America’s Silenced Voice

On the nation’s 250th birthday, one voice will be missing from the global conversation about the state of the union.

By Jeffrey Trimble

It belongs to the Voice of America (VOA), which President Trump all but shut down last year when he signed an executive order and accused VOA of disseminating “radical propaganda,” citing unfounded, out-of-context claims.

For more than eight decades, VOA has told America’s story to the world in dozens of languages. Its broadcasts of accurate, fact-based news and information are based on the belief that America is stronger and safer when people who live where free media are banned or limited have access to the truth about events in their countries, the United States, and the world. VOA reporting gives people in such countries information and hope and demonstrates how free expression is the oxygen of democracy.

VOA is required by law to include in its programs “clear and effective presentation of the policies of the United States Government and responsible discussion and opinion on those policies.” Simply put: VOA tells the truth about America and events in the world, and as Edward R. Murrow (the director of the U.S. Information Agency under President Kennedy) said, “truth is the best propaganda”.

That has been a formula for success. Before President Trump’s executive order in March 2025, VOA was reaching 361 million people around the world each week and producing content across media platforms — radio, television and digital — in 49 languages. According to the 2024 Agency Performance Report of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), VOA’s parent agency, 86 percent of VOA users considered the information they received from VOA to be very or somewhat trustworthy, and 76 percent said the network’s broadcasts helped them form opinions on important issues.

That success came cheap: the cost of U.S. international broadcasting (VOA, as well as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, and Radio/TV Marti) accounts for less than .01 percent of the U.S. federal budget.

Following President Trump’s executive order, approximately 600 VOA contractors (journalists and support staff) were fired, and about 800 full-time employees were put on administrative leave; those who have not resigned continue to receive pay as court cases play out to determine the network’s future.

Silence Like a Cancer Grows

Now, VOA is producing minimal content in just six languages. Open the voanews.com website and see for yourself: Rather l than the latest news in English, the leading language of the digital world, you’ll find stories from March 14, 2025, the last time the page was updated.

At the time of its suspension, VOA’s English content was drawing 80 million people weekly. By comparison, Fox News draws just under 1.5 million viewers daily.

With the cessation of most VOA broadcasts and severe budget reductions imposed on the other USAGM networks, America is more disconnected from the world and — just as important — the world is more disconnected from America.

At a time of unprecedented global influence operations by adversaries led by Russia, China, and Iran, America’s silence is deafening. It’s no wonder that the head of Russia’s RT international channel called the Trump administration’s cuts to VOA “awesome” and official Chinese outlets gloated that the U.S. administration had “discarded” VOA “like a dirty rag.”

There are indications that the Trump administration might be rethinking its decision to shutter VOA and strangle the other U.S. international broadcasters. In March, President Trump nominated Sarah B. Rogers, the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, to head USAGM, a position that requires Senate confirmation. At her hearing (no date is yet set), senators should get commitments from Ms. Rogers that USAGM and VOA management will adhere to the high professional standards set by the VOA Charter and the U.S. International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (USIBA).

Under Kari Lake. Trump’s previous appointee to direct USAGM, VOA pushed a relentless pro-administration line, violating the requirement for reporting that presents not only administration policies but also other perspectives, including disagreement with those policies.

Lake also violated the legally mandated “firewall that shields USAGM journalists from political interference in their reporting. Such violations severely erode the impact of VOA. As Murrow put it in 1963: “To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful.”

America’s voice is particularly important at this challenging time for democracy and for our country’s image around the world. According to Freedom House, global freedom declined for the 20th consecutive year in 2025. A new Pew Research Center study documents a steady, accelerating decline in global attitudes toward the United States, with just 37 percent of adults having a favorable view of the U.S. and 57 percent expressing an unfavorable view.

For more than two centuries, the language of the Declaration of Independence we celebrate has inspired not only Americans, but also people around the world in their pursuit of freedom and democracy.

That is why we, as Americans, should be engaging the world on our important anniversary and not leaving the narrative to Russian and Chinese propagandists who frame America’s 250th anniversary through a lens of national decline, political and social friction and historical revisionism. It’s high time to revive VOA to help the world sing, in dozens of languages, Happy Birthday America.

Jeffrey Trimble has been an international journalist, editor, and media manager for more than 40 years. For more than two decades he held senior positions in U.S. international broadcasting, including Acting President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Deputy Director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Prior to that, he reported from Moscow on the collapse of the Soviet Union and from Rome and other locations.