USAID a propaganda tool under cloak of 'independent' reporting

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Shouting "development and humanitarian assistance," the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has long presented itself as a force for good since its establishment in 1961. Interestingly, the Donald Trump administration's recent move to freeze foreign aid has suggested the opposite – this self-boasted "independent government agency" has turned out to be a key player in Washington's information war across the world.

By denouncing Trump's freeze as "plunging NGOs, media outlets, and journalists doing vital work into chaotic uncertainty," Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has implicitly admitted that much of the world's "journalism" is paid by America's dollars.

Data speaks. In 2023 alone, USAID funded training and support for 6,200 journalists, assisted 707 non-state news outlets, and supported 279 media sector civil society organizations dedicated to strengthening independent media, Clayton Weimers, Executive Director of RSF USA, quoted a USAID fact sheet as saying. "More than 50 percent" of the media outlets that receive foreign grants were dependent on the U.S., according to The Washington Post.

A slew of mainstream Western media including the New York Times and the BBC, while touting their independent, objective, and unbiased coverage, have turned out to be funded by the U.S. government. "BBC Media Action has been affected by the temporary pause in U.S. government funding, which amounts to about 8 percent of our income in 2023-24," according to a statement BBC Media Action released last week.

Malaysia-based journalist Ian Miles Cheong, by posting screenshots of funding receipts from USAspending.gov that tracks U.S. federal spending, revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that Washington allocated $4.1 million to the New York Times in August 2024 alone.

While boasting about their independent stance on international affairs, these media outlets are instead relying on the U.S. government for survival. Their published content is closely aligned with certain political agendas their boss picks, making it impossible to stay "unbiased" on international affairs.

By giving money to so-called independent media outlets, USAID has been acting as the U.S. government's "white gloves," using media as a tool to mislead public opinion, incite division and confrontation, meddle in other countries' internal affairs and conduct ideological infiltration in states Washington deems as rivals – all under the pretext of promoting democracy.

Take the Ukraine crisis as an example. With tensions between Ukraine and Russia escalating, USAID funds have been funneled to media organizations in Ukraine, Georgia and Russia. Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske TV, which has received significant funding from the U.S. government, has been widely criticized as heavily biased in favor of Washington's interests in its coverage of the conflicts. Multiple Ukrainian organizations, known as "fact-checkers," have turned out to be an information filter on the Ukrainian internet to deceive local people. Balanced reporting is impossible with funding from the United States.

USAID has also allocated millions of dollars to "independent" media organizations in countries including Venezuela as part of efforts to overthrow regimes the U.S. does not like. "A significant part of the ongoing hybrid war against Venezuela, carried out by the United States and its allies, has to do with the construction of media narratives based on disinformation, half-truths and propaganda against the elected and legitimate authorities of this country, the Bolivarian Revolution, and against Venezuelan people in general," Orinoco Tribune put it straightforwardly.

Stephen Kinzer, a former reporter of The New York Times, unveiled in the New York Review of Books website in September 2021 that USAID and the CIA have played a role in supporting insurgent forces in other countries in an attempt to overthrow regimes that the U.S. dislikes. The mission of USAID-included agencies is to overthrow unfriendly foreign governments and install regimes more in line with American interests.

Simply put, USAID is the implementer of CIA covert operations. Disseminating propaganda to influence peoples' minds is "a major function of the CIA," John Stockwell, former CIA Operations Director admitted earlier. "We pumped dozens of stories about Cuban atrocities (and) Cuban rapists. We did not know of one single atrocity committed by the Cubans. It was pure raw false propaganda to create an illusion of communists," Stockwell said.

Under the guise of democracy, the U.S. has been taking advantage of the media for infiltration and subversion against other countries – all under the banner of "independent reporting" and "fact-checking." Geopolitical interests have repeatedly turned out to be the primary consideration of Washington, with "independent" media outlets as a means for this end.

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