Almost entire VOA staff sent on leave, radio station going silent

WASHINGTON, the United States | TASS | More than 1,300 employees of the Voice of America (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent media outlet) have been sent on administrative leave, and the radio station itself is going silent, Michael Abramowitz, Voice of America’s director announced.

He said that nearly his entire staff of 1,300 journalists, producers and assistants had been put on administrative leave, crippling a media broadcaster that operates in nearly 50 languages.

“I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” Abramowitz said in a post on LinkedIn (blocked in the Russian Federation).

Earlier, ABC News reported that all full-time employees of the Voice of America radio station had been notified of being placed on paid administrative leave.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to significantly reduce the scope of the US government’s Agency for Global Media. It is responsible for foreign policy propaganda and coordinates the activities of such US government-funded radio stations as the Voice of America and Radio Liberty/Free Europe, which are recognized in Russia as foreign agent media outlets, as well as their online divisions. Officially, the agency is called an independent department of the US government. Until 2018, it was called the Broadcasting Council.

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SOURCE: TASS