Kari Lake announces plan to reduce Voice of America staffing to just 81 people

Kari Lake, a former local news anchor who is now serving as a special adviser to Donald Trump, is moving forward with plans to gut Voice of America and other federally-funded media outlets around the world.

VOA has been effectively closed since March 2025, when 800 employees were placed on paid administrative leave. Now reports have emerged that some of those workers are being laid off as part of a broader plan to reduce staffing levels to what, at least in the view of the Trump administration, the bare minimum required under the law.

If the plan were to go through, VOA itself would have just 11 staffers. Six people would remain to run foreign language services for China, Iran and Afghanistan and 33 staffers would be assigned to run a sister network for Cuba. All told, the plan would leave a headcount of 81 at the broadcaster and various regional networks it provides grants to. 

VOA also cut ties with about 500 contract workers at the end of May 2025. 

It’s not clear how VOA and the other broadcasters would continue to operate or what content would be offered, though it is doubtful that the services could continue producing the same quality and quantity of programming with the proposed bare-bones staffing levels. 

All of these moves stem from Trump’s March 2025 executive order slashing funding to VOA’s parent, the U.S. Agency for Global Media.  

In early May 2025, Lake announced an agreement with far-right OAN to provide “news” coverage for VOA, though, by her own admission, the deal was unlikely to have any immediate impact. It was never made very clear how the OAN contract would work, though Lake did indicate it would not cost taxpayers anything.

OAN, like Lake, has been accused of peddling false narratives about significant national issues, including the results of the 2020 election. OAN has also been embattled with defamation lawsuits about claims it made about the election. Lake, who attempted to run for governor of Arizona that same year, waged a significant legal battle over her loss while continuing to peddle false narratives and conspiracy theories about that race.

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It appears that Trump and Lake may be attempting to cripple VOA by cutting staffing and funding to levels where it would next to impossible to operate, perhaps forcing it to start relying on OAN content or simply stop producing content with the idea that the federal government is still meeting statutory funding requirements. The legal basis for such an argument isn’t entirely clear, however.

VOA’s roots go back to World War II and has evolved into a broadcasting service targeted at audiences outside the U.S. The service has editorial independence from the government, and officials are barred by law from interfering with its content.

Today, VOA and its associated broadcasters are tasked with providing unbiased news coverage to demonstrate the power of free press and free speech to demonstrate these principles to people living in areas where state-controlled media dominates.

VOA has an annual budget of around $267.5 million, which also covers the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. USAGM has a budget of $950 million.

VOA, along with federally-funded PBS and NPR, have long been a target of Republican leaders, who contend they are biased, wasteful and aligned with left-leaning agendas. Some also argue that, in today’s media world, the publicly-funded broadcasters are not necessary and consumers have more than enough sources for a variety of content.