The Trump administration has reversed course on yet another one of their early-administration decisions. Following Israel’s attack on Iran this week, they’re calling back several Farsi-speaking Voice of America employees.
According to a new CNN report, several dozen employees who had been placed on paid administrative leave in March have been called back to work.
The move, which CNN’s chief media analyst Brian Stelter believes suggests that the Trump administration wants to bolster programming in Iran, comes after Israel launched multiple airstrikes against Iran.
Prior to the Trump administration’s cutbacks in March, Voice of America produced over four hours of Persian-language programming for audiences in Iran on a daily basis.
According to the Voice of America website, this content “confronts the disinformation and censorship efforts of the Iranian regime and enhances U.S. efforts to speak directly to the Iranian people and the global Persian-speaking diaspora.”
While videos have been continuously uploaded to the VOA Farsi YouTube channel since March, they have increased in frequency since Israel’s airstrikes, with the account uploading nine videos since Thursday.
One of the videos features a Persian-speaking spokesperson from the Israel Defense Forces explaining the Israeli government’s justification for the attacks, while others show footage of the immediate aftermath of some of Israel’s airstrikes on Iran.
Critics were quick to use the news to highlight the importance of VOA in American diplomacy. Brett Bruen, a top Obama-era diplomat, tweeted, “Turns out not having a channel to communicate with the Iranian people was a pretty bad idea.” Bruen made sure to tag Kari Lake, a senior adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, on his post.
Retired Washington Post editor Robert McCartney also weighed in, posting on X, “So Trump and Musk gleefully dismissed Farsi speakers at Voice of America’s Iran service, and now in crisis realize they need them back. Obvious lesson here, but MAGA and GOP will doubtless ignore it.”
Patsy Widakuswara, a journalist who is suing the Trump administration as part of the Save VOA campaign, shared a statement on X that read, “VOA’s role in providing independent, factual and authoritative news has been proven throughout countless times of crisis. But after months off the air, we’ve already lost a lot of audience and credibility. They should bring us all back so we can respond to breaking news in all parts of the world.”
The post Voice of America Frantically Rehires Axed Farsi-Speaking Employees appeared first on The Daily Beast.
