Sean Collins

What is Voice of America? Why is it important?

Gabrielle Berbey

Voice of America is the largest and oldest US international broadcaster; it was established to fight Nazi propaganda. By the time World War II ended, Voice of America — or VOA — had 3,200 programs around the world in 40 languages. 

It’s operated since then, with a mission to continue combating authoritarian propaganda and to spread US values throughout the world. Today, it’s part of the United States Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, which also includes other US media you may be familiar with, like Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Martí. And though most USAGM outlets started on the radio, today they broadcast on television and publish online as well. 

USAGM has offices and journalists all around the world, reporting from and for places that otherwise might not have access to media beyond state-sponsored media, or that may not have much media infrastructure at all, places like China, Iran, and Afghanistan. And in many places, USAGM outlets are the main — and sometimes only — voice combating the state-sponsored media narrative.

Interestingly, VOA does not actually broadcast in the US, which is why I think many people, especially people who are younger, don't know what VOA is. But it's played an important role for the past 80 years and this is the first time it's gone radio silent. 

Sean Collins

What do we lose if we lose VOA?

Gabrielle Berbey

We have seen Russia and China rejoicing that Trump gutted Radio Free Asia, Radio Liberty, and Voice of America. 

That response reflects the fact that USAGM outlets really were a way for the United States to insert its narrative into those countries, often in a way that was critical of, or that was designed to make people question, the state-sponsored narrative.

Without these outlets, the US has lost a way to combat disinformation. And some people are losing access to news. 

I talked to one former VOA journalist during my reporting who remembered listening to VOA from Poland in the 1960s when he was a kid. He would get American music and news on VOA and that it would be his only source of information from the outside world. And that’s still the case for some people, even today — USAGM reached some consumers in poorer and more rural areas that lack media infrastructure altogether; this was their source of news.  

Sean Collins

Broadly, what can we learn about the Trump administration from these cuts?

Gabrielle Berbey

The Trump administration is really looking for ways to make long-held far-right beliefs policy. 

With VOA and USAGM, there’s a cultural element, where there's this culture war against the so-called mainstream media. USAGM’s outlets are a part of that media, and while the Trump administration can only do so much to independent outlets it doesn’t like — like restricting White House access — it can shut down VOA.

But that’s  just one piece of a larger puzzle. There’s the push within the administration for government efficiency and cutting waste — and it’s easy to see things you don’t like (aka “fake news”) as waste to cut.

And there’s also a big foreign policy realignment happening. There’s this idea of America First — that we need to pull back on the world stage and focus on the homefront, that taxpayer money shouldn’t go to other countries, it should only be used domestically. We saw that with shutting down USAID, and we see that here.

So this is really emblematic of the larger vision for the realignment of the government the Trump administration seems to have.