Journalists with Voice of America have partnered with multiple press freedom groups to file a new lawsuit over what they say is the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to turn the independent, taxpayer-funded media organization into the government’s propaganda outlet.
The lawsuit filed Monday accuses the United States Agency for Global Media – which oversees VOA – and its leaders of trying to turn the newsroom “into a partisan mouthpiece” for the Trump administration, “requiring that it publish White House talking points nearly word-for-word, and disseminating images of President Trump in the style of Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il.”
The president tried to do something similar in his first term.
“Censorship and propaganda are two sides of the same coin,” the lawsuit states. “All of this violates the federal statutes that govern VOA, and the Constitution itself; and all of this undermines the credibility of the United States in the eyes of the world.”
Since taking office last year, Donald Trump has tried to outright dismantle VOA and USAGM, with the former’s journalists saying they’ve been “silenced and chilled” by the government in breach of the statutory firewall meant to preserve VOA’s editorial integrity.
