1,300 Voice of America employees put on leave 

More than 1,300 Voice of America employees have been placed on leave.

Michael Abramowitz, Voice of America's director, said nearly his entire staff of 1,300 journalists, producers and assistants had been put on administrative leave, crippling a media broadcaster that operates in almost 50 languages.

The decision came on Saturday one day after President Donald Trump ordered the gutting of the government-funded media outlet's parent and six other federal agencies.

“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, saying it has played an important role "in the fight for freedom and democracy around the world." 

VOA's parent agency, the US 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. 

Trump's directives look set to devastate an organisation of significant reach, including in authoritarian countries where it serves as a rare source of reliable news. 

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. 

Source: Agencies