The Trump administration moved to eliminate nearly all remaining employees at Voice of America on Wednesday, telling Congress it intends to cut the international broadcaster’s workforce from about 1,000 to just 18.
The dramatic downsizing, outlined in a letter obtained by the The New York Times, follows months of layoffs ordered after President Donald Trump labelled the outlet “the voice of radical America.” In the letter, VOA advisor Kari Lake said the proposal would keep only the “statutory minimum” number of employees. (RELATED: ‘Lot Of Nonsense’: Kari Lake Announces Voice Of America Is Dumping Legacy Outlets)
“You can’t make staff this size produce content for a global audience of 360 million weekly,” VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, one of the several journalists suing to block the cuts, told the Associated Press. “It’s comical if it weren’t so tragic. We’re not just losing our jobs and journalism, we are abdicating our voice and influence in the world.”
Lake’s plan would leave just 11 employees to oversee VOA’s flagship radio and television operations, plus two positions apiece for services aimed at Iran, China and Afghanistan, the Times reported — less than 2% of VOA’s pre-March head count.
Roughly a third of VOA’s employees have been on administrative leave since March, when Trump signed an executive order gutting the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA. A federal judge ruled in April that the shutdown violated congressional mandates, but an appellate court later said the lower court lacked the authority to bring staff back.
Lake’s letter reportedly said the skeletal staff would satisfy a “statutory minimum” required by law, which mandates VOA serve as a “consistently reliable and authoritative source of news globally” — but not specific minimum employee count is legally required. (RELATED: Multiple Voice Of America Reporters Have Posted Anti-Trump Content On Social Media)
The administration has already begun dismantling VOA’s infrastructure, putting its Washington-area building up for sale and cancelling the lease for a new facility. Lake announced in May that the pro-Trump One America News Network (OAN) would provide content feeds to VOA and other state-run international broadcasting services, though it remains unclear if any OAN programming has been used. The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to the White House, VOA and OAN for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
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