On May 6, Kari Lake, senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), posted an announcement on X that might’ve been laughable — if it didn’t signal a five-alarm fire. She wrote: “USAGM is excited to announce a partnership with One America News Network (OAN) to provide newsfeed services to USAGM networks, including Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), Radio Martí, and Voice of America (VOA).”
Let’s be clear: OAN isn’t journalism. It’s a MAGA mouthpiece.
Let’s be clear: OAN isn’t journalism—not the kind we studied, practiced or defended. It’s a MAGA mouthpiece that fueled election denial, peddled Covid conspiracies and settled with multiple plaintiffs who sued the network for defamation. And now, it’s being handed the keys to influence U.S.-funded media built to fight propaganda in authoritarian regimes. The irony is staggering.
For those of us who’ve spent our careers defending truth in some of the world’s most repressive media environments — I spent 18 years reporting from and broadcasting to authoritarian regimes across South and Central Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe through USAGM network, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) — Lake’s announcement wasn’t just an outrage. It was a gut punch.
Grant Turner, former CFO of USAGM, told NPR the move is “a mockery of the agency’s history of independent non-partisan journalism.”
But this isn’t just mockery — it’s a deliberate dismantling of USAGM’s networks. It breaks 83 years of congressionally backed laws, including the firewall meant to shield public-funded journalism from political meddling.
And it follows Lake’s pattern: resist, delay and hope they give up.
Lake’s appointment was followed by a sweeping and unlawful termination of grant agreements for RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and others. These broadcasters immediately sued, and courts repeatedly ordering USAGM to release congressionally appropriated funds. But Lake’s agency refused.
Take RFE/RL: After USAGM cut its funding on March 15, a federal judge ruled the move unlawful and, on March 25, ordered the agency to release RFE/RL’s congressionally appropriated funds. USAGM ignored the ruling. RFE/RL went back to court and won again on April 29, but, because Lake’s agency hasn’t complied, the legal battle rages on.
RFE/RL has slashed staff and so far narrowly avoided going dark. But it’s hanging on by a thread.
As USAGM continues to defy court rulings, RFE/RL — like its sister networks — has slashed staff, frozen much of its programming and so far narrowly avoided going dark. But it’s hanging on by a thread.
Meanwhile, VOA — the largest USAGM network — has been off the air since March 15. Its website has sat frozen for over three months. Now, into that silence steps OAN, not with journalism, but with partisan spin dressed up as news.
USAGM reaches 427 million people weekly. For example, nearly half of Nigerian adults tune into VOA. They used to get news. Imagine them now getting OAN in its place.
The Middle East Broadcasting Network (MBN) has already furloughed 90% of staff. MBN’s Alhurra TV has gone dark. Its president, Jeffrey Gedmin, says Kari Lake has dodged all efforts to discuss the funding freeze.
“I’m left to conclude that she is deliberately starving us of the money we need to pay you, our dedicated and hard-working staff,” he told his reporters.
As USAGM slipped deeper into paralysis, President Donald Trump focused his attack inside the country. On May 1, he signed an executive order slashing funding for NPR and PBS, accusing the news agencies of spreading “radical, woke propaganda.”
PBS President Paula Kerger called the move unlawful. NPR CEO Katherine Maher warned that without federal support, local news deserts will expand, hitting rural communities hardest. “One in 5 Americans already have no access to local news,” she said. Both vowed legal actions. But if USAGM is any guide, even if they win, the Trump administration may ignore court orders.
The pattern is unmistakable: dismantle U.S. government-funded international media, piece by piece.
The pattern is unmistakable: dismantle U.S. government-funded international media, piece by piece.
Lake’s claims of cost-saving are cover. This isn’t about efficiency. It’s about eliminating any editorial voice that isn’t MAGA-aligned and replacing it with propaganda. It’s about punishing the independent press.
Trump’s first term was the warning shot: He attacked journalists, branded the media “the enemy of the people” and orchestrated the infamous “Wednesday Massacre,” when his appointee Michael Pack ousted the heads of all USAGM networks in a single night.
Now in this second term, the attacks have intensified. On March 14, Trump delivered a speech at the Department of Justice that many interpreted as a directive to prosecutors to go after his political enemies — including journalists. He labeled CNN and MSNBC “illegal.” The situation became so alarming that the New York-based press freedom watchdog CPJ broke with its own tradition. Instead of waiting the customary full year to evaluate a new administration, it issued an emergency report just 100 days into Trump’s second term, warning: “Press freedom is no longer a given in the United States.” The report laid out a chilling timeline: CPJ has provided over 530 safety consultations to journalists since November — up from just 20 in all of 2022 — underscoring how fear is rapidly replacing freedom in American journalism. Globally, the damage extends far beyond USAGM. USAID’s support for independent media has also been gutted — leaving entire news ecosystems in fragile democracies on the brink of collapse. I’ve seen this movie before. From Belarus to Afghanistan, from Central Asia to the Middle East, I’ve watched what happens when leaders attack the press. It always ends the same: repression, disinformation and collapse of public trust. We’re more than three months into this — and still, Congress hasn’t acted. Trump tried this with USAGM in his first term, and he failed, because the system, most notably Congress, pushed back. When I asked VOA chief national correspondent Steve Herman whether there’s still a path to salvation for the agency, he didn’t hesitate: “Congress can save it. Whether VOA gets more or less money, adds or cuts a language service — that’s supposed to go through Congress. The executive branch can’t unilaterally decide everything.” We’re more than three months into this — and still, Congress hasn’t acted. Time is running out. This isn’t a budget dispute. It’s a full-blown assault on the First Amendment. Press freedom. Institutional independence. Democratic oversight. All of it is on the line. And once the watchdogs are gone, authoritarianism doesn’t creep in — it storms through the front door. This is how free societies die. Not all at once. But headline by headline, budget by budget, lawsuit by ignored lawsuit. We still have time to stop it. But not much.
Muhammad Tahir
Muhammad Tahir is a nonresident senior fellow at The Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center. He previously held key roles at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Washington, D.C., and Eastern Europe and served as bureau chief for IHA, the Turkish media, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Most recently, he led media strategy at the nonprofit Corus International. His work has been published by CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, The Washington Post and The New Atlanticist, among others. 
