On the morning of March 15, a number of full-time employees of the state-owned broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) received an email from the human resources department informing them that they had been placed on paid administrative leave.
This is reported by ABC News, whose journalists received a copy of the memo.
This also applies to members of the Voice of America team who cover the White House and are part of the radio pool. The exact number of people involved is currently unknown.
The email states that Voice of America employees on administrative leave are not authorized to access government buildings or systems.
This came after Trump signed an executive order on March 14 directing the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and six other little-known agencies to reduce their operations to the minimum required by law, saying it was necessary to reduce bureaucracy.
Reuters notes that Trump, who clashed with Voice of America during his first term, wanted Kari Lake, his ally and former news anchor who has often accused mainstream media of being biased against Trump, to lead the network during his second term.
In late February, USAGM informed that Lake would join the agency as a special advisor.
Her appointment as VOA director has been delayed because Trumpʼs nominee for USAGM chairman — conservative political activist and author L. Brent Bozell III — is still awaiting a Senate confirmation hearing.
- During his first presidential term, Trump was in conflict with the Voice of America and accused the organization of strengthening Chinese propaganda after it showed a fragment of a light show on the occasion of the reopening of Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus pandemic began.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.