The Voice of America may not live up to its ambitious name for much longer. Michael Abramowitz, the director of VOA, said in a Facebook post Saturday that he was placed on leave, along with “virtually the entire staff” of 1,300. The announcement comes one day after President Trump signed an executive order to gut VOA’s parent agency. Some of VOA’s local-language radio stations have stopped broadcasting news reports and switched over to music to fill the airtime, according to listeners. Even top editors at VOA have been ordered to stop working, so employees expect the broadcaster’s worldwide news coverage to grind to a halt, according to half a dozen sources who spoke with CNN on the condition of anonymity. “The Voice of America has been silenced, at least for now,” a veteran correspondent said. Voice of America is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which also runs networks like Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks. Those networks are also on Trump’s chopping block, as networks’ contracts with the operators have been terminated. While Trump allies argue that the broadcasters are bloated and outdated, advocates say that by dismantling the networks, the United States is ceding the airwaves to other world powers, thereby harming American interests abroad. The United States has been funding international news and current affairs coverage intended for global audiences for decades. Trump appointed conservative media critic Brent Bozell III to run the parent agency and tapped election-denying former TV anchor Kari Lake to run VOA. Bozell’s Senate confirmation hearing is months away, with Lake serving as a “senior adviser.” Lake signed some of the emails announcing Saturday’s cuts. Lake tweeted that the dismantling was taking effect because “the president has issued an Executive Order titled Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy.” Trump’s order said affected agencies should stop performing all work that is not statutorily mandated, and do the rest with as few people as possible. The order was in line with Elon Musk’s declaration in February that government-funded international broadcasters should be shut down altogether. “Nobody listens to them anymore,” Musk posted on X. “It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching US$1B/year of U.S. taxpayer money.” (SD-Agencies) 美國之音可能很快就要名不副實了。美國之音臺長邁克爾?艾布拉莫維茨上周六在臉書上發(fā)帖稱，他和 “幾乎全體員工”共1300人都被停職。就在一天前，特朗普總統(tǒng)簽署了一項行政命令，裁撤美國之音的上級機構(gòu)。據(jù)聽眾稱，美國之音的一些地方語言廣播電臺已經(jīng)停止播放新聞報道，轉(zhuǎn)而播放音樂來填補空檔。 據(jù)六位匿名接受美國有線電視新聞網(wǎng)采訪的消息人士透露，就連美國之音的高層編輯也被要求停止工作，因此員工們預(yù)計該廣播公司的全球新聞報道將陷入停滯。一位資深記者說：“ 美國之音已經(jīng)被禁聲了，至少目前是這樣?！?/p> 美國之音是美國全球媒體機構(gòu)（USAGM）的一部分，該機構(gòu)還運營自由歐洲電臺、自由亞洲電臺和中東廣播網(wǎng)絡(luò)等。特朗普也打算砍掉這些網(wǎng)絡(luò)，因為網(wǎng)絡(luò)與運營商的合同已經(jīng)終止。 雖然特朗普的盟友認為這些廣播公司臃腫和過時，但贊成者表示，美國砍掉這些網(wǎng)絡(luò)，等于將無線電波拱手讓給了其他世界大國，從而損害了美國在海外的利益。 幾十年來，美國一直在資助面向全球受眾的國際新聞和時事報道。 特朗普任命保守派媒體評論家布倫特?博澤爾三世管理美國全球媒體機構(gòu)，并任命拒絕接受2020年美國大選結(jié)果的前電視主播卡里?萊克來管理美國之音。距離博澤爾的參議院確認聽證會還有幾個月的時間，萊克將擔任“高級顧問”。萊克簽署了部分宣布周六裁員的電子郵件。萊克在推特上說，之所以裁員，是因為“總統(tǒng)發(fā)布了一項名為《繼續(xù)削減聯(lián)邦官僚機構(gòu)》的行政命令”。 特朗普的命令稱，受影響的機構(gòu)應(yīng)停止執(zhí)行所有非法定工作，并以盡可能少的人完成其余工作。 該命令與埃隆?馬斯克在 2 月份的聲明意見一致，認為政府資助的國際廣播公司應(yīng)完全關(guān)閉。 “沒人再聽他們的宣傳了，”馬斯克在X上發(fā)帖說，“這只是激進的左派狂熱分子一邊在燒美國納稅人的錢，一邊自言自語，他們每年燒掉10億美元?！?/p> (Translated by DeepSeek) | 