VOA shaped US-Thai relations, China and Russia now fill the void

Among one of the first units at Voice of America, VOA’s Thai Service had brought news to Thailand for more than 75 years, broadcasting in the country’s primary language. At the start of 2025, it was reaching 4.1 million people in Thailand each week — or 7.3% of the country’s adults — and broadcasting 7.2 hours of audio and video reports every week. However, since President Donald Trump issued his March 14 executive order that effectively began dismantling VOA, the service has gone dark. It has stopped all broadcasts and is producing no content on digital media.

Before it was silenced, VOA’s Thai Service had developed more than 50 partnerships with media across the country. Those included national TV broadcasters MCOT and NBT, which weekly used VOA content, as well as MCOT’s podcast-style show “Good Morning ASEAN” on FM radio. The affiliate partners also included more than 30 radio stations throughout Thailand — in large cities and smaller communities — as well as contributing to university-produced media in all regions of the country.

With only about eight journalists in Washington in recent years and four stringers in other locations, the service had amassed a significant audience inside Thailand as well as reaching Thai-speakers across Asia. Its audience spanned policy-makers — including Chuan Leekpai, a former prime minister and House speaker, and Asa Sarasin, principal secretary to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej — as well as a growing following among Thai youth and young professionals. In recent years, the service had expanded its social media presence to more than 800,000 followers, amassed more than 93 million total views on YouTube, and was gaining a wide following on YouTube’s Shorts platform and Instagram Reels. The service had recently launched a program to engage with thousands of Thai youths at universities across the country, leading seminars and lectures on the values of a democratic society, free press and ethics in journalism. From 2022 to 2024, VOA led a total of 17 events for university students.

VOA Thai journalist Songphot Suphaphon interviews then Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on the sidelines of the 2015 UN General Assembly in New York. Prayuth led Thailand’s 2014 coup.

The service’s reporting regularly influenced Thai political developments. Investigative reporting by the Thai Service on transnational criminal activity uncovered networks with ties to Russia and China, and led to investigations by Thai lawmakers and law enforcement on a range of issues — from arms deals to scam centers operating near the country’s borders. Other impactful reporting included an exclusive feature by the Thai Service on the growing political engagement of Thai youth, which sparked widespread public discourse on pro-democratic reforms in the lead-up to national elections. The service’s reporting spanned countries, including comprehensive stories in early 2025 with VOA’s Mandarin Service on the fates of Uyghur detainees in Thailand, and reporting on a recent Thai-China submarine deal, with an English-language story on the topic receiving more than 40,000 views on VOAnews.com.

Media outlets across Thailand regularly relied on reports by VOA’s Thai Service for news about U.S. policies in a region where China and Russia are amping up their media operations. In 2023, a year after the start of the war in Ukraine, Thailand’s Channel 5 TV, which is controlled by the Thai military, began partnering with VOA’s Thai Service. As a result, the collaboration with VOA helped the station to balance its content, which had previously been influenced by Russian narratives. After VOA’s Thai Service stopped broadcasting in March, Channel 5 TV’s international news team wrote, “We were absolutely delighted to consistently use VOA Thai’s content, which has diverse perspectives. We want to praise the VOA team for its professionalism, quality and long-lasting credibility.”

In the absence of VOA, Russia is again filling the void, along with China. After VOA stopped its broadcasts in mid-March, MCOT — one of Thailand’s largest media companies — reassigned VOA Thai’s time slot to Chinese state media, a development reported on by the Wall Street Journal.