As Voice of America goes dark, some broadcasts are replaced by music

WASHINGTON – For more than 80 years, Voice of America transmitted the news into countries, many of them authoritarian, where reliable sources of information about the outside world were often hard to come by.

Now those broadcasts – long viewed as an important part of US efforts to promote democracy and transparency overseas – are flickering out.

Hours after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 14 calling for

the dismantling of the federal agency that oversees Voice of America

, hundreds of journalists, executives and other employees at the organisation’s headquarters in Washington were informed that they were being put on paid leave.

Employees said they quickly lost access to their work e-mail and other communications programs.

Much of Voice of America’s content is produced in Washington and then transmitted to a network of affiliates worldwide. With most of Voice of America’s workforce locked out, at least some of its radio frequencies in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere went dark or began airing nothing but music, employees said.

In other cases, radio, television and digital outlets that used Voice of America programming will remain online but without contributions from the US. Some of those affiliates also carry content provided by state media from countries such as Russia and China, which Voice of America’s programming had, in effect, countered.

“They have pulled the plug operationally,” said Mr David Z. Seide, a lawyer at the Government Accountability Project who defends federal whistleblowers and who represents some Voice of America journalists.

Mr Seide said he was considering legal challenges aimed at reinstating Voice of America journalists. The American Foreign Service Association, whose ranks include Voice of America employees, said it “will mount a vigorous defence” of those employees.

The Trump administration’s efforts to shut down Voice of America are part of a broader campaign to weaken the news media.

The White House, for example, has barred The Associated Press from covering certain events over its refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Mr Trump and his allies have sued news outlets, and his allies have said they are eyeing more litigation.

The White House on March 15 issued a news release denouncing what it said was Voice of America’s role in spreading “radical propaganda” and accusing its employees of entrenched left-wing bias. It is the same critique that Mr Trump and his allies routinely make about the traditional media. NYTIMES