Donald Trump has never made any secret of his hatred of the press, which he famously calls “the enemy of the people”. Press watchdogs are already raising the alarm about the ways in which he might use intimidation, lawsuits, and sham investigations to harm the free press in his second term. Independent media organizations certainly have a lot to fear from a second Trump presidency. But there’s another group of journalists we should be worried for, too – those who work directly for the US government.
The US government funds a variety of different public broadcasting outlets, primarily aimed at foreign audiences. The jewel in the crown in terms of reach and influence is Voice of America, but there are other important networks, too, including Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and Radio y Televisión Martí, which broadcasts to Cuba. The agency which oversees them, the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), has a budget of nearly $1bn and reaches 420 million people weekly in over 100 countries – numbers that make America’s biggest domestic radio and TV networks look like small fry.
