be shut down in a post to social media.
The Paris-based #ReportersWithoutBorders also blasted the move, w/its director general, Thibaut Bruttin, saying that it "threatens press freedom worldwide & negates 80 years of American history in supporting a free flow of #information."
The president of the #NationalPressClub in Washington, Mike Balsamo, released a statement on social media objecting to the moves at #VOA.
"For decades, #VoiceOfAmerica has delivered fact-based, independent #journalism to audiences worldwide, often in places where press freedom does not exist," Balsamo said.
The decision, he said, "undermines America's commitment to a free & independent press."
The move follows #Trump signing an #ExecutiveOrder on Friday instructing #USAGM & six other little-known agencies to reduce their operations to the bare minimum mandated by the law, saying it was necessary to *shrink bureaucracy* [stop informing the public].
Trump, who clashed w/the #VoiceOfAmerica during his 1st term, picked fmr news anchor #KariLake to be its director for his 2nd term. Lake, a staunch Trump ally, has often accused *mainstream* #media of harboring anti-Trump bias.
On its website, #RadioFreeEurope / #RadioLiberty notes that it has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian govt & warns readers in #Russia & Russia-occupied #Ukraine that they could "face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us."
The #USAGM also terminated funding for #RadioFreeEurope / #RadioLiberty, which broadcasts to countries in #EasternEurope, including #Russia & #Ukraine, as well as for #RadioFreeAsia, which broadcasts to #China & #NorthKorea, acc/to letters seen by Reuters.
Multiple workers at #VoiceOfAmerica, an international #media broadcaster that operates in >40 languages, shared w/Reuters an email that placed them on administrative leave w/full pay & benefits "until otherwise notified."
The emails, sent by a HR executive at the #US Agency for Global Media, the #VOA's parent agency, instructed them not to enter their work premises or access internal systems.
Employees at #VoiceOfAmerica were placed on paid leave on Saturday & funding for 2 US #news services that broadcast to #authoritarian regimes was slashed, one day after #Trump signed an #ExecutiveOrder gutting the govt-funded #media outlets' parent & 6 other #FederalAgencies.
#VOA #FourthEstate #FreePress #journalism #censorship #propaganda #trumpaganda
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/trump-signs-order-gut-voice-america-other-agencies-2025-03-15/
#Trump ajaa alas kirjastojen ja museoiden rahoitusta sekä hallituksen rahoittamia kansainvälisiä mediakanavia
#kirjasto #kirjastot #museo #museot #media #journalismi #VoiceOfAmerica #NPR #PBS #CBP #Dump #äärioikeisto #fasismi #tiedonvälitys #leikkaukset #Yhdysvallat #USA #politiikka #USpol
