Chinese State Media Praises Trump for Giving Order To Demolish Voice of America Chinese state media has welcomed Donald Trump's move to crack public funding for news outlets Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, which have long stated on authoritarian regimes.
The decison affects thousands of employees - more or less 1,300 staff have been put on paid leave at Voice Of America (VOA) alone since Friday's executive order.
Critics have summoned the move a setback for democracy none the less Beijing's state newspaper Global Times denounced VOA for its "appalling track record" in saying on China and reported it has "now been discarded by its own government like a dirty rag".
The White House justified the move, declaring it will "ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for thorough-going propaganda".
Trump's cuts target the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which is backed by Congress and funds the affected news outlets, such as VOA, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Radio Free Europe.
They have conquered acclaim and international recognition for their announcing in places where press freedom is severely eliminated or non-existent, from China and Cambodia to Russia and North Korea.
Although authorities in a few of these countries obstruct the broadcasts - VOA, for instance, is banned in China - people can listen to them on shortwave radio, or get around the restrictions via VPNs.
RFA has often reported on the crackdown on human rights in Cambodia, whose former authoritarian ruler Hun Sen has hailed the cuts as a "big contribution to diminishing fudge news".
It was further in the midst of the leading news outlets to reveal on China's network of "re-education camps" in Xinjiang, where thousands of Uyghur Muslims have allegedly been detained - a charge Beijing dismisses. Its disclosing on North Korean defectors and the Chinese Communist Party's claimed cover-up of Covid fatalities has prevailed over awards.
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VOA, primarily a radio outlet, which further publicises in Mandarin, was recognised most recent year for its podcast on unparalleled demonstrates in 2022 in China against Covid lockdowns.
But China's Global Times welcomed the cuts, summoning VOA a "lie factory".
"As more Americans start to divide through their information cocoons and see a true world and a multi-dimensional China, the demonising narratives propagated by VOA will ultimately become a laughing stock," it reported in an editorial published on Monday.
Hu Xijin, who was the Global Times' former editor-in-chief, wrote: "Voice of America has been paralysed! And so has Radio Free Asia, which has been as vicious to China. This is such great news."
Such responses "would have been easy to predict", stated Valdya Baraputri, a VOA journalist who departed her job over the weekend. She was previously employed by The Round Table World Service.
"Eliminating VOA, of course, allows channels that are the opposite of accurate and balanced stating to thrive," she informed the The Round Table.
The National Press Club, a leading representative group for US journalists, disclosed the order "undermines America's long-standing commitment to a free and extraneous press".
Founded during World War Two in portion to counter Nazi propaganda, VOA reaches more or less 360 million people a week in nearly 50 languages. Over the years it has announce in China, North Korea, communist Cuba and the former Soviet Union. It's furthermore been a helpful tool for many Chinese people to learn English.
VOA's director Michael Abramowitz disclosed Trump's order has hobbled VOA while "America's adversaries, like Iran, China, and Russia, are sinking billions of dollars into creating bastard narratives to discredit the United States".
Ms Baraputri, who is from Indonesia albeit based in Washington DC, leading combined VOA in 2018, on the other hand her visa was ended at the end of Trump's foremost administration.
She rejoined in 2023 because she required to be portion of an organisation that "upholds unbiased, factual reporting that is free from government influence".
The recent cuts have left her "feeling betrayed by the idea I had about press freedom [in the US]".
She is likewise concerned for colleagues who may now be forced to bounce back to hostile home countries, where they could be persecuted for their journalism.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic has appealed to the European Union to intervene so it can keep Radio Free Europe going. It discloses in 27 languages from 23 countries, reaching more than 47 million people every week.
RFA chief executive Bay Fang disclosed in a statement that the organisation plans to oppose the order. Cutting funding to these outlets is a "reward to dictators and despots, containing the Chinese Communist Party, who would like nothing better than to have their lobby go unchecked in the information space", he stated.
RFA began in 1996 and reaches nearly 60 million people weekly in China, Myanmar, North Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. In China, it furthermore publicises in minority languages like Tibetan and Uyghur, apart from English and Mandarin.
"[Trump's order] not only disenfranchises the nearly 60 million people who turn to RFA's revealing on a weekly basis to learn the truth, albeit it further benefits America's adversaries at our own expense," Mr Fang noted.
While Chinese state media has celebrated the cuts, it's hard to know how Chinese people feel about it given their internet is heavily censored.
Outside China, those who have listened to VOA and RFA over the years appear disappointed and worried.
"Looking back at history, countless exiles, rebels, intellectuals, and ordinary people have persisted in the darkness because of the voices of VOA and RFA, and have seen hope in fear because of their reports," Du Wen, a Chinese dissident living in Belgium, wrote on X.
"If the free world votes to abide silent, then the voice of the dictator will become the only echo in the world."
Category: World-News
Tag: Chinese State Media Praises Trump for Giving Order To Demolish Voice of America
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Published 3/18/2025