Trump administration slashes jobs at VOA, U.S.-funded media

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday began mass layoffs at Voice of America (VOA) and other U.S.-funded media.

Just a day after all employees were put on leave, staff working on a contractual basis received an email notifying them that they would be terminated at the end of March.

The email, confirmed to AFP by several employees, told contractors, "You must cease all work immediately and are not permitted to access any agency buildings or systems."

Contractors make up much of VOA's workforce and dominate staffing in the non-English language services, although recent figures were not immediately available.

Many contractors are not U.S. citizens, meaning they likely depend on their soon-to-disappear jobs for visas to stay in the United States.

Full-time VOA staff, who have more legal protections, were not immediately terminated but remain on administrative leave and have been told not to work.

Trump signed an executive order Friday targeting VOA's parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, in his latest round of sweeping federal government cuts.

The agency had 3,384 employees in the 2023 fiscal year and had requested $950 million for the current fiscal year.

With VOA in limbo, some of its services have switched to playing music due to a lack of new programming.

The sweeping cuts also froze other U.S.-funded media, including Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio Farda and Alhurra.

(With input from AFP)