Speaking for America

When President Donald Trump ordered the drastic downsizing or defunding of Voice of America and other U.S.-backed broadcasters in mid-March, he defended his action in a press release. Trump called VOA a tool for “radical propaganda” and listed examples of bias, such as VOA’s decision not to allow reporters to call Hamas members “terrorists.”

The president appears determined to shut down VOA completely, but the courts are complicating his efforts, even as supporters and critics debate the wisdom of shutting down government-­funded news outlets that have long promoted U.S. interests abroad.

Trump’s order affected not only VOA but also Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks. They all function under the umbrella of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM).

In a win for the broadcasters, federal judges granted restraining orders in late March that temporarily barred the Trump administration from cutting funding and terminating more than 1,200 journalists, engineers, and other staffers. USAGM journalists and media unions had sued Trump officials for violating their First Amendment rights and targeting them for reporting inconsistently with the president’s “favored viewpoint and political agenda.”

First established to pierce the Iron Curtain during and after World War II, the USAGM network aims to prevent the airwaves from being filled by anti-American propaganda. But con­servatives have complained USAGM journalists provided skewed coverage of U.S. political events and sometimes presented Russian or Chinese government viewpoints uncritically.

In an interview, Lisa Curtis, the board chair of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, acknowledged isolated cases of journalists reporting “things that perhaps they shouldn’t have.” But she said the USAGM’s organizations are vital tools for U.S. soft power. She called RFE a “global symbol for everything that America stands for” and said it counters misinformation in countries such as Russia, China, and Iran.

“If the Trump administration had complaints, wanted to see change in these organizations, I think that is understandable,” Curtis said. “But what is not understandable is to completely abandon these foreign policy tools that help the United States get across its perspective to the rest of the world.”

But Michael Pack, who oversaw the USAGM during the first Trump administration, supports the president’s approach. Pack says he tried to reform the VOA but was opposed by lawsuits.

“The problem really is that I just don’t think these agencies are delivering on their mission in the way they are structured,” Pack said. “I think it needs to be torn down, and I think the whole international broadcasting needs to be rethought.”

The courts may not allow the president simply to tear it down. Congress appropriated funding for USAGM and has ultimate authority to end it. In his March 28 ruling for VOA, U.S. District Court Judge J. Paul Oetken stated the Trump administration’s sweeping actions usurped “Congress’s power of the purse and its legislative supremacy.”

Meanwhile, Ted Lipien, a former president of RFE/RL, agreed the broadcasters need “drastic reforms.” But he says the groups are crucial for national security, and he criticizes the decision to silence them without warning, as many of their journalists are “professional, loyal, and dedicated to the mission.”

“The current crisis could have been avoided if the USAGM’s former leaders had maintained bipartisan support by ensuring that all reporting was objective and nonpartisan,” Lipien said.