Voice of America staff sent on leave following US President's order

Reuters reports this, citing Ukrinform.

Several employees of the Voice of America (VOA), an international media company that broadcasts in more than 40 languages, received an email notifying them of administrative leave. They will retain full pay and benefits “until further notice.”

Emails sent by the head of human resources at the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent company of Voice of America, instructed people not to enter office premises or access internal systems.

Read also: Ukrainian producer Yuriy Kirpik died in battle

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

It comes as Trump signed an order on Friday that orders USAGM and six other agencies to cut their regulations to the minimum level required by law, which the US president said was necessary to reduce bureaucracy.

Donald Trump, who clashed with Voice of America during his first term, has now appointed former news anchor Kari Lake to head VOA. She is known as a staunch supporter of the president and has often accused the mainstream media of bias against Trump.

In a post on social media platform X on Saturday, Lake noted that Trump's order impacted USAGM “and its media outlets VOA and OCB,” referring to the Cuban Broadcasting Authority.

Read also: UNESCO condemns the murder of Ukrinform journalist Tetyana Kulik

As reported by Ukrinform, on March 15, Donald Trump signed an executive order to cut seven federal agencies.

Earlier, billionaire Elon Musk, who currently heads the US Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), supported the idea of closing the online publication and radio station Radio Liberty and the television and radio organization Voice of America, funded by the US government. In his opinion, “nobody listens to them anymore” and “they are just left-wing lunatics talking to themselves.”

Photo: Voice of America