If 21st-century warfare is fought primarily in the realm of information, the United States has just surrendered one of its most powerful tools. The decision to shut down Voice of America (VOA) will have immediate and severe consequences for the projection of American values and the defense of the fundamental principles that have defined the Western world since its battle against fascism in World War II.
Over the weekend, VOA director Mike Abramowitz confirmed that President Trump’s March 15 executive order—which claimed to “ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda”—will make it impossible for the organization to carry out its “vital mission... especially critical today, when America’s adversaries, like Iran, China, and Russia, are sinking billions of dollars into creating false narratives to discredit the United States.” According to Abramowitz, most of VOA’s 1,300 employees have been placed on paid leave. Although Trump’s decision will surely face legal challenges, VOA has been effectively paralyzed.
Since its founding in 1942, Voice of America has been a cornerstone of American diplomacy, waging a battle for truth against censorship and authoritarian propaganda. Created to counter Nazi disinformation, its mission has been to provide “accurate, objective, and comprehensive” news to populations living under totalitarian regimes. Such reporting was an essential component of the Allied strategy to win not just on the battlefield but in the broader war of global public opinion.
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Throughout the Cold War, VOA played a crucial role in the ideological struggle against communism. By broadcasting in multiple languages—including Russian, Chinese and various Eastern European dialects—it delivered uncensored news and championed democratic values. Its reporting proved instrumental during key historical events, from the Prague Spring of 1968 to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. For Cubans enduring Fidel Castro’s regime, VOA offered a rare window to the outside world.
In recent decades, the network has continued to serve as a bulwark against censorship and state-controlled propaganda, including vital work in Ukraine. And its mission has often gone beyond journalism. University of Southern California professor Geoffrey Cowan, who ran VOA from 1992 to 1996, told me the organization has also been a promoter of American “soft power.” Through the work of legendary broadcaster Willis Conover, “VOA brought jazz music to the world,” Cowan said. “Jazz became an important way of understanding America and the importance of freedom.” (The same thing happened with country music.) VOA also became a champion for the English language itself. According to Cowan, through VOA, “people learned English around the world. Everything from English language news broadcasts, short stories to American literature.”
Of course, VOA was not perfect. Despite having 1.7 million followers on X, its content—both news and cultural programming—could have in recent years benefited from a serious creative and technical overhaul. A quick glance at its lackluster Instagram feed, for example, reveals an operation struggling to engage the tech-savvy generation around the world that consumes news on social media.
In other words, the organization needed reform. Instead, as with many recent cases in Trump’s demolition DOGE tour, it is being torn to the ground.
Ironically, in MAGA loyalist Kari Lake, Trump had chosen someone with at least some theoretical qualifications to revitalize VOA. Lake spent decades in television before transitioning into politics and is a skilled communicator. (Though of course, like many others in Trump’s orbit, she has used those talents for nefarious purposes, peddling election denialism and other propaganda.) Lake’s leadership of VOA could have been marked a moment to leverage her media experience and modernize the network. Instead, her complicity in dismantling a platform with such potential and reach serves as a stark indictment of Trump world’s vindictiveness and lack of strategic vision.
The impact will be catastrophic. For former director Cowan, if VOA is indeed undone, “the biggest winner will be people whose interest is in spreading propaganda.” Chief among those beneficiaries—surprise, surprise!—is Vladimir Putin. Without the counterweight of institutions like VOA, Russia’s disinformation apparatus will face even fewer obstacles. The tentacles of Russia Today (RT) and its subsidiaries already extend across much of the world, particularly in Latin America, where their influence is substantial and their spokespeople have shown devious sophistication. (I have often been on the receiving end of their vitriol.) Although RT brands itself as a reliable counterbalance to Western media, it is not interesting in objectivity. Its goal, rather, is manipulation.
The parallels to the 1940s are chilling. Just as Nazi propagandists understood that narratives shape wars, Moscow’s messengers today recognize that controlling the flow of information is key to power. The difference is that this time, it is the United States—not its adversaries—that has chosen to retreat.
Trump’s capitulation in the global battle for truth and cultural influence is not just a strategic blunder—it is a tragedy.
