On Friday, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order aimed at absolving taxpayers from funding what he terms “radical propaganda.”
Dan Robinson, a seasoned journalist with 34 years at Voice of America (VOA), previously served as the outlet’s White House correspondent. In a critical assessment, he noted, “I have monitored the agency’s bureaucracy along with many of its reporters and concluded that it has essentially become a hubris-filled rogue operation often reflecting a leftist bias aligned with partisan national media. It has sought to avoid accountability for violations of journalistic standards and mismanagement.”
- Management at Voice of America has instructed staff to refrain from labeling Hamas and its members as terrorists, “except when quoting statements.”
- The Daily Caller reported that “multiple Voice of America reporters have posted anti-Trump content on social media,” in apparent contradiction to the outlet’s social media policy promoting impartiality.
- “Multiple Voice of America (VOA) reporters have repeatedly posted anti-Trump comments on their professional Twitter accounts, despite a social media policy requiring employee impartiality on social media platforms.”
- Representative Scott Perry highlighted in a 2022 letter that Voice of America has “grown exceedingly partisan over the past several years.”
- A 2016 report from the Office of Personnel Management, cited by Rep. Perry, indicated that employees in the VOA Persian service reported “coercion for partisan political purposes.”
- The Washington Free Beacon noted, “VOA misallocates funds and suppresses negative stories about Iran. This lawmaker wants to investigate.”
- Voice of America has produced content discussing concepts like “white privilege,” which is now central to debates on racial profiling and systemic bias within law enforcement.
- “Today, the phrase is used passionately and widely in the context of racial profiling — police treatment of people as criminal suspects based on their race.”
- A 2022 lawsuit accused Voice of America of being “infiltrated by anti-American, pro-Islamic state interests,” alleging that its messaging was skewed to favor these factions in Iran.
- In October 2020, Voice of America downplayed allegations regarding Russian interference in the Hunter Biden laptop story, suggesting that “the allegations that Russia played a role in perpetuating the scandal to benefit Trump could undermine the emails’ credibility.”
- During July 2020, the outlet faced backlash for sharing content perceived as overly favorable to then-presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
- In September 2019, the Daily Caller reported that Voice of America had employed a former Russian propagandist known for disseminating anti-U.S. messages.
- In May 2019, VOA terminated two reporters after they canceled a live broadcast under pressure from the Chinese government, raising concerns about editorial independence.
- In March 2019, Voice of America aired a segment featuring transgender migrants seeking asylum in the United States, a topic that continues to evoke mixed responses across the political spectrum.
