Q24N (EFE) After dismantling agencies and several federal departments, United States President Donald Trump announced this weekend that he is defunding Voice of America and Radio Martí, whose journalists fear the end of these historic foreign media outlets, created as propaganda tools during World War II and the Cold War.
As part of his plan to cut public spending, which he commissioned from magnate Elon Musk, the Republican President signed an executive order on Friday to reduce the “unnecessary federal bureaucracy” of seven government agencies, including the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).
“This measure will affect the staff of USAGM, Voice of America (VOA), the Office of Cuban Broadcasting (OCB), and all grant recipients,” said Kari Lake, the agency’s managing director, in a statement. Lake also criticized the wasteful use of the agency’s new offices.
– Advertisement –
Following the executive order, the government placed thousands of employees at VOA and Radio y Televisión Martí, which is overseen by the OCB, on administrative leave and threatened the continued existence of other stations, such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a private station funded by USAGM.
“The Iranian ayatollahs, the Chinese communist leaders, and the autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years. Giving our adversaries a victory would make them stronger and the United States weaker,” the station’s executive director, Stephen Capus, said in a statement.
Layoffs via Email
VOA employees received an email informing them that their positions had been placed on “administrative leave,” internal sources told EFE. The Trump administration followed a similar modus operandi to the one it has used with the other thousands of federal employees it has laid off in the nearly two months it has been in office.
According to a person with knowledge of the events within the organization, two emails arrived: one on Saturday informing them of the layoffs and another on Sunday announcing the termination, which will be effective March 31.
In fact, the contract of VOA’s current director, Michael Abramowitz, was also terminated via email, he said on social media.
– Advertisement –
One of the media outlet’s employees, who had three years remaining on his contract, indicated that he received the notice in his personal email because his work access had already been removed.
“This email is a formal notification that you must cease work immediately and that you are not permitted to access any agency buildings or systems,” the email, obtained by EFE, stated. “A formal termination notice will be issued with an effective date of March 31, 2025, at 11:59 PM.”
This employee stated that, for now, the fired employees are trying to contact members of Congress to urge them to defend the dismissals “as unconstitutional” and that they “endanger society’s right to be informed.”
Among other things, they assert that they will file a complaint against all the “defamation” that the president’s entourage is uttering about them.
– Advertisement –
Trump and His Poor Relationship with the Press
Once the firings were announced, the White House office released a statement under the name “The Voice of Radical America,” alleging that the network had an “anti-American and pro-Islamic Stadium” narrative, that they were favorable to former President Joe Biden, and that they had orders “not to call Hamas terrorists.”
A few weeks ago, the Trump administration banned the Associated Press (AP) from the Oval Office for continuing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its traditional name, instead of the new name adopted by the US administration.
– Advertisement –
Source link
Q24N
