Voice of America Journalist Speaks Out On ‘Silencing’ by Trump Admin: ‘Will Be Celebrated by Communists, Autocrats and Ayatollahs’
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
Voice of America journalist Carla Babb spoke out Saturday on what she said is the “silencing” of the government funded organization by President Donald Trump, saying it will “be celebrated by communists, autocrats and ayatollahs whose lies we shed light on.”
Trump signed an executive order Friday slashing the budgets and staffing of multiple governmental entities, including the US Agency for Global Media, which is the parent of the global news service Voice of America.
The White House published a statement on Friday to accompany the executive order labeling the VOA as “The Voice of Radical America” and writing that Trump’s decision “will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.”
As the cuts went into effect on Saturday, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, whom Trump appointed as Special Adviser to the USAGM, posted on X that employees should “check their email.”
BREAKING—The President has issued an Executive Order titled Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy. It affects USAGM and its outlets VOA and OCB.
If you are an employee of the agency please check your email immediately for more information. https://t.co/JmKMA0rp54
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 15, 2025
Among those affected was Carla Babb, the outlet’s Pentagon correspondent, who spoke out later in the day.
“Today I, like virtually every other full-time employee at VOA, was placed on administrative leave indefinitely. I’m not allowed to report the news to our hundreds of millions of viewers at this time,” she wrote in a post on X. “Let’s hope this is temporary.”
Babb continued, condemning the cuts as a boon to America’s enemies, and arguing that the organization presents truth without bias, contrary to how the Trump administration has framed them.
A silencing of VOA will be celebrated by communists, autocrats and ayatollahs whose lies we shed light on. What a mission I’ve been lucky enough to embark on–a mission to grow American influence around the world, not by sharing slanted American propaganda, but by giving them the TRUTH! Why? Because America has the truth on its side.
VOA, too, has the truth in its corner. Don’t let me or anyone else tell you what to think about VOA. I encourage all of my friends to go to http://voanews.com and read as much there as you can. It’s been the honor and privilege of a lifetime to serve my country and follow my passion as a journalist. As we say at VOA, a free press matters.
To all of the service members and civilians who have trusted me with their stories during my 16 years at VOA and nearly 11 years as our Pentagon correspondent, I owe you a big “thank you” for putting your trust in me.
Some reacted with outrage and dismay to the news of the storied outfit’s demise.
However, others agreed with the administration’s decision as well as how it characterized the agency.
I followed the instructions and went to VOA’s website. Looked through it extensively.
I don’t see the point of VOA—unless it is to advance a cultural leftist and economic globalist agenda that most Americans oppose. How does it differ from, say, the WEF?
She says the mission… https://t.co/J9WjhFzGWy
— John Carney (@carney) March 15, 2025
Holy crap. Trump just terminated the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) which is the parent organization of Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and runs LGBT, far-left and woke propaganda in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/ysAhQfLo1n
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 15, 2025
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2025
The White House article accompanying the executive order focused more on the “leftist bias” they said dominated VOA’s news coverage.
Dan Robinson, a 34-year veteran of Voice of America and its former White House correspondent, wrote last year: “I have monitored the agency’s bureaucracy along with many of its reporters and concluded that it has essentially become a hubris-filled rogue operation often reflecting a leftist bias aligned with partisan national media. It has sought to avoid accountability for violations of journalistic standards and mismanagement.”
The article included a list of offenses the White House presented as more justification for the budget slash, the first bullet of which said: “Voice of America’s management told staff not to call Hamas and its members terrorists, ‘except when quoting statements.'”
Other items on the list included allegations of favoring Democratic candidates, criticism of the agency’s coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story, and so on.
Babb’s statement via X on the staff being placed on leave went very viral and continues to garner new commentary and interactions at the time of this post.
