The Trump administration’s efforts to shut down the operation are part of a broader campaign to weaken the news media. The White House, for example, has barred the Associated Press from covering certain events over its refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Trump and his allies have sued news outlets, and his allies have said they are eyeing more litigation.
Voice of America’s charter was designed to protect its editorial independence from whichever administration is in power. Its mandate is to serve as a reliable source of news, to present “a balanced and comprehensive” portrait of America, and to “present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively”.
Sigange outside the Voice of America headquarters in Washington.Credit: Bloomberg
In Trump’s first term, the White House repeatedly railed against what it saw as Voice of America’s liberal bias. The administration’s efforts to align the taxpayer-financed broadcaster with Trump’s agenda, including by conducting internal investigations of some of its journalists, were later deemed improper by federal investigators.
This year, Trump has moved swiftly to quiet the broadcaster. He tapped a right-wing former TV news anchor, Kari Lake, to run Voice of America. Even before she arrived, the broadcaster began discouraging its journalists from saying or writing things that could be construed as critical of Trump – part of an attempt that its leaders hoped would help fend off attacks by the president.
The White House issued on Saturday a news release denouncing what it said was the broadcaster’s role in spreading “radical propaganda” and accusing its employees of entrenched left-wing bias. It is the same critique Trump and his allies routinely make about the traditional media.
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Steven Herman, a longtime Voice of America correspondent, was put on an extended “excused absence” this month, pending a human-resources investigation into his social media posts about the Trump administration. On Saturday, he published what he described as a “requiem” for the broadcaster.
“To effectively shutter the Voice of America is to dim a beacon that burned bright during some of the darkest hours since 1942,” Herman wrote.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
