GOODBYE, VOICE OF AMERICA

I NOTED NOT LONG AGO that my primary news sources included Voice of America. Alas, according to another of my favs, Reuters, March 15, 2025, “Voice of America Staff Put On Leave, Trump Ally Says Agency ‘Not Salvageable.” 

Herein I offer my own views on what’s not worth saving: the entire Trump administration, even as this elected felon continues his acknowledged retribution against perceived enemies. Here are tidbits about this particular madness akin to some 30s gangster flick.

Trump’s Actions. Reuters’ Nathan Lyne and James Oliphant report, “More than 1,300 Voice of America employees were placed on leave on Saturday and funding for two U.S. news services that broadcast to authoritarian regimes was terminated, one day after President Donald Trump ordered the gutting of the government-funded media outlet’s parent and six other federal agencies.”

The reporters continue, “VOA’s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), also terminated its grants to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which broadcasts to countries in Eastern Europe, including Russia and Ukraine, as well as to Radio Free Asia, which broadcasts to China and North Korea.”

Background. They recount, “Founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, VoA now reaches 360 million people a week. As a group, USAGM employs roughly 3,500 workers with an $886-million budget in 2024, according to its latest report to Congress…. Trump’s directives look set to devastate an organization that serves as a rare source of reliable news in authoritarian countries.”

A Requiem. Steve Herman had been—up until February 28, 2025—VoA’s chief national correspondent.  On March 15, 2025, he offers a “Requiem for the Voice That Carried a Nation’s Conscience.”

He writes “in my personal capacity and not as a representative of any agency or organization, past, present, or future… My colleagues and our broadcasts, devoted to telling America’s story to the world — honestly, fairly and with an unwavering commitment to the truth, are being silenced this weekend. The de facto destruction of the Voice of America—is nothing less than a betrayal of the ideals that gave birth to the institution and made it relevant throughout World War II, the Cold War and in the decades after the collapse of the Berlin Wall.”

This and following images from steveherman.press. 

See also “The Real Ambassadors: Satchmo Blows Up the World.”

Herman’s Career. “I had the honor,” Herman writes, “of serving on the front lines in dozens of countries—reporting on TV, radio and the web—from conflict zones, covering historic summits and in more recent years navigating the complexities of global diplomacy as VoA’s White House bureau chief and then its chief national correspondent.” These included the Fukushima nuclear disaster and a typhoon-ravaged Philippines. (The YouTube, by the way, shows a USAID box being downloaded.)

Herman continues, “Whether it was filing stories from war zones or pressing presidents and other leaders in palaces for answers on major geopolitical issues, I always understood that my duty was not to power, but to VoA‘s stakeholders and our global audiences, especially in countries without a free or developed press.”

It is rare that a picture tells a story so well. More’s the pity.

Herman recounts, “Destroying VoA (along with RFE/RL and Radio Free Asia) is a national security issue. These entities, funded by the American people, have been among the most effective instruments of American soft power—a bridge to those who may never set foot on our soil, but understand our values because they heard them in one of the dozens of languages in which we broadcast.”

A Touching Example of VoA in Action. “Everyday Grammar” was a regular component of VoA Learning English. On February 8, 2025, it offers Faith Pirlo’s “Ways to Say ‘Goodbye’ “ by noting, “It is never easy to say goodbye, but at least in English, we have many ways to do so. For my final Everyday Grammar, I want to share the many ways to say goodbye in English.” 

What follows is informal etymology, modern usage, even slang, in a gentle yet educational format. She concludes by writing, “I wanted to thank our audience for the past two years here at VOA Learning English. This might not be ‘goodbye,’ maybe it is just ‘see ya later!’ Take care, I’m Faith Pirlo. And I’m John Russel. (Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.)”

Touching as well are comments in the episode’s Forum; you’re encouraged to read them. Evidently VoA was making a difference in so many fruitful ways. ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025