INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Donald Trumps taking apart of U.S.-funded worldwide media outlets such as Voice of America could put their journalists at threat,
including 9 currently imprisoned worldwide, Reporters Without Borders alerted Monday.The Trump administration started mass layoffs Sunday at
Voice of America and other U.S.-funded media, two days after Trump signed an executive order gutting VOAs parent, the U.S
Agency for Global Media (USAGM), in his newest sweeping spending cuts
Reporters Without Borders is sounding the alarm over the risks facing USAGM staffers all over the world, consisting of nine journalists
currently put behind bars abroad for their work, the press flexibility watchdog stated
The Trump administration is sending a chilling signal: authoritarian routines such as Beijing and Moscow now have free rein to spread their
propaganda untreated, RSF director basic Thibaut Bruttin stated in a statement.He said the choice betrays the nine USAGM journalists
imprisoned in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Myanmar, Russia and Vietnam and leaves thousands more jobless and in danger due to the fact that of
their work.USAGM oversees media including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, established by Washington throughout the Cold War to counter
Soviet propaganda, and Radio Free Asia, developed to provide reporting to China, North Korea and other countries with greatly limited
press.Partner public media organizations in Europe likewise voiced alarm over Trumps funding freeze
This move threatens to deny countless individuals worldwide of an essential source of balanced and confirmed info particularly in countries
where independent journalism is limited or nonexistent, said France Medias Monde and Germanys Deutsche Welle in a statement
This action is particularly worrying given the United States long-standing function as a champ of press flexibility
