Thank you for joining me Live tonight with
to talk about the shuttering of Voice of America, a network we have both worked for — Greta, as an anchor, and myself as an intern, in 2008. Greta suggested that most Americans, including the network’s senior advisor Kari Lake, don’t see the value of VOA because they’ve never interacted with it since it only broadcasts outside of the U.S. And that maybe it could have been saved if it had won a battle with the networks like ABC, NBC and CBS to broadcast here at home. But in terms of its soft power — the ability to share American values, culture and the concept of a free press that challenges its authoritarian leader — it’s hard to quantify. It’s one of the largest networks in the world, reaching 420 million people in 63 different languages. And it’s in the places where people have to hide to listen to VOA and its affiliate networks that the people will feel its loss the most. Now that the audience is left with just music, will it ever return if the network is somehow rebuilt? Or will China, Russia and Iran offer programming in its place?Greta was very candid. She took issue with Lake’s claim that VOA didn’t need a new studio. (We’ve both worked in the William J. Cohen Building, it was like a time warp with extremely dated equipment, 1970s furniture and even worse, asbestos!) No one can deny that the organization was in need of a re-org and likely cuts. But it’s not clear that it can ever be rebuilt after the DOGE sledgehammer. After the U.S. Institute of Peace said DOGE broke into their building yesterday, I was forwarded an email sent among network leadership planning out a contingency plan in case they are next tomorrow.
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