The media, citing the White House, claim that one of the reasons why the Trump administration decided to close the media company was the political position of her authorities in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. We checked the reliability of this statement.
March 15, 2025 appeared on the White House website article The Voice of Radical America, in which the US presidential administration explained the need Decree, signed the day before Donald Trump. In particular, this document deprived the financing of the Voice of America, because "guarantees that taxpayers will no longer pay for radical propaganda." The article provides examples of such propaganda by this media. The first point reads: “The leadership of the Voice of America forbade its employees to call Hamas and its members terrorists,“ except in cases of citation ”. They told about this RTVI, The Moscow Times, BFM.ru, "Mediazone" Deutsche Welle, "New news","Tsargrad"And other Russian -speaking media. Messages of the White House accusations against the Voice of America appeared in such Telegram channels as Readovka (908,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Caution, news"(505,000),"Dmitry Nicotin"(356 000) and"Politics of the country"(108 000). The topic was widely discussed in social networks - for example, one of publications On Facebook scored 307 reposts.
Decree "On the continuation of the reduction of the federal bureaucracy", Which Trump published on March 14, 2025, prescribes to eliminate seven organizations as possible in accordance with the applicable law, including the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Into the area of responsibility of this agency Enters And the Voice of America (Voa, Voa) is the American international public media organization (originally radio station), founded in 1942. It is funded by the US Congress, but, according to the rules adopted back in the 1970s, the state has no right to interfere in its editorial policy. "Voice of America" focuses on the audience outside the United States and Produces content almost 50 languages, including Russian. At the time of the decree on the fight against the bureaucracy on VOA, they worked 1300 people, they were sent on administrative leave. Some employees of the media company soon Reportedthat they received notifications of dismissal.
While most of the media in their publications on the policy of Voice of America against Hamas gave an explanation on the White House website, the US Presidential Administration themselves refer to article American conservative publication National Review. There, the material with the heading of the “Voices of America” was forbidden to call Hamas terrorists in October 2023, about two weeks after the attack on Israel. On the same source in the viral Russian -speaking post, the Facebook user Kate Litvak rests. She writes (author's spelling and punctuation preserved):
“It turns out that on October 10, 2023, a senior“ voice ”was sent out by a senior officer of the Voice, reminiscent of work horses about the long -established ban to call both Hamas himself and Hamas members“ terrorists ”. The only exception is a direct quote from the source using this word. <...> Therefore, the workers of the Voice began to call terrorists who burned Jewish babies, a variety of euphemisms like a "fighter".
But, of course, the independent journalists of the Voice did not suffer lawlessness.
They immediately reported this to their listeners.
And they wrote an open letter with protest.
And they threatened to resign massively if the bosses do not cancel censorship.
And the left bloggers immediately demanded the heads of all employees of the Biden administration, who violated the freedom of the press ...
Oh, what am I talking about?
No one said a word. Everything suited everyone.
So far, someone slowly had leaked info to the right press. ”
However, in the screenshot in the post only part of the article is shown, which tells about the VOA officers sent by the order to avoid calling Hamas and its members terrorists. Further, the note by National Review specifies that the instruction of the leadership caused disagreements among the journalists and editors of Voice of America. In a press release on the White House website, which other media subsequently referred to, this detail is also not mentioned-only the order of the leadership of media organization is said.
At the disposal of “verified” was part of the internal correspondence of the Voice of America, who discussed the directive. There we found not just “disagreements”, but a pronounced protest of a number of journalists against the proposed changes in the “Best Practice Guide). Moreover, the discussions did not began after “someone slowly leaked the info to the right press”, but immediately after on October 10, 2023 the editorial office received the directive from the authorities. Employees of Voice of America, explaining their position, drew the attention of the leadership that Hamas for the most part attacks not military or government goals, but civilians, but this is a pure example of terrorism. Journalists also recalled that the United States is officially Recognized Hamas with a terrorist organization, and its members killed more than 30 American citizens during an attack on Israel (more late data - 46).
After the publication of National Review, a public discussion of the initiative began. November 1, 2023 Ted Lipien, former and. O. Deputy Director of Voice of America, in a column for The Hill wrote: "The refusal of the" Voice of America "to call the attackers from Hamas terrorists helps to continue violence." A few days later, VOA published material “Why news publications avoid using the word“ terrorist ”in the conflict of Israel and Hamas.” The author explained the position of his and some other major publications like this: "The word" terrorist "is too politically and emotionally charged." At the same time, the article specified: “The Voice of America” describes the incident on October 7 as a terrorist attack. The US government recognized Hamas as a terrorist organization. ” Nevertheless, the scandal developed: for example, a group of republican senators I directed it In USAGM, a letter criticizing the editorial position of the Voice of America regarding Hamas. Among those who signed this appeal, was the current Secretary of State of USA Marco Rubio.
In the end, as a result of both external and internal pressure on December 5, the Voice of America leadership informed its employees that the adjustments made to the “best practices guide” on October 10, 2023 are canceled, and the text of this document is returned to version 2022. “In the“ leadership ”terrorism is defined as the use of violence and threats with the aim of intimidating or coercion, especially for political purposes. Terrorists use violence against civilians to achieve their political or ideological goals. Consequently, the seizure of hostages and the deliberate murder of civilians, as happened during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, are acts of terrorism, and the people who performed these actions are by definition are terrorists, ”the electronic letter said, the screenshot of which former VOA employees provided“ verified ”.
In the same message, the Voice of the Voice of America notes: “The decision on which terms are best suited in a particular case, remains with the journalist and editor.” At the same time, in the letter he emphasizes: “If the US government has declared the organization of terrorist, as happened with Hamas in 1997, this should be mentioned in your publication.”
After searching on the sites of the English and Russian Services Voice of America (Voanews.com and Golosameriki.com, They were also called terrorists. And not only in quotes, but also in copyright texts - as on English, and on Russian language. Moreover, this word is in relation to members of Hamas Used and the authors of some notes published in the interval between October 10 and December 5, 2023.
Thus, although the leadership of the Voice of America, indeed, was trying to introduce a ban on the use of the Words of Terrorists in the publications of Hamas militants, this initiative caused serious resistance from the editorial staff, and after the information leakage, and from the outside. Two months later, this ban was canceled. Even at a time when he formally acted, some journalists of the Voices of America called Hamas terrorists in their publications.
Photo on the cover: Voice of America PR service account on Facebook
Read on the topic:
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