Administration seeks to turn VOA into a propaganda outlet
USAGM officials are attacking VOA’s statutory firewall, which prohibits political interference in VOA’s journalism.
Published
VOA is mandated by law to “win the attention and respect” of its global audience by reporting the truth. Since its first broadcast, VOA has distinguished its news from propaganda, which audiences mistrust. However, since Kari Lake came to USAGM in March 2025, she has sought to turn VOA into a mouthpiece of the administration. She has publicly said that instead of news, she wants to produce propaganda under the U.S. Department of State. In March 2026, a group of VOA journalists filed a lawsuit to protect VOA’s journalism. The suit uses examples to illustrate how VOA’s editorial mission is being systematically undermined.
“Daily at this time we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you the truth.”
VOA broadcasting in German February 24, 1942
March 17, 2025
Lake describes VOA Firewall as a ‘problem’
Kari Lake on the Newsmax show "Finnerty" on March 17, 2025.
Kari Lake tells Newsmax that “the particular problem” with VOA “is it’s taxpayer funded and there’s no oversight over the editorial side of what’s going out over the air. The agency has tried to put up a … border wall around it that says … you can’t tell us what we say on the airwaves.”
Fact check: The Firewall, which was enacted by Congress, does not prevent editors at VOA from holding VOA journalists accountable for published content. It prevents political officials from interfering with VOA’s independent reporting. Before March 2025, the VOA standards editor and other senior editors regularly sought to ensure that VOA’s reporting met the high standards of the VOA Charter, a 1976 law requiring VOA to serve as “a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.” | Learn more.
June 25, 2025
Lake says VOA Firewall must go
During a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Kari Lake tells lawmakers, “We need to make sure the [F]irewall is gone. We should be able to have control over what kind of content goes out. It should be in alignment with our foreign policy.”
Fact check: VOA’s content is guided by the VOA Charter, which requires VOA to represent America fully, “not any single segment of American society.” In addition to accurately presenting U.S. government policies, the Charter also directs VOA to provide “responsible discussions and opinion on these policies.” The Firewall has helped ensure that VOA combats disinformation and deception with facts, and through an American lens of democratic values. | Learn more about the Charter.
July 22, 2025
Lake mischaracterizes the Firewall
In a post on Instagram, Kari Lake writes, "With the editorial firewall at Voice of America, they could go completely rogue, and the President couldn’t pick up the phone and stop them. There are no guardrails. There’s no editorial control. This is a rogue, taxpayer funded agency, and we need to ensure that it’s no longer doing damage to America."
Fact check: VOA has multiple layers of editorial guardrails to evaluate the quality of its journalism. Supervisors take action when there are valid complaints about VOA reporting, including posting public corrections and imposing disciplinary measures, up to and including termination. Other guardrails include legally-mandated program reviews of all VOA’s language services, assessing the quality and effectiveness of the journalism. There is also regular training for all staff about the Firewall itself, which prevents political interference. An independent review of VOA by the Government Accountability Office in 2021 found that more, not less, Firewall legislation is needed to preserve the editorial independence of VOA and other USAGM networks.
January 2026
Lake tasks political appointee to oversee news coverage
Kari Lake hires Ali Javanmardi, who had worked years earlier as a journalist at VOA, to serve as a USAGM official. She then assigns him to oversee VOA’s Persian, Kurdish and Afghan services, which constitute most of the remaining VOA language services. Javanmardi is employed by USAGM, not VOA — an important distinction because the Firewall prevents USAGM employees from running VOA editorial units.
Fact check: The Firewall separates VOA’s news-gathering, reporting and editorial functions from USAGM employees. By doing so, it seeks to ensure that political officials are not able to interfere in VOA’s journalism. USAGM’s direct control over editorial decision-makers at VOA goes against the years of legislation Congress passed to protect the professional independence and integrity of VOA.
January 2026
VOA censors Iranian protest coverage
USAGM official and VOA's Persian Service head, Ali Javanmardi, censors VOA coverage of protests in Iran, refusing to broadcast audio recordings of demonstrators in Iran shouting the name of Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah. This is reported by The Hill and The Washington Post.
Fact check: VOA’s commitment to providing objective news coverage has long been a calling card to audiences abroad. Political appointees censoring news undermines VOA’s credibility. It also goes against the agency’s eighty-year practice, enshrined in law, of journalistic autonomy.
January 2026
New VOA Mandarin Service head links loyalty to administration to job security
Kari Lake appoints Hui Jing, a former VOA Mandarin Service contractor and, more recently, a journalist with The Epoch Times, to run VOA’s Mandarin Service. Hui tells staff during in-person meetings that if they show loyalty to the Trump Administration, they will keep their jobs at VOA — a statement that runs afoul of both the letter and the spirit of the VOA Charter. As a USAGM official, she should not have any role at all in directing VOA editorial content.
Fact check: It is a Firewall violation for a USAGM employee to run VOA editorial units. The Firewall has long acted as a legal guarantee of the networks’ journalistic independence in the face of government oversight.
January 7, 2026
VOA publishes article epitomizing propaganda approach
An AI-generated image of President Donald Trump in the style of North Korean propaganda is used to illustrate a VOA story about Trump’s accomplishments.
VOA publishes a “news” article through its Mandarin Service that bears no resemblance to the high-quality, objective journalism that VOA produced for over 80 years. The article, titled “Trump combined dealmaking skill with ‘peace through strength’ diplomacy to mitigate eight conflicts around the world in 2025,” mimics language from White House talking points and includes an AI-generated image of Trump in the style of North Korea's “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il.
Fact check: Before March 2025, VOA’s coverage on this topic would have included a range of perspectives as mandated by VOA’s Charter. Besides giving voice to Trump’s opinion and the views of other Republicans in both the administration and in Congress, it would have included Democratic criticism, experts explaining the rationale of both sides, and the views of officials in the affected countries.
VOA’s audience in China is keenly familiar with propaganda from their own government. Millions of people once sought out VOA’s coverage as an alternative to China’s highly censored state-run media. Why would this audience trust VOA if it becomes U.S. propaganda? | Read the English translation.
January 13, 2026
Lake prevents use of transmitters for editorial reasons
In a post on X, Kari Lake admits that she refused to allow VOA’s sister organization, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, to use USAGM transmitters to broadcast into Iran because she did not agree with the outlet’s editorial decisions.
Fact check: The Firewall prohibits USAGM officials from dictating editorial decisions of the networks, including RFE/RL and VOA. By explicitly tying RFE/RL’s content with its ability to broadcast, Lake is not only violating the Firewall, she is restricting information to an Iranian audience in desperate need of verified, independent news.
January 14, 2026
VOA prohibits covering Sen. Graham meeting
Senator Lindsey Graham meets with Pahlavi Reza, the exiled crown prince of Iran. (@LindseyGrahamSC)
USAGM official and VOA's Persian Service head, Ali Javanmardi, initially directs VOA staff not to report on a social media post by Senator Lindsey Graham about a meeting he had with Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. Comments from members of Congress would normally be part of VOA’s coverage of Iran, but Javanmardi banned reporting that includes Pahlavi.
January 16, 2026
USAGM official requires pre-approval of all Persian Service interviews
USAGM official and VOA's Persian Service head, Ali Javanmardi, requires that the service gets his pre-approval for all on-air guests to ensure they do not mention Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi or make comments in support of the monarchy. Javanmardi sends a note to the staff that reads, “Effective immediately, all guest appearances — including live guests, pre-recorded guests, and guests whose soundbites are used in packages — must be approved by me in advance. Under no circumstances should a guest be contacted, booked, or confirmed without my explicit approval.”
January 20, 2026
Lake promotes Trump on VOA program
Kari Lake appears on a VOA Persian Service broadcast in January 2025.
Kari Lake praises President Donald Trump repeatedly during a television segment for VOA’s Persian-language service, with her comments translated by an interpreter. The action is a sharp departure from previous leaders of USAGM who avoided endorsing or criticizing White House policies to protect the independence of the news agency.
Fact check: One of the main purposes of the Firewall is to protect against even the perception that VOA is a mouthpiece of any administration. By appearing on a VOA program and repeatedly praising the president, Lake is demonstrating the opposite. VOA was never intended to promote uncritically the political views and aspirations of a single U.S. official, even if that official is the U.S. president. | Read NPR's coverage of the event.
February 22, 2026
Lake says VOA must give only administration's view
In an interview, Kari Lake describes the role of VOA and its affiliates: “We want to be making sure we’re putting news out that falls within the parameters of what our national security strategy is and our foreign policy strategy, and tell America’s story.” She adds, “What we’re doing right now is we’re getting the president’s message out.”
Fact check: While VOA’s Charter requires VOA to present the U.S. government’s policies, it prohibits VOA from covering only the administration’s point of view. The Charter specifically requires that “VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society.” It also says, “VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinion on these policies.” | Learn more about the Charter.
February 28, 2026
Coverage of Iran war not “objective and comprehensive” as law requires
From the start of the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran, VOA’s coverage has omitted uncomfortable facts, like the death toll of Iranians. Viewpoints from Republican or Democratic U.S. lawmakers who may disagree with the White House about the attacks, as well the views of dissenting world leaders, are virtually absent from VOA newscasts. For example, an article entitled “President Trump says US making ‘tremendous progress’ in joint offensive with Israel against Iranian regime, whose leaders are ‘rapidly’ disappearing,” quotes only President Donald Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine.
Fact check: VOA’s Charter, which is part of federal law, requires VOA’s news to be “accurate, objective, and comprehensive.” If VOA were covering the war as mandated by the Charter, its reporting would include the perspectives of lawmakers who both support and oppose the administration, polling data on what Americans think, and the views of experts who could give commentary and provide context to the events.
Much of VOA’s audience around the world, including in Iran, are familiar with propaganda from their own governments. If VOA turns to broadcasting propaganda, it will lose the audience that it painstakingly built up over many decades. | Learn more about the Charter.
Early March 2026
VOA journalist fired after complaining about censorship
VOA terminates a journalist’s contract without explanation, days after he complained to USAGM official and VOA's Persian Service head, Ali Javanmardi, about censorship. The journalist at VOA's Persian Service told The Hill that he believes his termination was an effort to limit coverage of Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi.
March 16, 2026
VOA article reflects only administration’s view
A VOA Kurdish article entitled “Trump: What We Are Doing in Iran Should Have Been Done Years Ago” republishes verbatim passages from a speech by President Donald Trump. The only context offered in the article is: “This speech comes at a time when the US and Israel’s war against the Iranian regime continues and there are global concerns over oil and military supplies.”
Fact check: VOA’s Charter mandates that VOA cover not only the policies of the United States, but also “responsible discussions and opinion on these policies.” If VOA was operating normally, its coverage of the war in Iran would include the views of the administration, opposition voices in Congress, polling data about Americans’ opinions, comments from officials throughout the region, and expert analysis providing context about the unfolding events.
VOA’s Kurdish-speaking audience, who primarily live in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran, are often exposed to propaganda from their own governments. VOA has been one of the few independent sources of news to broadcast in Kurdish. If VOA programming becomes propaganda, it will be no different than the government mouthpieces that Kurds already hear in their own countries.
March 29, 2026
Lake says she wants VOA and USAGM to be propaganda
Kari Lake speaks to Sharyl Attkisson on the political affairs show "Full Measure," aired on March 29, 2026.
In an interview, Kari Lake says, “We should roll that [what is left of USAGM] into the Department of State. We don't need a separate agency to do our propaganda. It should come under State where we can make sure it's in alignment with what our foreign policy is.”
Fact check: Having VOA produce State Department propaganda would make it impossible for journalists to fulfill the VOA Charter, which requires VOA to “serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.” If VOA is seen as a mouthpiece of the administration, its audience of more than 360 million, which was built up over many decades, will lose their trust and turn away. | Learn more about the Charter.
Journalism not propaganda
Four experts weigh in on the risks of turning VOA into propaganda.
William McKenzie
Senior Editorial Advisor George W. Bush Institute
“You don’t want [VOA] to become the mouthpiece of any White House or any administration, because at that point you have slid over into doing, at best, public relations and at worst, propaganda.”
Jill Dougherty
Former CNN Moscow bureau chief
“Propaganda backfires. I don't think it is effective. So, I think what we need more than ever [from VOA] is professionalism, professional journalists who would tell the truth the way it is.”
Martin Baron
Former executive editor of The Washington Post
“A press that is a propaganda outlet, that's merely stenographers or propagandists for government, won't have any credibility and it doesn't deserve any credibility.”
Nadine Hoffman
Executive director of the International Women’s Media Foundation
“Independent journalism is always going to stand head and shoulders above propaganda. …We know that outlets like Voice of America are vital to making sure that their audiences, including the people that live under authoritarianism, have access to the truth.”