A adviser to President Donald Trump said that One America News Network will provide its newsfeed to Voice of America and other U.S.-funded international broadcast outlets.
The news was greeted with some alarm from staffers at Voice of America, who have been sidelined from their jobs since a Trump executive order in March to dismantle broadcast entities overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. That entity oversees VOA and other international broadcast outlets, including Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Marti.
In a post on X on Tuesday evening, Kari Lake, who is serving as a special adviser to USAGM, wrote that OAN offered to provide their newsfeed and video services free of charge.
“This is an enormous benefit to the American taxpayer, who is the sole-source of funding for USAGM’s news outlets, which broadcast only to international audiences,” Lake wrote.
But she added, “In my current role as Senior Advisor to USAGM, I don’t have editorial control over the content of VOA and OCB programming, but I can ensure our outlets have reliable and credible options as they work to craft their reporting and news programs.”
OAN has been notable for its rightward slant and its embrace of Trump. It was one of the most aggressive of all outlets in amplifying Trump’s conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen.
By statute, VOA has a “firewall” that restricts U.S. government officials from interfering in the outlet’s editorial independence.
VOA employees have been challenging the dismantling of VOA in court. A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts last month. But just as employees were preparing to return to work, a three-judge appeals panel last weekend issued a stay that raises new doubts about when or if VOA will be up and running again. The VOA website has been frozen in time to March 15.
Patsy Widauswara and Jessica Jerreat, who are challenging the VOA closure, said of the OAN agreement, “Congress mandated VOA to report reliable and authoritative news, not to outsource its journalism to outlets aligned with the president’s agenda. VOA already has talented and professional journalists read to tell America’s story in line with the VOA charter, but we are blocked from our own newsroom. That is why we will continue fighting for our rights in court.”
