Latest news with #PatsyWidakuswara
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Congressional letter obtained by AP outlines drastic job cuts expected at Voice of America
The Trump administration appointee overseeing the Voice of America has outlined job cuts that would reduce employment at the state-run news organization from over 1,000 people to 81. The Voice of America, which has delivered news to countries all over the world for the better part of a century, has been largely silent for two months following an executive order by President Donald Trump. He believes Voice of America, and similar organizations like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, have reported with a liberal bias. Most of VOA's employees have been on administrative leave since mid-March amid reports that layoff notices were forthcoming. Kari Lake, who has been overseeing the U.S. Agency for Global Media for Trump, outlined planned employment changes in a letter Tuesday to U.S. Sen. James Risch that was obtained by The Associated Press. Lake said Trump had directed the agency 'to reduce the performance of its statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.' Some VOA employees are fighting for the organization's survival in court, and one of them — White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara — said Wednesday that it was absurd to think the staff could be cut to the levels Lake is suggesting. 'You can't make staff this size produce content for a global audience of 360 million weekly,' Widakuswara said. 'It's comical if it weren't so tragic. We're not just losing our jobs and journalism, we are abdicating our voice and influence in the world.' In April, a federal judge ruled that the administration illegally shut down VOA. But an appellate panel later said that a lower court did not have the authority to order that employees be brought back to work, keeping the agency in limbo. In court papers filed last week, lawyers for Widakuswara and fellow plaintiffs said the administration made a cursory attempt to indicate that VOA was operational by broadcasting five minutes of content to three provinces in Afghanistan on May 27. The Washington-area building where Voice of America has been operating has been put up for sale, while a lease has been canceled for a new building that the news operation was to move into, the court papers said. Lake's letter says the administration wants to keep 33 jobs overseen by her agency that broadcasts news to Cuba, along with two positions each to provide services to China and Afghanistan and in Farsi, the official language of Iran. ___ Bauder reported from New York.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Congressional letter obtained by AP outlines drastic job cuts expected at Voice of America
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration appointee overseeing the Voice of America has outlined job cuts that would reduce employment at the state-run news organization from over 1,000 people to 81. The Voice of America, which has delivered news to countries all over the world for the better part of a century, has been largely silent for two months following an executive order by President Donald Trump. He believes Voice of America, and similar organizations like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, have reported with a liberal bias. Most of VOA's employees have been on administrative leave since mid-March amid reports that layoff notices were forthcoming. Kari Lake, who has been overseeing the U.S. Agency for Global Media for Trump, outlined planned employment changes in a letter Tuesday to U.S. Sen. James Risch that was obtained by The Associated Press. Lake said Trump had directed the agency 'to reduce the performance of its statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.' Some VOA employees are fighting for the organization's survival in court, and one of them — White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara — said Wednesday that it was absurd to think the staff could be cut to the levels Lake is suggesting. 'You can't make staff this size produce content for a global audience of 360 million weekly,' Widakuswara said. 'It's comical if it weren't so tragic. We're not just losing our jobs and journalism, we are abdicating our voice and influence in the world.' In April, a federal judge ruled that the administration illegally shut down VOA. But an appellate panel later said that a lower court did not have the authority to order that employees be brought back to work, keeping the agency in limbo. In court papers filed last week, lawyers for Widakuswara and fellow plaintiffs said the administration made a cursory attempt to indicate that VOA was operational by broadcasting five minutes of content to three provinces in Afghanistan on May 27. The Washington-area building where Voice of America has been operating has been put up for sale, while a lease has been canceled for a new building that the news operation was to move into, the court papers said. Lake's letter says the administration wants to keep 33 jobs overseen by her agency that broadcasts news to Cuba, along with two positions each to provide services to China and Afghanistan and in Farsi, the official language of Iran. Lake announced last month that the pro-Trump news outlet One America News Network had agreed to provide a feed of its newscasts to VOA and other state-run services that broadcast in other countries. It's not clear whether any OAN feeds have been used yet. ___ Bauder reported from New York.
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Journalists fight Trump 'attacks' on media as Beijing ramps up state-run radio
When Patsy Widakuswara first saw news that a pro-Trump network would provide content to Voice of America (VOA), she was hunkered down in a bomb shelter in Kyiv. The threat of a Russian attack came during the VOA White House Bureau chief's trip to Ukraine in May, when she attended a security forum and spoke on a panel about freedom of the media. VOA, set up and funded by the US government in 1942 to counter propaganda, was largely silenced in March when the Trump administration slashed its funding. The government agency that housed VOA, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), was "a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer", US President Donald Trump's USAGM senior adviser Kari Lake said at the time. Critics described the move as a "massive gift to America's enemies", and the decision largely gutted VOA, an international broadcaster that previously reached about 360 million people weekly, with news translated in 49 languages then transmitted abroad. Earlier this month, VOA faced a second "attack" — it would be provided with newsfeed services from the One America News Network (OAN). Lake said OAN, known for being the "voice of Trump", offered the content for free, which was an "enormous benefit" for taxpayers. In contrast, VOA has an editorial charter mandating it to be factual, balanced and comprehensive. For Widakuswara, reading news about the OAN deal while sheltering from the risk of Russian bombs was "surreal". She said she felt like she was experiencing "the threat of enemy fire both literally and figuratively". "Here I am, my outlet — that was formed to fight Nazi propaganda and became a powerful tool in the Cold War — was under attack," she said. "Not from our adversaries, but from our own [US] government." Media analysts have warned the decision to align OAN and VOA could distort VOA broadcasts and benefit its enemies in autocratic countries. A recent report from a VOA journalist on administrative leave said skeleton staff left at VOA were yet to use OAN content, and stories published since the deal remained independent, fact based and balanced. It is one of multiple efforts by journalists to resist and fight back against Mr Trump's efforts to cut and control media based in the US. "A free press is the foundation of democracy. Without a free press, people cannot make informed decisions about their governments," Widakuswara said. "Without a free press, who will be there to hold power to account?" The cuts to VOA in March were part of the administration's decision to slash the USAGM budget to the minimum required by law. USAGM subsequently terminated funding to other media agencies it housed, including Radio Free Asia (RFA). The cuts prompted multiple court cases, including one lodged by RFA, a non-profit media agency based mostly in Washington which provides uncensored news to an audience of nearly 60 million people living under repressive regimes across China, Vietnam, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. RFA recently received a court ruling in its favour that meant it could delay laying off more than 250 staff in May. While the agency has received its April funding, it has not received its May disbursement. Chief executive Bay Fang urged the government to pay RFA funds "on a timely and consistent basis" so RFA could "come back in full force". "As this process drags on, it is clear that China is wasting no time to fill a void left by America's retreat from the information space in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond," she added. As RFA reduced shortwave broadcasts, China "stepped theirs up", RFA analysis said. RFA broadcasts dropped from 60 to six frequencies from October 2024 to March 2025. During the same period, Chinese-state-run China Radio International added 82 broadcasts, according to analysis by a third-party media-monitoring company, Encompass Digital Media. "They largely target audiences that RFA had to step away from: 26 in Tibetan, 16 in Uyghur, 12 in Chinese, and two in Korean. "Two of those broadcasts — one in Uyghur, one in Tibetan — use the same frequency that RFA once did," the analysis said. When funding to RFA was cut, authoritarian regimes including Beijing-backed media celebrated the decision, while activists and analysts warned the closures would create information "black holes" that could be filled by Russian or Chinese services. Vietnamese Australian human rights advocate Trung Doan said RFA was highly regarded in Vietnam, where media was state run and controlled. Mr Doan said authorities were "afraid" of the Vietnamese people being informed by free, independent media outside of government control. RFA and other journalists had been jailed there, he added. "Independent media like Radio Free Asia, they do their own thing, and they report on things that are not necessarily good news for the ruling authority," he said. Gulchehra Hoja, a furloughed RFA employee, knows well the battle between free media and state-controlled messaging. A Uyghur journalist living in exile in the United States, Hoja has worked for RFA's Uyghur service for 24 years. Her reporting has cast light on human-rights abuses perpetrated by Chinese authorities and has won numerous awards. Hoja said the RFA Uyghur department had become her "home" and she was proud of the work she had done, but she had "paid a great price". "Because of my work, my family has been living under the threat of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] for more than 20 years. After my brother was abducted in September 2017, by the end of January 2018, 24 members of my entire family were detained in the internment camps," she said. Some of them remained in camps and prisons today, she said. Hoja said she worried about the safety of her family but would not "stop being the voice of the Uyghurs". China rejects all accusations of abuse of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang. While RFA staff remain in limbo, nearly 1,300 VOA staff were placed on paid leave in March, including Widakuswara. Another 600 VOA contractors will be terminated at the end of May. About 50 of those hold visas tied to their job. Without their job, they could be forced to return to their home countries, where they could face "retaliation" for their reporting, Widakuswara said. A federal appeals court decision in favour of the Trump administration's gutting of VOA came down last week, but journalists involved in the case said in a statement on X they remained "committed to fighting for their rights". Only a small group of staff remain at VOA and now One America News Network (OAN) content is their only news wire option. Media outlets around the world have contracts with wires services such as Reuters and Associated Press, which gather and feed original, fact-based content that can be republished. "I can't force these outlets to use the news, but I can offer it to them, and that's exactly what we've done," said Ms Lake, the Trump adviser. OAN did not respond to the ABC's requests for comment and on its website said it was an "independent media company focused on providing high quality national television programming". Journalism professor Colleen Murrell, from Dublin City University in Ireland, said the decision to use OAN as VOA's newsfeed service was "completely political". "One American News will simply toe the US government line. You can expect it to be little better than a government PR feed," Professor Murrell said. "This decision is going to completely skew the news that goes out on the service." Professor Murrell warned a change to VOA content would "benefit the service's enemies in autocratic countries with poor media freedom". VOA was "the most sought-after" radio broadcaster in Asia in 2024 by "a considerable margin", according to Lowy Institute analysis. Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar are among the countries where the VOA was the most popular. CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter, who was unavailable for interview for this story, described the OAN network as a "MAGA propaganda outlet". Mr Stelter wrote that OAN was an "amateurish far-right TV outlet best known for promoting Trump's 2020 election lies" and "having access to OAN content is a big step toward turning the Voice of America into the Voice of Trump". USAGM and VOA did not respond to requests for comment.
ABC News
25-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
The silencing of Voice of America
The US funded international news network Voice of America started broadcasting into Germany in 1942. It now broadcasts in nearly 50 languages to more than 350 million people around the world. But in March this year, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order dismantling the US Agency for Global Media - the independent government body that oversees Voice of America. Now, Voice of America has been silenced for the first time in 83 years. Guests: Patsy Widakuswara is Voice of America's White House Bureau Chief and lead plaintiff in VOA's legal case against the Trump Administration. Dr Nick Cull is Professor of Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California, Annenberg, and he specialises in the historic role of communication in foreign policy. Dr Kate Wright is Associate Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Edinburgh and co-author of Capturing News, Capturing Democracy: Trump and the Voice of America by Kate Wright, Martin Scott & Mel Bunce Produced and presented by Kirsti Melville
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Fight back': journalist taking Trump administration to court calls for media to resist attacks
The lead plaintiff in a lawsuit fighting Donald Trump's order to dismantle Voice of America has said the media has to resist as the administration becomes increasingly aggressive against the press. 'I never in a million years thought I would have to fight for freedom of the press in the United States of America. And yet here we are,' says Patsy Widakuswara, the White House bureau chief for the broadcasting network. 'As journalism is under attack, it feels empowering to fight back. We need more people to resist and fight back.' Related: Trump's shuttering of global media agency endangers reporters, staff say Kicked out of press conferences on multiple continents for asking pointed questions, Widakuswara is not the type to balk at challenging powerful leaders. In her three decades as a journalist those instincts have served her well, and perhaps at no better time than now. The White House reporter is now leading the charge to save VOA, which the US president has described as 'anti-Trump' and 'radical'. In March, Trump signed an executive order that effectively cut off its funding via its parent company, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Launched in 1942, initially to counter Nazi propaganda, VOA is a federally funded international broadcasting network, produced in dozens of languages that reach about 350 million people around the globe. For decades it has been seen as a form of soft power, encapsulating the values of liberal America. But after Trump's order its operations have been suspended, with virtually all of VOA's staff of 1,300 placed on immediate administrative leave and about 600 contractors terminated. The lawsuit filed by Widakuswara and several of her colleagues follows lawsuits the Trump administration has taken out against ABC News and CBS's 60 Minutes in the US, and attempts to expel some press from the White House. Those backing the case argue that VOA has for decades provided an important source of objective information, especially in illiberal environments. Related: 'A cocktail for a misinformed world': why China and Russia are cheering Trump's attacks on media 'These are not just women in Afghanistan or farmers in Africa,' said Widakuswara of VOA's audience. 'They're also activists in Russia and decision makers all around the world who are also facing the onslaught of disinformation and propaganda from Russia, Iran, China, and extremist organisations like [Islamic State] and al-Qaida.' At home having a quiet Saturday when she received the email about VOA's demise, Widakuswara says to do nothing was inconceivable. In a matter of days she had rallied a team to fight against it, and by Friday morning had filed a lawsuit. 'It's just the way I'm wired,' she says over the phone from Washington. 'Congress gave us a mandate to tell America's story to the world through factual, balanced and comprehensive reporting. If they want to change the size, structure or function of VOA, they can't just shut us down. They must go through Congress. That's the law.' 'Holding autocratic governments to account' Starting her career in Jakarta in the late 90s, just as Indonesia's decades-long dictator Suharto was being toppled, the Indonesian-born journalist has seen first-hand the impacts of authoritarian regimes. Widakuswara worked at a radio station, and later as a fixer for foreign journalists when they flooded in to cover the event, as mass student protests inundated the parliament building and forced Suharto to step down. 'That was my first taste in media,' she says. 'Holding autocratic governments to account.' The experience led to a career in television, and a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office scholarship to obtain her master's in journalism at Goldsmiths, University of London. After stints at the BBC and Channel 4, she was named VOA's White House bureau chief in 2021. Now, she finds herself pushing against fascistic tendencies in her adopted home. 'I grew up in 80s Indonesia where there was no press freedom and newspapers had to be careful what they printed to avoid government closure,' she says. 'Could the US backslide that far? Not if enough people resist, and that's why I'm fighting back.' Her lawsuit, backed by Reporters Without Borders and four unions, argues the Trump administration, through the actions of the defendants, USAGM, and the government's special adviser Kari Lake, are attempting to unlawfully dismantle VOA's operations because they deem it contrary to the government's agenda. Widakuswara argues that Trump's executive order is a violation of press freedom, the first amendment, and laws to prevent executive overreach, with VOA funding approved by Congress, not the president. Another motivating factor is to support her 47 colleagues at VOA on J-1 or journalist visas in the US, who could be sent back to countries such as Russia, Belarus, Vietnam and Myanmar which have previously jailed journalists. Widakuswara's efforts to save VOA appeared to score an early win, with a judge in April ordering the Trump administration to restore funding to VOA and other US-funded media. But the preliminary injunction was only a temporary measure. On Saturday, just as VOA staff were preparing for a 'phased return' to work, a court of appeals issued a stay on that ruling, saying the court did not have the authority to block Trump's executive order regarding employment matters. Keenly aware of the unfavourable political climate she is up against, Widakuswara says it is hard to know if their case will ultimately prevail, but the only choice is to try. 'Even if it's just like a 5% chance or even a 1% chance, that's better than a 0% chance, which is what happens if we do nothing.' • This article was amended on 6 May 2025. Patsy Widakuswara did not work at a 'campus' radio station as stated in an earlier version.
