AIB blasts Trump for dismantling VoA
March 17, 2025
The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) has said it is “highly concerned” by the decision from the US administration to effectively cease funding for US international broadcasting entities and to some 1,300 of employees of Voice of America (VoA) on administrative leave.
A statement issued by The White House said that the executive order, signed by US President Donald Trump, was designed to “ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda”. Trump accused the federally funded news organisation of being “anti-Trump” and “radical”.
VoA, primarily a radio service, was set up during World War II to counter Nazi propaganda. It still reaches hundreds of millions of people globally each week.
In a statement given to the press, the AIB said: “These measures represent a significant setback for global media freedom and threaten the ability of millions of people worldwide to access impartial, fact-based journalism. For more than eight decades, US international broadcasters such as VoA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and others have served as critical sources of independent news for audiences living under censorship, state-controlled media, and information blackouts. Their reporting provides an essential counterbalance to disinformation and propaganda in some of the most restrictive media environments in the world.”
The statement added that the decision to cut funding and suspend operations has “potentially irreversible consequences” including:
- Undermine media freedom: By weakening one of the world’s most respected international news providers, these actions risk emboldening authoritarian regimes that seek to suppress independent journalism.
- Reduce access to credible information: Hundreds of millions of people who rely on US international broadcasters for accurate and unbiased reporting—particularly in conflict zones and countries with restricted press freedom—will find it more difficult to access reliable news.
- Damage America’s global credibility: The US has long championed press freedom as a fundamental democratic principle. By dismantling key international broadcasting institutions, the US government undermines its own commitment to free and independent journalism.
The AIB has called on the US administration to immediately reverse these decisions, and to restore funding to US international broadcasters.
Simon Spanswick, AIB chief executive, said: “At a time when the world is looking to the US to be global player for peace and freedom, cutting funding for US international media – one of the main instruments underpinning this goal – seems the wrong direction to take.”
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