Voice of America

Washington, D.C., October 27, 2020—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a move by the head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media to eliminate a regulation designed to protect editorial independence for the agency’s networks, including Voice of America. USAGM CEO Michael Pack said in a statement late yesterday that the regulation would be…

At the end of August, journalists with the U.S. Congress-funded Voice of America (VOA) took the extraordinary step of ringing a public alarm bell about moves by the new CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA and several other outlets. VOA broadcasts in 47 languages and employs both U.S. citizens…

Twitter announced last week that it would start labeling some accounts run by media outlets and their top editors as “state-affiliated,” a descriptor intended to improve transparency about the source of information being shared on the platform.  Since disinformation became a flash point in the debate over content moderation on social media, distinguishing propaganda from…

On June 29, 2020, Godfrey Mtimba, a freelance journalist in Zimbabwe’s southern town of Masvingo, was charged with insulting and undermining the authority of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the journalist and his lawyer, Phillip Shumba, told CPJ via messaging app. Mtimba was charged under Section 33 (2) (a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act,…

New York, July 13, 2020—The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern that the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s review of visas at Voice of America could endanger journalists who have worked for the international, U.S.-Congress funded news outlet. “Voice of America has brought independent news to tightly censored countries and offered journalists working in…

Washington, D.C., June 15, 2020 — In response to a newly published internal email showing that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) prohibited its employees from accepting interviews with the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Voice of America, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “It is reprehensible that a government agency…

Washington D.C., April 10, 2020—The Committee to Protect Journalists today said it is appalled by an official White House statement yesterday accusing Voice of America (VOA), the U.S. Congress-funded international broadcaster, of “speak[ing] for America’s adversaries” and promoting Chinese propaganda on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Washington, D.C., March 20, 2020 — The Chinese government should immediately reverse the dismissals of Chinese employees working for U.S. news organizations in Beijing, and stop creating obstacles to news gathering by foreign outlets in China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined 40 other civil society organizations in calling on member and observer states of the U.N. Human Rights Council to extend for a year the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi.