A day after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from continuing to lay off Voice of America staff, a panel of media experts met Tuesday at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism to discuss the political and legal challenges faced by the international broadcaster.
The panel included Jessica Jerreat, VOA’s press freedom editor, joined by USC Public Diplomacy Professor Nick Cull and former VOA Director Geoffrey Cowan to discuss the current state of VOA and likeminded organizations.
“This event was an opportunity to talk about the problems in U.S. International broadcasting right now,” Cull said. “The Voice of America and other channels that are subsidized by the U.S. government have been effectively shut down or reduced to skeleton services because the Trump administration…saw them as somehow enemies of the administration’s agenda.”
VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are federally funded news broadcasting organizations that work to bring uncensored reporting to countries lacking a free press, often under authoritarian governments. The Middle Eastern Broadcasting Network does similar work in the Middle East and North Africa with funding from the U.S. government. According to Reuters, Trump has laid off 532 full-time staff from VOA.
Jerreat is a part of the lawsuit against the U.S government, fighting for the cut money to be reinstated so the contracts of those laid off can be fulfilled.
“Congress appropriates money that is handed over to the grantees,” Jerreat said. “So, the early part of one of the legal battles was making sure that money was actually handed over to the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and also Radio Free Asia, to make sure that they could continue to broadcast.”
Jerreat reflected on how VOA works with affiliate outlets that run their content because of dangers local journalists face in pursuing certain stories.
VOA broadcasts in 49 different languages, reaching a wide array of people globally. In countries where VOA or Radio Free Europe are designated foreign agents and put citizens accessing the site and the journalists themselves at risk, the organization uses mirror sites and satellites to transmit their broadcasting. However, due to contracts being cut and employees on leave, many of the skills needed to operate those systems have been lost.
“As a person who studies U.S. foreign policy, it is a really hard moment to understand because I see these radio stations as being America’s gift to the world, a part of American soft power,” Cull said. “[These stations are] a service that we give to people around the world who don’t have access themselves to free and balanced media.”
In response to the Trump administration’s claims of a biased mainstream media stacked against him, Jerreat remained affirmed in the objectivity of VOA’s reporting.
“No government, the U.S. or foreign government, has any influence on what VOA does or does not put out,” she said. “We have something called an editorial firewall that we’re fiercely proud and defensive of. There’s been a few false allegations of bias. We’re journalists, sometimes we make mistakes, but we have processes to try to correct that.”
Cull underscored Jerreat’s contributions to the conversation as vital to the event, while also emphasizing the benefit of multiple voices.
“The highlight of the event was not just hearing from Jessica, but hearing from students who grew up in countries where they’ve been denied free media, but [where] Voice of America has filled a gap for them,” Cull said. “We heard from students in a number of countries: Serbia, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan and other places around the world where U.S. International broadcasting has made a difference.”
Albert Marghitoiu, an undergraduate student at USC, shares a personal connection with VOA through the impact it had on his parents.
“I’m familiar with Voice of America and programs like Radio Free Europe because of experiences that my parents went through growing up in communist Romania, and so that was what motivated me to come here,” Marghitoui said.
Maria Revazov, a second year masters student pursuing a degree in global media and communications said the event was a “really good reminder that America is not all bad.”
“My personal connection to Voice of America was that my grandfather used to listen to the jazz hour with Willis Conover in the 50s and 60s [in] Moscow, and they had to basically bury their radios … and then dig them out and listen,” Revazov said.
Revazov said that during the event, it “was really refreshing to remember the America that my parents or grandparents saw via these channels.”
Ultimately, Cull said he was unsurprised at the attacks on organizations like VOA by the current administration, describing it as “U.S. government hostility to media criticism.”
Despite these setbacks, Cull said he hopes VOA will continue to play a positive role in global relations.
“There’s this great history [of] Voice of America that needs to be remembered, and hopefully not just consigned to history, but [a] part of the future of US foreign policy,” Cull said.