Voice of America (VOA) will no longer maintain contracts with major international news agencies, a move announced Friday by Kari Lake, Special Adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM).
The decision will terminate agreements with The Associated Press (AP), Reuters, and Agence France-Presse (AFP), cutting millions in taxpayer-funded spending.
VOA, a federally funded international broadcaster under USAGM, has relied on external news agencies for supplemental reporting.
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However, Lake confirmed in a post on X that USAGM is ending its “expensive and unnecessary newswire contracts,” noting that some of the deals amounted to “tens-of-millions of dollars.”
“USAGM is an American taxpayer funded News Organization with an 83-year history. We should not be paying outside news companies to tell us what the news is—with nearly a billion-dollar budget, we should be producing news ourselves,” Lake stated. “And if that’s not possible, the American taxpayer should demand to know why.”
According to Newsmax, VOA employees were informed during a staff meeting on Friday that they should “stop using wire service material for their reports.”
The agency has previously relied on text, audio, and video content from newswires to cover areas where it lacked direct reporting resources.
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In an interview with Newsmax before the decision was formally announced, Lake criticized unnecessary spending within the agency, saying, “a lot of nonsense that the American taxpayer shouldn’t be paying for” had been identified.
Following the official announcement, she reiterated her stance on X, writing, “I moved today to cancel expensive and unnecessary newswire contracts for US Agency for Global Media, including tens-of-millions of dollars in contracts with The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.”
I moved today to cancel expensive and unnecessary newswire contracts for US Agency for Global Media, including tens-of-millions of dollars in contracts with The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
USAGM is an American taxpayer funded News Organization with an…
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 13, 2025
The decision follows ongoing tensions between the AP and the White House. In February, AP lost press access after refusing to use the administration’s preferred terminology for the Gulf of America.
The media outlet subsequently filed a lawsuit on February 21 against White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, seeking injunctive relief.
Lake was sworn in as USAGM’s special adviser on March 3.
At the time, she stated she was “looking forward” to serving America and working to “streamline” the agency’s operations.
The contract cuts align with President Donald Trump’s broader push in his second administration to reduce government waste and rein in federal spending.
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