Freedom of information is fundamental in a democracy, but current and impending changes at the Voice of America (VOA) left employees to wonder if they are being silenced.
The VOA is apparently using this year’s election campaign coverage as a model for centrally producing and distributing content.
All VOA’s 2024 election TV stories will be primarily produced by the national editor who is located in Colorado. He is to produce what are known as “track packs,” mainly using material from the news agencies such as APTV and Reuters TV. The emphasis is on “explainers” and the national editor was told not to report on the “horserace” aspect of the presidential election.
All of VOA’s language services must run this one mandatory daily story that is centrally produced. If any of the 46 other language services want to do their own election-related story, they must clear it with the central (English-language) newsroom.
VOA journalists who pride themselves on creating original content are understandably upset about the effect this will have on the quality of their reporting. The agency has been providing original news content tailored to specific geographic regions for years. Relying solely on content from news feeds and limiting what is reported on is not in the best interest of the journalists or VOA’s audience. The changes have had a profoundly negative impact on morale.
AFGE Local 1812, which represents employees at VOA and those under the U.S. Agency for Global Media, suspects VOA journalists are not only losing their autonomy but possibly their jobs. The agency has already outsourced some of the duties normally performed by bargaining unit employees and taken steps that the union believes will lead to a reorganization and reduction in force (RIF).
“The union believes this is part of the larger reorganization strategy that is taking place at the agency,” said Local 1812 President Paula Hickey. “By forcing all language services to use this centrally produced content for the election, this will become the model for producing and distributing content going forward, which will result in the elimination of many jobs throughout the Voice of America. This will take a heavy toll on production staff as well as journalists.”
Hickey said the VOA is not cooperating with the union over the changes that are taking place at the agency and has refused to provide information and bargain with the local. The union has filed grievances accordingly.
A little bit about the VOA
The VOA was founded in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda with accurate news and information.
“We bring you Voices from America. Today, and daily from now on, we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good for us. The news may be bad. But we shall tell you the truth,” said announcer William Harlan Hale as he opened the German-language program.
Since then, the VOA has provided news, information, and cultural programming to a weekly global audience of more than 300 million in dozens of languages through radio, television, social media, and the Internet.
With recent and impending changes, however, VOA journalists are questioning whether the agency will continue to live up to its founding principles and storied history of truth-telling.
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