WASHINGTON: After 83 years, the Voice of America (VOA) officially shut down its core operations this weekend.

On Tuesday, the first working day after the Labour Day long weekend, even the skeleton staff that had survived earlier rounds of layoffs will not report to work.

Kari Lake, the Trump-appointed CEO of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), announced the layoff — officially termed a “reduction in force (RIF)” — in a statement released Friday evening.

“We are conducting this RIF at the President’s direction to help reduce the federal bureaucracy, imp­rove agency service, and save the American people more of their hard-earned money,” Lake wrote.

Founded in 1942, during World War II, VOA grew into the largest and oldest US international broadcaster. At its peak, it produced radio, television, and digital news in 48 languages, reaching a global weekly audience of more than 360 million people.

“VOA was more than just a media organization,” said a former employee who worked in one of its language services. “It gave millions access to reliable, fact-based news — often in countries where no such thing exists. I cannot understand why it had to be shut down.”

Several employees who spoke to Dawn on condition of anonymity said they had filed legal challenges against their dismissals and are barred from making public statements. One noted that most of those terminated were language specialists, many of whom face grim job prospects in the US media industry.

“And for many, it’s already late to learn new trades,” the former employee added.

Among those laid off were approximately 100 Pakistani journalists and staffers who worked for VOA’s Urdu and Pashto services. Others came from Vietnamese, Mandarin, Russian, Farsi, and dozens of other language departments that made VOA a key instrument of US public diplomacy during the Cold War and beyond.

The Trump administration began winding down VOA operations earlier this year. Nearly all staff were placed on administrative leave in March. About 600 contractors were terminated in May, and most remaining employees received termination notices in June. Some of those notices were briefly rescinded due to clerical errors, but USAGM made it clear that a permanent reduction in force was imminent.

Critics argue that the shutdown is motivated more by politics than by fiscal concerns.

“This is not about saving money,” said Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s former White House bureau chief and one of several plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit against the administration. “It’s about silencing independent journalism that doesn’t conform to the administration’s worldview.”

A federal judge appeared to support parts of that argument last week. US District Judge Royce Lamberth blocked Lake’s attempt to remove VOA Director Michael Abramowitz, ruling that she lacked the legal authority to do so. Abramowitz had been placed on administrative leave after refusing a reassignment to a remote transmission facility in North Carolina.

The judge also ordered Lake and two of her top aides to testify under oath by mid-September, warning that continued noncompliance could lead to a contempt of court ruling.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2025