The Trump administration slashed more than 500 jobs at the Voice of America, a potentially fatal blow to the government media outlet repeatedly gutted by funding cuts.
Kari Lake, acting CEO of VOA’s parent company, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, announced the firings in a social media post.
“We are conducting this (reduction in force) at the President’s direction to help reduce the federal bureaucracy, improve agency service and save the American people more of their hard-earned money,” Ms. Lake said in a Friday social media post. “USAGM will continue to fulfill its statutory mission after this RIF — and will likely improve its ability to function and provide the truth to people across the world who live under murderous communist governments and other tyrannical regimes.”
Ms. Lake said VOA eliminated 532 jobs for full-time government employees.
“I look forward to taking additional steps in the coming months to improve the functioning of a very broken agency and make sure America’s voice is heard abroad where it matters most,” she wrote.
The layoffs are the latest blow to VOA. It was created to combat Nazi propaganda during World War II, and its mission is to share news in areas of the world where a free press is in short supply.
In March, virtually all VOA staffers were placed on administrative leave after President Trump issued an executive order dismantling the USAGM. Since then, most of VOA’s publishing channels have been dormant.
Six hundred contractors for VOA were fired in May and hundreds of the network’s employees received termination notices in June.
A week later, several staff members were informed that their notices were temporarily rescinded but that the USAGM still planned to issue cuts “in the near future.”
Friday’s move appears to be the fulfillment of that promise.
The announcement comes one day after a federal judge blocked the removal of Michael Abramowitz as VOA director. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington said Mr. Abramowitz could be removed only with the approval of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board.
Employees who have sued to block the elimination of their VOA jobs said the most recent termination runs afoul of federal law requiring congressional approval.
“We find Lake’s continued attacks on our agency abhorrent,” they said in a statement. “We are looking forward to her deposition to hear whether her plan to dismantle VOA was done with the rigorous review process that Congress requires. So far, we have not seen any evidence of that.”