Trump freezes US-funded media outlets including Voice of America

President Donald Trump's administration has put journalists at Voice of America and other US-funded broadcasters on leave, abruptly freezing decades-old outlets long seen as critical to countering Russian and Chinese information offensives. Hundreds of staffers at VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other outlets received a weekend email saying they will be barred from their offices and should surrender press passes and office-issued equipment.Trump, who has already eviscerated the US global aid agency and the Education Department, on Friday issued an executive order listing the US Agency for Global Media as among "elements of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined are unnecessary".
The White House said the cuts would ensure "taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda", marking a dramatic tone shift towards the networks established to extend US influence overseas. White House press official Harrison Fields wrote "goodbye" on X in 20 languages, a jab at the outlets' multilingual coverage.VOA director Michael Abramowitz said he was among 1,300 staffers placed on leave Saturday. "VOA needs thoughtful reform, and we have made progress in that regard. But today's action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission," he said on Facebook, noting that its coverage – in 48 languages – reaches 360 million people each week.The head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which started broadcasting into the Soviet bloc during the Cold War, called the cancellation of funding "a massive gift to America's enemies". 
VOA, still primarily a radio service, was set up during World War Two to counter Nazi propaganda. It is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world.The National Press Club, a leading representative group for US journalists, said the order "undermines America's long-standing commitment to a free and independent press". It added: "If an entire newsroom can be sidelined overnight, what does that say about the state of press freedom?