As it has with other government agencies, the Trump administration is moving swiftly to assert its vision at the Voice of America. As it does so, a question hangs in the air: Is the news organization's journalistic mission, which dates to World War II, in for some fundamental changes?
Within the past week, VOA placed veteran U.S.-based journalist Steve Herman on an extended absence to investigate his social media activities, and moved to reassign White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, who had been disciplined during the first Trump administration.
President Donald Trump's choice to lead VOA, unsuccessful Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, joined the organization as a special adviser while awaiting the approval necessary to take over.
Voice of America beams audio and online news reports about the United States throughout the world, typically in the native languages of countries where it operates. At birth, Voice of America told stories about democracy to people in Nazi Germany.
Charter mandates editorial independence
The agency's charter requires that its journalists deliver independent news and information, and not be a government mouthpiece. Conservatives have often chafed at that; outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the agency employees in 2021 that they often sounded like “Vice of America" and shouldn't be afraid to extol the country's greatness.
Trump has also been critical. He said on social media that Lake's appointment will help “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the world FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media.”
Billionaire Elon Musk, leading Trump's government efficiency efforts, has no use for the organization. He posted on X on Feb. 9 to “shut them down.” Musk wrote that “nobody listens to them anymore” and that it's “just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching” taxpayer money.
In January, the president appointed L. Brent Bozell, founder of the conservative watchdog Media Research Center, to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America and sister outlets like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. The appointment requires Senate approval.
Herman ran afoul of VOA leadership in early February for what could be considered a typical journalist's act: tweeting a link to comments by an activist critical of the administration's efforts to dismantle USAID. A Trump administration official, Richard Grenell, labeled that “treasonous” and said Herman should be fired.
Last Friday, Herman received a letter effectively suspending him with pay. The action is pending an investigation “regarding whether your social media activity has undermined VOA's audiences' perception of the objectivity and/or credibility of VOA and its news operation,” according to the letter, obtained by The Associated Press.
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VOA “believes that your continued presence in the workplace may otherwise jeopardize legitimate U.S. government interests,” said the letter, signed by John Featherly, acting deputy director, programming directorate.
A representative for the U.S. Agency for Global Media said Tuesday that it does not discuss personnel matters.
VOA managers told journalists there on Monday about Widakuswara's assignment, without making clear why it was being done or what she would be doing in the future. As a White House reporter in 2021, she was demoted for shouting questions at Pompeo following his appearance at the agency, including one referencing the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot. That proved to be short-lived, however, as former President Joe Biden removed agency leadership the day after he was inaugurated.
Yet in the wake of her demotion four years ago, dozens of Widakuswara's colleagues signed a letter protesting her treatment, and there's some concern that the action could make them targets with Trump loyalists returning, according to an employee who spoke under condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Are stories being edited to minimize criticism of Trump?
There have also been instances of VOA stories being edited or watered down to minimize criticism of Trump, according to some journalists there who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Some holdovers at VOA appear to be trying to appease future leaders from the Trump team, said a former manager there who has heard of similar instances and spoke under condition of anonymity in fear that some people he still knows there could be punished.
A story on VOA's website on Tuesday about the Trump administration's imposition of tariffs played it straight, with contributions from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. But it included criticism of Trump's plan by leaders in Canada, Mexico and China.
The quick moves by the Trump administration to assert itself at VOA stands in contrast to the president's first term, where his choice to lead the agency, Robert Pack, didn't take office until three years into the presidency. Trump supporters have also taken a close look at news organizations that are supported in part by government funding, like PBS and NPR, and at government payments for news subscriptions.
In a memo announcing Lake's appointment as an adviser last week, VOA's chief financial officer Roman Napoli, said the former television anchor's experience in journalism and broadcasting “will be invaluable as we continue our mission to clearly and effectively present the policies of the Trump administration around the world.”
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That caused some internal concern. “If what they're going to create is an all-Trump, all the time outlet, we're going to lose our credibility and our resources,” said the former manager at VOA.
In her own memo to staff later in the week, Lake cited comments made by former President John F. Kennedy upon the 20th anniversary of Voice of America that the task is to tell America's story around the world and do it in a way that is truthful. “That remains our job today,” she wrote.
“I am committed to quickly reforming and modernizing the agency into something the American people are willing to support,” she wrote. “I look forward to working with you.”
Lake's appointment as leader of VOA is pending approval of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board, which works with the head of the agency that Bozell was chosen to lead. However, that board's membership was recently disbanded by Trump.
Jeffrey Trimble, a former deputy director of that advisory board's predecessor, said the new administration had every right to seek congressional approval to change Voice of America's mission. But he thought that would be unwise, since the message VOA sends to other countries about the free flow of ideas in a democracy has a power in its own.
“It represents a core value of our democracy, which is robust debate about the issues,” Trimble said. “They can change that if they want to. But at the moment, they are governed by law.”