US President Donald Trump‘s shutdown of US media outlet Voice of America, or VOA, has had a particularly strong impact in countries like Turkey where press freedom has long been under threat.As a result of the Trump administration’s defunding of the US government-funded international news service on March 14, the organization has effectively ceased operations. News websites in all languages have not been updated for more than two months.Broadcasts on television and radio have either stopped completely or switched to music-only programming.Before suspending service, VOA, which was often one of the rare sources of uncensored news in countries like Turkey, broadcast in 49 languages to a weekly audience estimated at 354 million people worldwide.
Banned in Turkey
Turkey, where approximately 90% of major media outlets are government-controlled, banned access to the Turkish-language website of VOA in 2022, alongside all language versions of Deutsche Welle, or DW. Since then, VOA had been trying to reach its audience in Turkey via a “mirror” website that reproduced the content of the original platform, until Trump shuttered the broadcaster completely in mid-March.Media rights group Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, ranks Turkey 159th out of 180 countries in its 2025 World Press Freedom Index, citing ongoing repression of journalists. There are currently 17 journalists in prison in Turkey.RSF Turkey representative Erol Onderoglu told DW that international media organizations like VOA, the BBC and DW have emerged as “constructive” role models in recent years, as the country’s increasingly polarized press environment has seen a significant decline in quality and freedom.The Turkish-language services of international broadcasters gained prominence as independent media in Turkey have diminished. Their newsrooms are based abroad but the language services also employ a small number of reporters within the country.“VOA has also played an important role in opening the voice of Turkey’s civil society movement and journalism community to the outside world and breaking the effects of isolation,” Onderoglu said.VOA Turkish was one of the most important sources for audiences in Turkey, especially regarding developments between Ankara and Washington.“Whenever there was a development in the US that could put the Erdogan government in a difficult position — for instance, an allegation that could lead to sanctions on Turkey over Iran — the first website I would check was VOA’s,” one of VOA’s Turkish audience told DW.
Journalists at risk
Following Trump’s decision to halt federal funding to the parent agency of VOA, most of the Washington-based news service’s roughly 1,300 staffers were placed on administrative leave as a first step toward termination.A group of VOA employees affected by the March executive order has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing the president of executive overreach. A federal appeals court in early May blocked a ruling that had ordered the Trump administration to put VOA employees back to work.Following the appeal court’s decision on World Press Freedom Day, the Trump administration has accelerated efforts to carry out the layoffs.Nearly 600 contractors, who received termination notices on May 15, were instructed to return their press credentials, badges and other VOA property by May 30. Some affected employees are J-1 visa holders and face imminent deportation, with only 30 days to leave the US.VOA Director Michael Abramowitz, also one of the plaintiffs in the court case, said that many of those journalists “have escaped tyranny in their home countries to tell America’s story of freedom and democracy.”On Thursday, Abramowitz noted that the May 3 decision remained in effect after the appeals court rejected a request for an en banc review, a full reconsideration by all eleven judges — and warned that the Trump administration could push for further layoffs.
An unwanted ‘voice’ silenced
Speaking to DW, a Turkey-based VOA employee recalled the day the broadcaster abruptly shut down operations: “Our colleagues in Washington were asked to vacate their offices during working hours. Their badges were seized. They didn’t even wait for the end of the day. News operations came to a sudden halt. We couldn’t even complete the reports we were working on.”The journalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that VOA stood out in a media environment increasingly under pressure from “an authoritarian regime.”“It was perceived as a threat by the ruling party, facing both access bans and smear campaigns by pro-government outlets targeting VOA staff. In that sense, it’s likely that the government welcomed the shutdown of VOA,” they said. The VOA has also produced broadcasts critical of the US governments, they pointed out: “For example, when experts criticized the US in analyses of Turkish-American relations, such comments were never censored.”
Trump’s ‘war’ on journalism
Antoine Bernard, director of advocacy and strategic litigation at RSF, told DW that Trump’s attempts to shut down VOA must be understood in the larger context of “his war on the press.”“He has targeted public media funding, launched politically motivated investigations into media he doesn’t like, and banned journalists from the White House for refusing to use the exact words he wants them to use. Quite simply, he does not tolerate independent media”, he said.RSF recently warned of “an alarming deterioration in press freedom” in the US under President Trump. The organization highlighted how Trump exacerbated already difficult conditions by cutting off US financial support for state-funded broadcasters such as VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).Earlier this month, Trump signed yet another executive order seeking to slash funding for the US’ Public Broadcasting Service, or PBS and National Public Radio, or NPR. The Trump administration also launched Federal Communications Commission investigations into major media outlets, including ABC News, CBS News, PBS and NPR.
