Voice of America employees put on leave after U.S. presidential decree

This was reported by Reuters, Ukrinform saw.

Multiple workers at Voice of America (VOA), an international media broadcaster that operates in more than 40 languages, received an email with a notice of administrative leave. At the same time, they will retain their full salaries and benefits “until otherwise notified”.

Emails sent by the head of the human resources department at the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent company of Voice of America, contain instructions not to enter the work premises or access internal systems.

In addition, USAGM has ceased funding Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which broadcasts to Eastern European countries, including Russia and Ukraine, and Radio Free Asia, which airs in China and North Korea.

This follows Trump signing an executive order on Friday instructing USAGM and six other agencies to reduce their operations to the bare minimum required by law, which the U.S. President said was necessary to shrink bureaucracy.

Donald Trump, who clashed with the Voice of America during his first term, has now appointed former news host Kari Lake as VOA chief. Known as a staunch ally of the president, she has often accused mainstream media outlets of anti-Trump bias.

In a message on the social media platform X on Saturday, Lake said Trump’s order impacted USAGM “and its outlets VOA and OCB,” referring to the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on March 15, Donald Trump signed an order to cut seven Federal agencies.

Earlier, billionaire Elon Musk, who currently heads the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), endorsed the idea of ​​closing the online publication and radio station of Radio Liberty and the Voice of America television and radio organization, both funded by the U.S. government. In his opinion, “no one listens to them anymore” and “they are just left-wing radical lunatics talking to themselves.”

Photo: Voice of America