FILE: Radio Free Europe funding cut after Trump signs order gutting parent agency

Record ID: 1983870

  • Title: FILE: Radio Free Europe funding cut after Trump signs order gutting parent agency
  • Date: 16th March 2025
  • Summary: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (FILE - FEBRUARY 7, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF RADIO FREE EUROPE HEADQUARTERS RFE LOGO ON BUILDING SATELLITE DISHES ON ROOF RFE NEWSROOM JOURNALISTS IN NEWSROOM VARIOUS OF RFE/RL RUSSIAN NEWS CHANNEL "CURRENT TIME" EXECUTIVE EDITOR, KENAN ALIYEV, SPEAKING WITH JOURNALISTS RFE NEWSROOM SEEN FROM ABOVE VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS AT WORK RFE NEWSROOM SEEN
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Donald Trump Kari Lake Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Russia Voice of America eastern Europe
  • Location: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC/WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES/UNKNOWN LOCATIONS/INTERNET
  • City: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC/WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES/UNKNOWN LOCATIONS/INTERNET
  • Country: Various
  • Topics: Budget/Taxation/Revenue,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA003921516032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the U.S.-funded broadcaster in eastern Europe, Russia and Ukraine was among the news services targeted by funding cuts ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday (March 15).
    Trump ordered the gutting of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) on Friday (March 14), and on Saturday more than 1,300 Voice of America employees were placed on leave in addition to the termination of grants to RFE/RL and Radio Asia.
    Trump's directives look set to devastate an organisation that serves as a rare source of reliable news in authoritarian countries.
    Kari Lake, the former news anchor and Trump loyalist nominated to be director of VOA, issued a statement describing USAGM as "a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer" and said it was "not salvageable." Lake, referring to herself as a USAGM senior adviser, said she would shrink the agency to its minimum possible size under the law.
    Founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, VOA now reaches 360 million people a week. As a group, USAGM employs roughly 3,500 workers with an $886-million budget in 2024, according to its latest report to Congress.
    The move follows Trump signing an executive order on Friday instructing USAGM and six other little-known agencies to reduce their operations to the minimum mandated by statutes, saying it was necessary to shrink bureaucracy.
    (Production: Amy Pollock)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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