Donald Trump Executive Order: Chinese commentators could barely contain their excitement — not that anyone seemed to be trying — as US President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to dismantle Voice of America (VOA), which sought to serve as the US’ voice in the outside world, including countries with heavily controlled media like China and Iran. The order also covered Radio Free Asia (RFA) and other media organisations funded by the US government “that broadcast to authoritarian regimes”, the CNN reported, describing how an influential Chinese commentator had described the move as “truly gratifying”.
China’s state-run Global Times described VOA as a “lie factory” in a gleeful editorial. “The so-called beacon of freedom, VOA, has now been discarded by its own government like a dirty rag,” it noted.
The editorial said “almost every malicious falsehood about China”, including those that emerged during the Covid pandemic, “has VOA’s fingerprints all over it”.
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What’s VOA?
Trump’s order effectively guts the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent agency supporting the work of the VOA, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), RFA, Radio Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the Middle East Broadcast Network (MBN), the Open Technology Fund (OTF), and the Frontline Media Fund.
The organisations are described as American efforts to counter propaganda around the world.
VOA was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda. According to a Reuters report, VOA has a weekly reach of 360 million people. “As a group, USAGM employs roughly 3,500 workers with an $886-million budget in 2024, according to its latest report to Congress,” the report said, describing VOA “as a rare source of reliable news in authoritarian countries”.
The New York Times said the move was part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to weaken the news media.
The White House, however, defended the move, saying in a press release on Saturday that “President Donald J. Trump’s executive order on Friday will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda”.
‘Lie Factory’
The Global Times editorial said VOA had become a “frontline propaganda tool in the ideological confrontation of the Cold War”. “In recent decades, under the banner of promoting so-called freedom and democracy, it has broadcast in over 40 languages worldwide, attempting to shape the image of the US as a ‘moral high ground’,” it added.
However, “its independence and credibility have long been questioned and criticised”, it said, adding that VOA was “known for stirring up conflicts, inciting social divisions, and even participating in regime change efforts”. “VOA is widely recognised as Washington’s carefully crafted propaganda machine for peaceful evolution, earning itself a notorious reputation on the global stage. Similar to Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, its primary function is to serve Washington’s need to attack other countries based on ideological demands,” the editorial noted.
“When it comes to China-related reporting, VOA has an appalling track record. From smearing human rights in China’s Xinjiang to hyping up disputes in the South China Sea, from supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ forces to backing Hong Kong rioters, from fabricating the so-called China virus narrative to promoting the claim of China’s ‘overcapacity’, almost every malicious falsehood about China has VOA’s fingerprints all over it,” it said.
The editorial said “the monopoly of information held by some traditional Western media is being shattered [in the information age]. The narrative hegemony maintained by VOA as a ‘lie factory’ can be broken at any moment by a short video from the scene posted by a netizen,” it added. “The carefully constructed ‘iron curtain of public opinion’ they have built is also on the verge of collapse under the impact of countless media and self-media showcasing authentic content. As more Americans begin to break through their information cocoons and see a real world and a multidimensional China, the demonising narratives propagated by VOA will ultimately become a laughingstock of the times,” it noted.
