'Bloody Saturday' at Voice of America and other U.S.-funded networks

In a surprising turn of events, Voice of America (VOA) and its parent entity, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, faced mass suspensions affecting over 1,000 employees. This decision followed President Trump's late-night directive mandating the agency to cease non-mandatory activities. Moreover, contracts with international broadcasters such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia were terminated under the direction of senior adviser Kari Lake, who lacks the authority for such actions. Former CFO Grant Turner lamented the loss of U.S. public diplomacy, emphasizing the destruction of decades of goodwill built by these networks.

The move followed a late Friday night edict from President Trump that its parent agency, called the U.S. Agency for Global Media, must eliminate all activities that are not required by law.

From what I hear, this is shaping up to be a really sad day. USAGM networks share important news, information and American values around the world...Seeing arsonists just set fire to it all is awful.

Read at www.npr.org