The government agency that runs the Voice of America has moved to terminate contracts with The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse, and told its journalists Friday to stop using material from the wire services.
Kari Lake, the former broadcaster turned Republican politician who was selected by President Donald Trump to run VOA, estimated the move would save $53 million.
The new administration has quickly asserted its authority at VOA, which has delivered news from an American perspective to countries across the world. While awaiting official approval to take over, Lake was brought on as special adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA and sister organizations like Radio Free Europe.
She announced via social media on Thursday that she was ending the “expensive and unnecessary contracts” with the wire services.
“We should not be paying outside news organizations to tell us what the news is,” said Lake, who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor. “With a nearly billion-dollar budget, we should be producing news ourselves. And if that's not possible, the American taxpayer should demand to know why.”
In a meeting on Friday, VOA staffers were told to stop using wire service material for their reports, according to journalists who spoke under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
At many news organizations, audio, video and text reports from wire services are used to supplement reports from locations where the company's own journalists are not located.
The AP, Reuters and AFP all declined comment on Friday.
The VOA's move comes amid tense relations between the press and White House. The Associated Press has sued after the White House banned its reporters from press pools, the Pentagon has removed several reporters from longtime perches, and news organizations have been targeted by lawsuits and FCC investigations.
In another social media post, Lake said that she is in a fact-finding mode and “boy, am I finding a lot of nonsense that the American taxpayer should not be paying for.”
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