WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Termination notices are expected to go out to all remaining Voice of America employees this week, Politico reported on Wednesday, likely marking the end for a media broadcaster founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda.
The termination notices would affect the 800 remaining workers at the agency, which operates in nearly 50 languages and broadcasts to authoritarian regimes, Politico reported, citing four VOA employees familiar with the matter.
VOA has been on the chopping block since March, when President Donald Trump ordered the gutting of the government-funded media outlet’s parent, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), along with six other federal agencies.
The USAGM and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents VOA workers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some Republicans have accused VOA and other publicly funded media outlets of being biased against conservatives, and have called for them to be shuttered as part of the efforts by tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the government.
Earlier this month, nearly 600 VOA contractors were dismissed, leaving the roughly 800 remaining workers. Prior to the cuts, VOA reached 360 million people a week, many living under authoritarian regimes.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Nathan LayneEditing by Nick Zieminski)
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