Voice of America, the Omroep for the world funded by the government, has long been proud that they serve as an accurate and honest source of news and are independent of which president and party are also in power in the United States.
Since the election of President Trump, this independence is increasingly being tested.
In recent months, the Voice of America's More Organization, the American Global Media Bureau, has opened research into human resources into the Voice of America journalists for reporting about criticism of Mr Trump or for making comments that were considered criticism of him. Some journalists were concerned about the investigation in a meeting this week with the director of the broadcaster.
At least a few articles that include criticism of Mr Trump and his administration were not published or were weakened after publication in recent months, said three employees of the Voice of America, who spoke about the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.
And on Friday, the Global Media Agency inquired one of Voice of America's high-profile journalists, Steven Herman, that he was placed on an extensive “apologized absence” pending a human resources research, according to a copy of the letter assessed by the New York Times. Mr. Herman confirmed that he received the letter, who said that the investigation was or his “social media activity has undermined the perception of VOA's public about the objectivity and/or credibility of VOA and his news operations.”
Weeks earlier, Mr Herman came under fire from the Trump administration when he quoted a quote on social media from an Anticorruption -Waakhond group that criticized cuts at the United States Agency for International Development.
Richard Grenell, Mr. Trump's envoy for 'special missions', wrote on X that Mr. Herman's comments were 'treacherous'.
“You are not allowed to work against the official US government policy while you are paid by American taxpayers,” Mr Grenell continued. “You should be fired immediately.”
Also on Friday, the Voice of America officials Patsy Widakuswara, the old chief of the Omroep Bureau Bureau, informed that she was re -assigned to another beat, said employees. A voice of the journalists of America suspected that the move was part of an attempt to reduce friction with the Trump government, although an official at the broadcaster, who was not authorized to talk to the media, denied that.
The Bureau for Worldwide Media refused to comment.
The revolution at Voice of America is surrounded by a series of Broadsides against the media through the Trump administration. The White House started with selecting which news broadcasts are part of the presspool that the president covered, and it has blocked the Associated Press from events because it will not re -classify the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. The Federal Communications Commission has opened research into whether broadcasters act in the public interest. And Mr. Trump has brought lawsuits or threatened against news broadcasts with whom he objected.
Journalists at Voice of America have been worried about their future since Mr Trump said that he would name Kari Lake, a former television news anchor and failed the Republican senate candidate who often has spread lies and conspiracy theories to lead the broadcaster.
Mrs. Lake has phone calls from Elon Musk and Mr. Grenell rejected to completely abolish the Voice of America. But she said that the coverage of the broadcaster will be free of what she described as “Trump Derangement Syndrome” or TDS
“It's not Trump TV,” said Mrs. Lake this month during a speech at the conservative political action conference, an influential meeting of conservatives. “But it will certainly not be TDs”
According to federal law, the voice of the American director must be approved by a dual administration that supervises the Bureau of Global Media. The board did not vote on the nomination of Mrs. Lake.
The Bureau of Worldwide Media told employees on Thursday in an e -mail that, awaiting her formal approval by the board, Mrs. Lake was appointed senior adviser to the media agency and to Voice of America.
“In this capacity, she will supervise the leadership of agencies on administration priorities,” said the e -mail.
Mr. Trump has nominated Brent Bozell, a conservative activist and media aritor, to run the Bureau of Worldwide Media. Mr. Bozell must be confirmed by the Senate.
Even before the arrivals of Mrs. Lake and Mr. Bozell, officials from Voice of America and her parent agency were tailored to Anti-Trump-sentiment.
Shortly after the presidential election in November, Mr. Herman, who is the most important national correspondent of the broadcaster, was interviewed in a Voice of America program and was asked about the criteria that Mr. Trump used to select the cabinet.
“What we see, again, loyalty is the number 1 characteristic instead of experience,” Mr. Herman replied.
Mr. Herman was soon called for a meeting with Human Resources officials from the Agency for Global Media, according to people who are familiar with what happened. He was put under pressure to acknowledge that he was incorrectly involved in speculation and analysis. Two other voice of America journalists said they had encountered a similar recoil.
The official at Voice of America, who was not authorized to talk to the media, defended the research as part of an attempt to protect the observed objectivity and neutrality of the voice of American journalism when it is intensively examined by Republicans in the White House and on Capitol Hill.
David Z. Seide, a lawyer at the government accountability project that defends federal whistleblowers, represents Mr. Herman and other voice of America employees who are confronted with Human Resources investigations for what they wrote or said about Mr. Trump and his administration. He said it was remarkable that those investigations took place before Mrs. Lake or other Senior Trump took course.
“They act preventively,” said Mr. Seide. “They can read the handwriting on the wall.” He added that he saw the research into social media to Mr Herman as a pretext for expelling one of the most prominent journalists of the voice of America.
For a long time Voice of America journalists said they were surprised and alerted that the Bureau of Worldwide Media investigated their editorial decisions. To maintain the voice of the independence of America, the agency is supposed to be settled from questions about his journalism.
During a meeting this week in the newsroom of Voice of America in Washington, the director of the broadcaster, Michael Abramowitz, was confronted with questions from employees who worried that the personnel investigation would have a false effect on the voice of the American journalists, so that people who criticize the Trumping administration.
Mr Abramowitz, an old and well -considered reporter and editor at the Washington Post who took the voice of America less than a year ago, responded by noting that he acted as “a caregiver” and that Mrs. Lake would soon replace him, said the attendees.
In his first term, Mr. Trump's White House publicly criticized the voice of the editorial decisions of America. In 2020, Mr. Trump appointed Michael Pack, an ally of his former assistant Stephen K. Bannon, to lead the Bureau of Worldwide Media.
Mr Pack was accused of making the voice of America in a mouthpiece for the Trump government, and a federal court ruled that Mr Pack had violated the rights of the first amendment of the journalists of the outlet. A federal study later showed that he had misunderstood the worldwide media agency, so that he repeatedly abused his power by going on the side of the road that he did not support Mr Trump sufficiently.
