The Voice of America headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Could 29, 2025.
Bloomberg/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures/Bloomberg
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Bloomberg/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures/Bloomberg
On Friday, the Trump administration issued mass layoff notices gutting the company that owns the Voice of America and funds its sister information shops.
That very same day, a correspondent arrested in Azerbaijan whereas working for a type of sister networks — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — was sentenced to 9 years in jail on fees his bosses contemplate bogus.
Given latest headlines about their employers, different journalists for the federally funded information shops who’re international residents say they wonder if they may have the U.S. authorities’s assist in the event that they grow to be victims of political retribution by their international locations’ leaders.
About 1,400 jobs, or 85% of positions, are being eradicated on the U.S. Company for World Media consistent with an govt order issued in mid-March by President Trump, senior White Home adviser Kari Lake mentioned on Friday. The cuts all however wipe out the Voice of America, which has broadcast information protection and cultural applications to individuals residing beneath repressive regimes since World Struggle II.
“For many years,” Lake mentioned in a written assertion, “American taxpayers have been pressured to bankroll an company that is been riddled with dysfunction, bias, and waste. That ends now.”
Individuals who had been working for the company previous to Trump’s second time period took grave exception to her actions.
“The scope of the company’s actions seems huge and would eviscerate Voice of America’s congressionally mandated function to offer goal information to closed societies and different locations around the globe,” Michael Abramowitz, the Voice of America’s director, mentioned in a letter to colleagues. He’s at present on involuntary paid administrative depart however had not obtained a layoff discover by Friday afternoon.
Earlier than these new notices to staffers, Lake already had fired greater than 500 contractors at Voice of America, lots of whom are residents of different international locations and introduced journalistic and language abilities to their roles at VOA. Lake has been searching for to carry again funds designated by Congress to the opposite government-funded worldwide networks, that are technically personal nonprofits. These embody Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Center East Broadcasting Networks.
Lake’s actions have forged doubt on the federal government’s dedication to non-American journalists working around the globe for these networks. Some have risked their lives and their livelihoods to cowl thorny points affecting their house international locations.
“I’m very involved concerning the destiny of lots of our journalists at Voice of America,” Abramowitz tells NPR. “The U.S. authorities has an ethical obligation to do every part in its energy to ensure those that labored on its behalf keep out of hurt’s approach.”
The case of Farid Mehralizada
On Friday, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter Farid Mehralizada was sentenced to 9 years in jail in his native Azerbaijan for smuggling, tax evasion, and forgery — fees that community executives and human rights teams say are false. In an announcement learn in courtroom, Mehralizada, who can also be an economist, mentioned he had sought by means of his reviews to supply his experience on the challenges dealing with the nation along with his fellow Azerbaijanis.
“The one approach to obtain sustainable financial improvement in any nation is for residents to know the essence of financial processes, to make sure participation in decision-making, and to ensure freedom of expression,” Mehralizada mentioned in his assertion, which was shared with NPR. “Sadly, journalism in our nation at present is nearly equated with terrorism.”
Throughout his greater than year-long imprisonment awaiting trial, Mehralizada missed the beginning of his youngster. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty President and CEO Stephen Capus referred to as for Mehralizada to be returned to his household.
“RFE/RL’s U.S.-funded journalists work in a number of the most harmful environments conceivable,” Capus mentioned. “Farid’s case is a tragic instance of the dangers that include reporting uncomfortable truths.”
Colleagues at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are equally imprisoned in Belarus, Russia, and Russia-occupied Crimea.
Three Vietnamese freelance journalists for Radio Free Asia are at present serving jail phrases starting from six to 11 years in Vietnam.
Three journalists for the Voice of America are in jail as properly, in Azerbaijan, Myanmar and Vietnam.
A scramble to seek out refuge
VOA journalists who’re residents of nations the place the federal government represses the media, or is hostile to the U.S., worry what is going to occur in the event that they return house when their non-immigrant J-1 visas expire on the finish of the month.
Many are scrambling — with assist from colleagues — to seek out different jobs within the U.S. Some are searching for asylum.
The half-dozen Voice of America journalists on this state of affairs who spoke with NPR come from international locations in Africa, Jap Europe and Asia. They share the same chorus: They are saying in the event that they return house, they’re prone to be prevented from working, imprisoned or worse.
One reporter for a international language service of Voice of America says he fears returning to his West African house. (NPR is just not utilizing his identify or his house nation at his request for worry of repercussions for him and his relations.)
Media shops in his nation are shut down after they cowl the regime critically — and even after they merely report on protests. Overseas information organizations could be thrown out. He says he got here to the U.S. as a result of it grew to become more and more perilous to report overtly in his house nation or neighboring nations.
“They are not going to throw me a parade,” the Voice of America journalist tells NPR. “They see individuals working for worldwide networks as a spy. I can simply disappear, you already know? They may kidnap me or (I might) go to jail.”
He says he additionally fears for his household.
“It is only a intestine punch”
Ivana Konstantinovic was a information anchor and producer primarily based in Washington D.C. for the Voice of America’s Serbian-language service till her contract was terminated as a part of Lake’s mass firings of contractors this spring. She was fired as soon as earlier than, in the course of the first Trump administration, however returned two years in the past. She says Serbia is just not as repressive as Russia however reporting there may be fraught. An evaluation by the Committee to Shield Journalists discovered that assaults in opposition to members of the media there are on the rise.
“Serbia is a rustic the place (the) authorities targets impartial journalists,” Konstantinovic says in a textual content message. “We had been all invited right here to D.C. due to our expertise, language abilities, connections with audience, understanding of the political panorama, and so on. VOA wanted us.”
Voice of America’s press freedom editor, Jessica Jerreat, argues that Trump’s govt order wrongly sends the other message.
“Now they’re simply discarded,” Jerreat says of the international journalists. “After this govt order, you are not wanted. It is only a intestine punch for all of the service and experience these individuals convey.”
Jerreat, who’s among the many Voice of America staffers now suing the community, obtained her personal termination discover on Friday.
