Trump silenced America’s voice as staff put on vacation

Donald Trump has signed an executive order to undress the global, independent and federal funded news organization Voice of America.

The president’s order is aimed at the US Parent Agency for Global Media or Usagm, which also funds non -profit organizations such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, which were originally designed to counteract communism.

He also asks the leaders of these agencies to “reduce the efficiency … to the minimum presence and function required by law.”

Mike Abramovitz, director of VOA, said that he and practically all his staff of 1,300 were put on paid leave.

Abramovitz said the order has left Voa, which cannot fulfill its “vital mission … Particularly critical today when opponents of America, such as Iran, China and Russia, are sinking billions of dollars in the creation of false stories to discredit the United States.”

There was no explanation from the Trump administration and it is not yet clear whether the stations are completely closed.

CBS, the BBC news partner in the United States, said VOA staff had been notified in an email from Crystal Thomas, the Director of Human Resources of the USAGM.

A source told CBS that all freelance workers and international contractors were told that there was now no money to pay.

The emails received from CBS notify the bosses of Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that their federal subsidies have been discontinued.

Voa and other Usagm stations serve more than 400,000,000 listeners and are widely equivalent to the BBC World Service, funded by the British government.

Elon Musk, the chosen Trump advisor, who reduces government departments, uses his social media platform to call VOA to be closed.

The US President has also reduced the funding of several other federal agencies – including the persons responsible for preventing homelessness and financing museums and libraries.

Trump was highly critical of Voa in his first term. He recently appointed the unwavering loyalist Carrie Lake as a special advisor to the US Global Media Agency.

The president regularly states that the main media is prejudiced against him. He called CNN and MSNBC “corrupt” and “illegal” without providing evidence during a speech to the Ministry of Justice.

Voice of America started in 1942, which is a mandate to combat Nazi and Japanese propaganda. Its first broadcast – made on a transmitter, a US loan from the BBC – stated a modest target.

Gerald Ford, a former president, signed Voa’s public charter in 1976 to defend his editorial independence.

Until 1994, the broadcast board was created, with supervision of the inconvenient broadcast.

In 2013, a change in legislation allowed VOA and branches to start broadcasting in the United States.