THE VOICE OF AMERICA STEPS BACK – THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

THE VOICE OF AMERICA STEPS BACK – THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

GRAHAM PERRY COMMENTS;-

On 14 March 2025 President Trump signed an Executive Order to reduce the operations of the Voice of America (VOA) to the bare minimum mandated by US law. Trump clashed with VOA during his first term and has appointed former news anchor – Kari Lake – to be its Director. She is a staunch ally of Trump and has often accused the mainstream media of anti-Trump bias.

The VOA operates in more than 40 languages on radio and television. It also funds Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia. Almost all of VOA’s 1,300-some employees, including its director Michael Abramowitz, have been put on administrative leave.

Bay Fang, president and CEO of Radio Free Asia (“RFA”) comprised of about 300 US-based employees, called the termination of federal grants to RFA “a reward to dictators and despots, including the Chinese Communist Party.”.

Both outlets, long criticised by Chinese nationalist and state media, have carried out reporting critical of the mainland government’s human rights record and are viewed as arms of US soft power.

Founded in 1942 partly as a response to Nazi propaganda, VOA operated in more than 40 languages online and on radio and television, while RFA was founded in 1996 and operates in nine Asian languages.

According to estimates from their respective leaders, VOA reached more than 360 million people weekly and RFA nearly 60 million.

As of 24 March 2025, VOA broadcasts have stopped and its website has no articles dated after 15 March 2025. Meanwhile, RFA is still releasing new content, as staff furloughs were expected to begin later this week.

There is an historical parallel when on August 3, 1981, President Reagan fired 11,345 Air Traffic Controllers thirteen thousand members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) over unresolved dispute over terms of employment. Reagan rode out the storm and eventually recruited replacement staff. Maybe Trump will try to do the same.

Recruiting world based media staff to maintain the VOA current listener reach will be difficult. And new media staff will need to be  Trump loyalists. The new Trump policy means a significant reduction in US Soft Power and it comes at a time when the UK Starmer Government has recently cut its foreign aid budget to fund increased military spending in Europe.

Has Trump allowed himself to be “stung” by media critics into closing VOA and, in so doing, handed a public relations victory to China whose media are making increasing inroads into the world of soft political power? And such power matters – VOA’s reach has been considerable and its influence has been significant. 

Is Trump’s Voice of America action a moment in time – rather like the DeepSeek Sputnik Moment? With the US – and the UK – on the back foot and China on the front foot, will the world look back at 2025 as the year in which the pendulum moved just a little  from West to East?

GRAHAM PERRY

GRAHAM PERRY COMMENTS;-

On 14 March 2025 President Trump signed an Executive Order to reduce the operations of the Voice of America (VOA) to the bare minimum mandated by US law. Trump clashed with VOA during his first term and has appointed former news anchor – Kari Lake – to be its Director. She is a staunch ally of Trump and has often accused the mainstream media of anti-Trump bias.

The VOA operates in more than 40 languages on radio and television. It also funds Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia. Almost all of VOA’s 1,300-some employees, including its director Michael Abramowitz, have been put on administrative leave.

Bay Fang, president and CEO of Radio Free Asia (“RFA”) comprised of about 300 US-based employees, called the termination of federal grants to RFA “a reward to dictators and despots, including the Chinese Communist Party.”.

Both outlets, long criticised by Chinese nationalist and state media, have carried out reporting critical of the mainland government’s human rights record and are viewed as arms of US soft power.

Founded in 1942 partly as a response to Nazi propaganda, VOA operated in more than 40 languages online and on radio and television, while RFA was founded in 1996 and operates in nine Asian languages.

According to estimates from their respective leaders, VOA reached more than 360 million people weekly and RFA nearly 60 million.

As of 24 March 2025, VOA broadcasts have stopped and its website has no articles dated after 15 March 2025. Meanwhile, RFA is still releasing new content, as staff furloughs were expected to begin later this week.

There is an historical parallel when on August 3, 1981, President Reagan fired 11,345 Air Traffic Controllers thirteen thousand members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) over unresolved dispute over terms of employment. Reagan rode out the storm and eventually recruited replacement staff. Maybe Trump will try to do the same.

Recruiting world based media staff to maintain the VOA current listener reach will be difficult. And new media staff will need to be  Trump loyalists. The new Trump policy means a significant reduction in US Soft Power and it comes at a time when the UK Starmer Government has recently cut its foreign aid budget to fund increased military spending in Europe.

Has Trump allowed himself to be “stung” by media critics into closing VOA and, in so doing, handed a public relations victory to China whose media are making increasing inroads into the world of soft political power? And such power matters – VOA’s reach has been considerable and its influence has been significant. 

Is Trump’s Voice of America action a moment in time – rather like the DeepSeek Sputnik Moment? With the US – and the UK – on the back foot and China on the front foot, will the world look back at 2025 as the year in which the pendulum moved just a little  from West to East?

GRAHAM PERRY