This Monday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned that U.S. President Donald Trump’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) potentially put journalists at risk, particularly those currently imprisoned abroad for their work.
As part of his endeavor to massively streamline government spending, Trump signed an executive order to shut down the USAGM on March 14. Two days later, the administration began large-scale layoffs at Voice of America (VOA) and other US-funded independent media outlets overseen by USAGM. These include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which was set up during the Cold War to counter Soviet propaganda, and Radio Free Asia, which targets China, North Korea, and other Asian countries with tight media restrictions.
RSF, an international nonprofit dedicated to safeguarding free press, says these cuts enable countries hostile to press freedom to spread unchecked propaganda. RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin says the dismantling of USAGM has not only left thousands of journalists jobless, but also has grave implications for the nine USAGM journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Myanmar, Russia, and Vietnam.
Other public media organizations in Europe expressed alarm about the move, saying it could deprive millions worldwide of an important source of balanced and fact-checked information.