Voice of America is known worldwide for its straightforward, unbiased presentation of world news. Trump placed MAGA enthusiast Keri Lake in charge. At his behest, she just laid off most of the VOA staff. Remember when America was great? We thought we had a message for the world and that the truth would set us free.
But Trump doesn’t want to “Make America great Again.” He wants to make America a land of bitter divisions, where the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer and sicker, unable to get health insurance, medical care, good schools, or any opportunity to rise into the middle class. For that, you need unions and good jobs.
The New York Times just reported:
The Trump administration sent layoff notices on Friday to more than 600 employees at Voice of America, a federally funded news organization that provides independent reporting to countries with limited press freedom.
The layoffs, known as reductions in force, will shrink the staff count at the news organization to less than 200, around one-seventh of its head count at the beginning of 2025. They put Voice of America journalists and support staff on paid leave until they are let go on Sept. 1.
The termination notices are the latest round of the Trump administration’s attack on federally funded news networks, including Voice of America.
In March, President Trump accused the news group of spreading “anti-American” and partisan “propaganda,” calling it “the voice of radical America.” He then signed an executive order that effectively called for dismantling of the news agency and put nearly all Voice of America reporters on paid leave, ceasing its news operations for the first time since its founding in 1942.
Kari Lake, a fierce Trump ally and a senior adviser at the news organization’s oversight agency, U.S. Agency for Global Media, notified Congress earlier this month that her agency intended to eliminate most positions at Voice of America. Her letter identified fewer than 20 employees who must remain at the media organization, according to laws passed by Congress to establish and fund it. Friday’s termination notices leave around 200 employees.
Ms. Lake’s decision “spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism that upholds U.S. ideals of democracy and freedom around the world,” Patsy Widakuswara, a former Voice of America White House bureau chief who was placed on leave and is leading a lawsuit against Ms. Lake and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said in a statement.
She encouraged Congress to intervene and to signal support for Voice of America, which was founded to combat Nazi propaganda and reported in countries that suppress independent reporting and free speech.
“Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and extremist groups are flooding the global information space with anti-America propaganda,” Ms. Widakuswara said. “Do not cede this ground by silencing America’s voice.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In case you have been asleep for the past 10 years and missed the fact that Glorious Orange Leader Bone Spurs plays for the other team.
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Two requests: Please go back to one email per day and focus on education stories. There are many newsletters containing synopses of major issues and events, but I subscribe to you for education policy and data news.
You have been a major education hero to me since I picked up and read “Left Back.” Like you, I was pro-charter schools early and and saw promise in playing around with changes (particularly public Waldorf because of its focus on integrating nature, the arts, working with one’s hands and so forth into learning; the responsible and supportive communities of children supported by restorative justice, the lack of drill and kill and test – and so many other reasons. But even that has been poorly implemented in most places and let’s not even begin to talk about the for profit chains!
I digress. But thank you so much for shining your bright light on the history, policy and truth about education.
Sincerely, Kyle Queen
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Thank you, Kyle. I may do that.
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Diane, Since your site is “to discuss education and democracy” and both free discussions and public education are rights of democracy that are extremely at risk today, with a dictator wannabe and fascist leaning cohorts currently in power, I don’t think you should change a thing! Yours is another “Voice of America” that really needs to be heard, so please ignore those that would rather you be silenced, in regard to addressing the ills being inflicted on our country, and just keep up the good work that you always do!!!
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Thanks, ECE.
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I am so grateful for Diane’s discerning selection of news stories of the day and commentary on these. There’s a hole in the hull of democracy in America, and she’s putting attention where it needs to be.
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The gravity of the situation requires it.
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Spot on, Bob! I second all that you said!!
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if you have been here awhile, you also mourn the departure of many of the voices that used to resonate with me concerning education. Laura Chapman comes to mind as a thoroughly researched straight shooter, but there were many more. But there are many voices still here. All the voices from NPE are still frequently cited here or actually posted here. I think of Tom Ultican, who was reposted here the other day. Nancy Bailey still keeps a blog. There is still a forum for education here.
That said, you surely agree that we live in extraordinary times. It would not be Diane’s living room if we failed to see that.
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Roy,
You are one of the most treasured members of this community. Your memories, your sense of history, your love of country are ever present.
Diane
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Exactly, Diane!
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‘Needy narcissistic man-child’: Trump’s tarmac ramblings reamed by observers
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Trump doing stupid day after day, it’s hideous. Voice of America is one of the very positive things that this country does, so of course Trump is cutting it off at its knees.
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As a young female adult, I was very fortunate to have been able to travel abroad several times, funded by money that I earned while working when I was in college. I was there alone, so I listened to Voice of America (VoA) a lot. I also went alone to live in another country for a year and I was raped by two men my first day there. I did not speak the language or know anyone who lived there, but I didn’t want to call and alarm my mom and I couldn’t afford international phone calls to friends. I also didn’t want to leave, so Voice of America was really the only way I was able to hear my own language, connect to my own country and regain a sense of normalcy and security. I will be forever grateful to VoA for being in my life the many times that I really needed to touch base with home. It’s so sad for VoA to be trashed by people who have no idea what a life saver it can be for people who are in need.
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Also, a war broke out in that other country while I was living there and VoA came to my rescue than as well, so I didn’t leave there then either. I’m not a particularly daring or courageous person, just someone who values and appreciates supports when in need.
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ECE,
What a sad story. I’m so sorry that you had such a horrible experience.
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ECE, thank you for sharing what must have been an unimaginably awful experience. You are a treasure here on this blog!
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You sound pretty darned daring and courageous to me, ECE!!!
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Thank you so much, Diane and Bob, for your empathy, kindness and interesting insights. I personally treasure both of you!
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Chiming in late, sorry.
ECE, I’m so sorry for what you experienced– you are brave indeed. I have a cousin who went through something similar when a high school exchange student– different situation obviously (she had to return home at once). But it is enlightening to know how reassuring the presence of VOA was for you in both of those hair-raising situations. I’d never thought how it might also help Americans on their own abroad.
That Trump has all but killed VOA is dispiriting, tho predictable. Every new bit of news spewing out of Trump 2.0’s five months of fire-hosing is starting to feel like just another brick in the wall. My first reaction was ‘probably at the request of Putin,’ but I read that VPNs have been blocked there for the last 3 yrs. Next thought was: perhaps done for (diabolical) ideological motives, but just as likely bought into by libertarian strain infecting Rep Congress [ = there are no public goods to be supported by taxes other than defense], plus the penny-pinchers just totting up cuts to fund the “BBB.” All 3 types are well represented there.
Diane, in the past I have occasionally felt what Kyle expresses at top of comments [probably most recently during Trump 1.0 😉]. But to me, anti-democratic govt policies– and a systemic perspective on public ed developments– are connected at the hip. One needs to follow both in order to see a bigger picture. Yes, there are many analyses of major events, but I am interested in YOUR analyses, as well as those you bring to our attention. And in the various reactions of commenters, leading to discussion of the issues.
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Thank you, Ginny.
I have thought about this question of content and balance.
I know I should be writing more about education, less about politics.
But public education and democracy are interconnected.
And the events since late January affect both, with the intention of undermining or eradicating both.
I do plan to put at least equal emphasis on both.
We (I) used to worry about the misuse of test scores. Now the worry is whether public education can survive this administration.
I can’t overlook the cruelty. I saw a video clip today on Instagram of 20 ICE agents, their faces masked , all carrying rifles, taking down an elderly woman, binding her, putting her in a truck.
Is this America?
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Thank you Diane. You totally get me, and I, you. How can one write about what is happening to fed funding of higher ed, without covering Trump’s war against funding sci/med grants to Harvard – and Colombia—and the contrast between how each is responding to Trump admin demand for fed control over what they teach and who they admit/ hire/ fire? How not to provide context without covering how Trump/ DOGE is decimating staff/ funding of not only DofEd, but HHS, CDC, NSF? How to cover interesting developments in pubschool programs without covering how pubsch fed funding is being decimated, thus undercutting any interesting devpts?
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Ginny,
It’s all interconnected.
What remains puzzling is the why?
Why would a president who wants to leave a legacy create a path of destruction and chaos?
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Thanks, Bethree500. As with Diane, Bob and a number of other valuable regulars on this blog, I always appreciate your feedback and input!
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Hi Diane: “It’s all interconnected.” Yes, but then (in some way) recall looking at a picture of one of those city dumps with mountains of junk from everyone’s rotting garbage, broken toys, fashion discards, and the remains of used cat boxes. And then there are the hungry birds flying all around.
Trump I think has never left the child phase of feelings, of bipolar high and low points of orgasmic desires and horrifying fears, all momentary and competing, and and where his own potency of developmental intelligence that would sort things out never emerged and made it to the stage of his conscious awareness.
Like the above garbage dump, everything IS connected, but it’s pointless to try, and everything that looks like some sort of order will inevitably be made of one’s own projection.
BTW, I’m still working on my defunct access to “comments,” but I’m still reading everything. I vote to not change your format back to ONLY education–what you are really covering is the much more significant (in our time at least) arena of its foundations. CBK
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CBK,
As I watch the daily dismantling of the good things our government does that help everyone, it’s hard to stay silent or care about only one part of his reign of terror.
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Hello Diane: Exactly that–to keep speaking UP to hopefully change the “reigning” narrative that has been and still is in the grip of Trumpian propaganda and its dual propellants: social media and decades of GOP-intended political ignorance.
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CBK, that dump image is perfect. My mind flashed immediately to the double-mountained dump that loomed for years next to the Beltway, immediately (& incongruously) across from the Starrett City Apt towers. Technically a landfill, but the constant “coverup” with earth was never fast enough to hide the sights/ smells of the daily, massive jettison of detritus. You could spot it coming a few bends beforehand, thanks to hordes of hovering, diving seagulls [that would be the media, no? LOL]
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