Will the Voice of America Rise Like a Phoenix?

 The Washington Post posted on 13 January 2026 an article titled "Congress Agrees to Fund Voice of America, Bucking Trump Shutdown Order" by Scott Nover.

A bipartisan spending bill from both houses of Congress would allocate $643 million for broadcasting from the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees the Voice of America (VOA).  While that figure is down from the $867 million appropriated for the agency each of the last two years, it is more than four times the $153 million the Trump administration requested that Congress provide to "support the orderly shutdown of USAGM operations."  The package still needs full House and Senate approval before going to President Trump for signature.  

In March, Trump called for the dismantlement of USAGM, which also funds Radio Free Asia, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Europe.  Kari Lake, the deputy CEO installed by Trump to shut down USAGM, placed more than 1,300 VOA staffers on paid administrative leave and halted broadcasting operations.  It is the first time the VOA went silent since it was established in 1942.  

Comment:  The decision to dismantle USAGM was especially misguided.  Elon Musk played a major role in the decision.  It is refreshing there is bipartisan support in Congress to fund the agency, albeit at reduced levels.  While this is not yet a done deal, it hopefully invokes the lyrics of the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst, chosen to represent Austria at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Denmark:

Rise like a phoenix

Out of the ashes

Seeking rather than vengeance,

retribution

You were warned

Once I'm transformed, once I'm

reborn

I rise to the sky

You threw me down but

I'm gonna fly 

Official Chinese Media Begins to Replace VOA

 The Wall Street Journal published on 13 July 2025 an article titled "China Gets More Airtime Around the World as Voice of America Signs Off" by Aruna Viswanatha, Alexandra Wexler, and Clarence Leong.

Media time slots in foreign countries once used by the Voice of America are, in some cases, now being allocated to official Chinese media outlets.

VOA Is Not "a Rotten Piece of Fish"

 The New York Times published on 25 June 2025 an article titled "Trump Urges Congress to 'Kill' Voice of America as Its Leader Defends Gutting" by Minho Kim and Megan Mineiro.

Kari Lake, who President Trump appointed to dismantle the Voice of America, met with the House Foreign Affairs Committee on 25 June.  She excoriated the VOA, calling it "a rotten piece of fish" and "a threat to American national security."

Comment:  I worked for 37 years in the U.S. Department of State where I often monitored VOA broadcasts and then spent 24 years in academia when I contributed without financial reimbursement my expertise on Africa to VOA programs,  

In the millions of VOA programs in more than 40 languages during those years, of course one can find a few where VOA got it wrong and a few that demonstrated an ideological bias.  But the overwhelming majority were honest programs that accurately told America's story to foreign audiences.  Many of them also countered misinformation and disinformation propagated by our adversaries.

The VOA is not and never was "a rotten piece of fish."  Moving its corpse to the State Department is not the answer.  The State Department does not have the staff, expertise, or resources, especially as it undergoes drastic personnel cuts of its own, to run the remains of the VOA.  More importantly, programing managed by the State Department will have little credibility and no independence.  Foreign audiences will perceive no difference between a State Department press release and whatever is produced by the remnant of the VOA.  

The only winners in the dismantling of VOA are countries like Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China that spread disinformation about the United States.  This will constitute a classic case of shooting ourselves in the foot, but with a Gatling gun.       

Voice of America and Sister Services Are a Shambles

 Rolling Stone published on 8 May 2025 an article titled "Voice of America Will Be Fed OAN's Far-right Coverage, Says Trump Admin" by Charisma Madarang.  

Kari Lake, the defeated Republican candidate for governor of Arizona who serves as the senior advisor of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), was put in charge of dismantling the Voice of America (VOA). 

She announced that the right-wing One America News (OAN) will provide newsfeed services free-of-charge to USAGM networks including VOA, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and Radio Marti.  Fewer than 20 of more than 1,300 VOA personnel were permitted to enter their place of work earlier this week.

The Washington Post published on 9 May 2025 a commentary titled "It Has Come to This: The U.S. Will Broadcast One America News" by Marc Fisher.

The author concludes that the Trump administration is "going to replace the journalism of Voice of America with the slanted sycophancy of One America News," which "seems like a step into a disinformation abyss."  

Comment:  VOA has effectively been silenced, and the administration seems to want to shut it down entirely.  It is not clear who will put the OAN feed on the air and even less clear who will bother to listen to it.  

State Department Reorganization: For Efficiency or Kneecapping Foreign Policy?

 The Hill published on 27 April 2025 an article titled "Rubio's State Department Scale-down: Efficiency or Global Retreat?" by Laura Kelly.

The Trump administration argues that reorganization of the State Department is intended to make it more efficient.  Critics respond that it is kneecapping US influence in foreign policy.

Comment:  There are almost certainly elements of efficiency included in Secretary of State Marco Rubio's plan to reorganize the State Department.  But when combined with the Trump administration's dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Voice of America and affiliated media outlets, and a host of lesser-known international affairs institutions, the result is mostly a global retreat in US influence in foreign affairs.

How Dismantling U.S. Foreign Policy Institutions Appeases Russia (and China)

 The New York Times published on 26 April 2025 an article titled "How Trump Plays into Putin's Hands from Ukraine to Slashing U.S. Institutions" by Peter Baker.

While the focus of the article in on Trump's Ukraine policy and how it plays into the hands of Vladimir Putin, it also argues that plans to dismantle the following foreign policy organizations have the same effect: National Endowment for Democracy, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, US Agency for International Development, International Republican Institute, and National Democratic Institute.

Comment:  Institutions in the process of dismantlement that should be added to this list are the U.S. Institute of Peace, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and other media services under the U.S. Agency for Global Media such as the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.  

While Peter Baker's article only deals with the impact on Russia of the elimination of these pro-democracy foreign policy institutions by Elon Musk and the Trump administration, the decisions will be equally welcomed in Beijing.  

Voice of America to Live Again

 The Hill published on 22 April 2025 an article titled "Judge Orders Trump Administration to Restore Voice of America" by Ella Lee.

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the Voice of America and affiliated news services was likely unlawful and said they could restore service and bring back their employees.  

Kari Lake Moves to State Department to Dismantle Voice of America

 The Washington Post posted on 9 April 2025 an article titled "Kari Lake to Be Detailed to State Department to Dismantle VOA Parent Agency" by Sarah Ellison and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez.

Defeated Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake signed on to run the Voice of America in the Trump administration.  DOGE opted to shut down the agency.  Lake has been detailed to the State Department to dismantle it and its parent, the U.S. Agency for Global Media.  

The Case for Voice of America and Affiliated Media Services

 The American Security Project published on 21 March 2025 a commentary titled "The United States Is Deliberately Sabotaging Its Image Abroad by Gutting USAGM" by Matthew Wallin.

The services under the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) such as the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Free Europe reach more than 400 million people worldwide.  The Trump administration decision to gut USAGM will only cede the information space to Russia, China, and Iran.