Unions representing Voice of America employees are suing the Trump administration for shutting down the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the organization used by the government to fund VOA and other U.S. propaganda outlets.
In a 14 March executive order, Trump axed the USAGM for allegedly being a propaganda outlet.
Filed by journalists and their union in the New York Federal Court on 21 March, the lawsuit claims that Trump’s decision to turn off the tap funding VOA infringes upon their First Amendment right to free speech.
As a media organisation ourselves, we at African Stream strongly support freedom of speech and freedom of the press. However, in regards to VOA, we shed no tears. Effectively, VOA has been devoured by the beast they have fed and coddled for decades and one whose bidding they didn’t hesitate to fulfil.
In September 2024, reporting at the behest of imperialist powers led by the US, VOA targeted us with its venom. This real deal propaganda arm published two hit pieces that tried to portray African Stream as a foreign-funded propaganda outlet that was whitewashing terrorist organisations.
In an apparent, well-choreographed sequence of attacks, VOA’s unfounded allegations were soon followed by similar claims by the former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Ultimately, African Stream was put on the chopping block, banned without prior notice from prominent social media platforms such as Google, Meta (Facebook, Instagram and Threads) and TiKTok.
In this video, produced just days after VOA’s slander against us and, consequently, the right of our viewers to be informed, we push back at their propagandistic report.
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