Farsi-speaking VOA journalists return to work after lengthy administrative leave amid Iran-Israel escalation
Farsi-speaking journalists with Voice of America were called back to work on Friday amid the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel.
The US Agency for Global Media in March terminated grants for Voice of America and several other broadcasters as President Donald Trump's administration moved to make major cuts to government spending and the federal workforce.
"VOA's role in providing independent, factual and authoritative news has been proven throughout countless times of crisis. But after months off the air, we've lost a lot of audience and credibility," White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara said.
"They should bring us all back so we can respond to breaking news in all parts of the world."
The move comes after Israel launched what it called a "pre-emptive" strike on Iran's nuclear and military sites that killed at least 78 people, among them civilians as well as top brass.
Iran carried out a retaliatory strike on Israel that injured dozens and killed at least one person.
The two countries afterwards began tit-for-tat strikes over the course of Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Voice of America is one of the largest and oldest US international broadcasters, producing digital, TV and radio content in 48 languages. Its primary audience is non-Americans in countries without press freedoms or independent journalism, such as Iran.
But the Trump administration has charged that Voice of America and other networks have a liberal bias in addition to bloated budgets.
"The US Agency for Global media will continue to deliver on all statutory programmes that fall under the agency's purview and shed everything that is not statutorily required," USAGM adviser Kari Lake said in a statement in March. "Waste, fraud and abuse run rampant in this agency and American taxpayers shouldn't have to fund it."
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