Voice of America Cuts Weaken US Global Broadcasting—Watchdog
The Office of Inspector General found that the US Agency for Global Media moved quickly to reduce its operations after President Donald Trump ordered a scale-back in March 2025, without carrying out sufficient planning or assessing the financial impact of the changes.
The resulting reductions limited the agency’s ability to provide information to audiences around the world and challenge disinformation in countries where access to independent media is restricted, the evaluation said.
“The reduction in operations diminished USAGM's capacity to fulfill its core statutory mission of informing, engaging, and connecting people worldwide in support of freedom and democracy,” the report said.
According to the watchdog, agency leaders did not follow established procedures for implementing major organizational changes and began acting within 24 hours of Trump’s executive order.
The evaluation also said officials failed to adequately examine possible reforms or rely on “reliable data or evidence to inform its decision making.”
The impact of the cuts became particularly evident during the June 2025 strikes on Iran. When Voice of America attempted to restore its Persian-language programming, the service had only two employees available, one of whom did not speak Persian, according to the report.
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