Celebrating US President Donald Trump’s decision to cut funding for government-owned stations such Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), Chinese state media have praised a move generally considered as a damage to US soft power.
The Chinese Communist Party-affiliated tabloid The Global Times hailed the changes in an editorial, labeling VOA a “lie factory” with a past of disseminating incorrect information about China.
Another state-run newspaper, the Beijing Daily, reflected similar ideas, characterizing the action as a first step in “eliminating Western disinformation.”
Following Trump’s executive order last week, which drastically cuts the US Agency for Global Media’s (USAGM) budget, the body in charge of VOA, RFA, and other outlets is greatly underfunded. The directive orders that operations be reduced to the “bare minimum required by law,” therefore stifling the activity of these media outlets.
The White House defended the choice by saying American citizens shouldn’t support what Trump called “radical propaganda.” Based on USAGM’s most recent assessment to Congress, the agency hired around 3,500 workers and has a $886 million budget for 2024.
The action has resulted in 1,300 VOA workers being put on administrative leave; additional layoffs are inevitable.
Journalists, media analysts, and human rights groups who warn that Trump’s decision will diminish Washington’s influence overseas, particularly in nations where independent press is already under attack, have sharply criticised his choice.
Arguing that about 60 million people depend on RFA weekly for independent news, especially in nations with limited media access, RFA President Bay Fang said the closure was a “reward to dictators and despots”.
“This action helps America’s enemies at our own expense,” Fang added.
Declaring that the organization has been instrumental in debunking propaganda from totalitarian governments, VOA Director Mike Abramowitz denounced the action as a major danger to press freedom.
Declaring that the ruling “hands a victory” to the Chinese Communist Party and empowers authoritarian leaders like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, the union representing RFA journalists also slammed the decision.
Nationalist commentators in China have hailed the closing of US-funded media. Former editor-in-chief of the Global Times Hu Xijin posted on Weibo that VOA’s closure was “long overdue” and that its reporting has been a main instrument for US ideological penetration into China.
From Xinjiang’s human rights problems to the so-called “China virus” narrative, almost every created story about China had VOA’s hands on it, the Global Times editorial said.
Long accusing VOA and RFA of disseminating “anti-China propaganda” and encouraging upheaval in areas including Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, China’s state-run media have long targeted VOA and RFA.
Trump’s choice comes at a period when China’s state-owned media is spreading over the world. Filling the hole left by dwindling US-funded media, Chinese-backed networks such as CGTN and Xinhua have grown more and more influential throughout Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
Media experts warn that the dissolution of VOA could reduce US influence overseas, particularly in areas where American-backed news organizations provided substitute information to state-owned media.
The layoffs also cut outside of media outlets. Among many US government-funded organizations eliminated by Trump’s executive order are the Minority Business Development Agency, the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Press freedom groups urge Congress to act, but it is unclear if the funding cuts can be undone before USAGM’s activities are completely stopped.
