TRANSCRIPT:
Voice of America and other services like Radio Free Europe, Radio Europe, Radio Liberty were absolutely vital sources of information for people who were living in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe, where they were fed nothing but propaganda. We thought in the 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed and communism collapsed in the Eastern block that maybe we wouldn’t need this anymore. But unfortunately, after Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia, VOA and other services have become essential once again because there is not press freedom.
There is very little independent media, and, you know, people still need, obviously, sources of independent news and information. And unfortunately, because of the cutbacks that have been done starting in 2025, that has not been available to people in the way that it’s needed and that it should be. And that is what Voice of America has provided for decades throughout the world.
And, you know, there’s a perception of Voice of America is just American propaganda. Well, no it isn’t. The journalists of VOA are also doing their job alongside with people like me. I reported on the Soviet Union for National Public Radio. You know, when I would travel and meet VOA reporters, they were pursuing the same kinds of stories that I was doing. Their mandate was to report fairly. Also to inform the world about America and American policy, yes, but also to report the news independently and fairly, and particularly for places like the Soviet Union, and then for Russia, and some of the other Soviet republics where there isn’t really any press freedom anymore.
And if VOA does go back on the air, to a large degree, but is just reporting propaganda or just reporting the messaging of the Trump White House, that trust will have been destroyed. Maybe the broadcasting would be available, but why would people listen to it if they don’t see it — if they don’t understand it — as fair and presenting, you know, an independent take on what’s happening in the world?
Published
Cooper was the first Moscow bureau chief for National Public Radio from 1987–1991 during the final five years of the Soviet Union, and later was NPR’s bureau chief in Johannesburg. She also served for eight years as the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Cooper is currently a professor emerita at Columbia Journalism School.