In the middle of the 20th century, when there was no television or Internet, the Voice of America provided people living under Hitler’s Nazi regime with messages of hope. Since then, others living in the darkness of totalitarian regimes have found voices from the West a welcome and powerful source of information.

The world is still complex, and spreading a message of freedom remains just as important today, but the Voice of America may no longer have a role to play in that message.

When every government agency is under DOGE’s microscope, it’s no wonder VOA’s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, found itself on President Donald Trump’s fiscal chopping block.

Trump signed an executive order last week directing the head of USAGM to “submit a report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget confirming full compliance with this order and explaining which components or functions of the governmental entity, if any, are statutorily required and to what extent.”

Voice of America is still on the air but currently only broadcasts music instead of the Left’s political viewpoints. Whether the network will be shuttered completely is unknown, but the president’s order has sparked long-needed discussion about its political slant and waste and fraud within the USAGM.

“Fundamental change is desperately needed in America’s broken public diplomacy system,” James Robbins writes at the New York Post. “Storied institutions that achieved critical success during the Cold War, such as VOA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia, are a shadow of their former selves. Now we have Persian-language broadcasts that promote the interests of the Iranian mullahs, partisan political messaging aimed at domestic US audiences and reporters who think that criticizing the president is their daily job.”

While cutting or eliminating some agencies and programs is justified and recognizing that VOA and similar services have become mouthpieces for an increasingly radical leftist worldview, there are millions of people around the world without internet access. Many of our enemies continue to spread their propaganda via the radio airwaves. Those who can log onto a computer or watch television often only receive government-sanctioned information.

“If you get rid of Voice of America and these other institutions,” writes National Review’s Jim Geraghty, “as much as it might feel good to punish reporters and leaders who covered global events on the taxpayer’s dime with a left-wing slant, we’re stuck with a world where Russia, China, and Iran are flooding the globe with propaganda and lies and we’re outgunned in the messaging war.”

The march toward the Left by the Voice of America is very similar to what happened at National Public Radio. NPR reporter Uri Berliner admitted last year, “We weren’t just losing conservatives; we were also losing moderates and traditional liberals. An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America.” For his honesty, he was effectively fired.

Republicans have pledged to defund NPR for decades but have never had the courage to do so, mainly fearing cries from the Left that millions might be cut off from human civilization. Those same cries are being heard about VOA. While people worldwide may tune into Voice of America, the message of freedom is increasingly spread on smartphones and laptops.

But there might be a hint of hope for VOA after all.

Last December, Trump picked former journalist and politician Kari Lake as a special adviser to VOA. Recently, Lake said, “I fully support the President’s executive order. Waste, fraud, and abuse run rampant in this agency and American taxpayers shouldn’t have to fund it.”

The Wall Street Journal’s William Galston would prefer trimming versus bushwacking. The “VOA has made mistakes, as has every media organization, and reasonable reforms are long overdue,” he admits. “A scalpel-rather-than-hatchet strategy could trim the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s bureaucracy, eliminate the overlap between VOA and the regional broadcasters such as Radio Free Europe, and improve editorial oversight.”

Lastly, in a press briefing this week, Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce mentioned, “Kari Lake, as essentially the envoy within this framework, is someone that Americans know and trust, and I look forward to seeing how this unfolds. But, right now, it’s new. It’s a fluid situation, and we’ll have more for you as it unfolds.”

Maybe it’s not “that’s all folks” for the Voice of America, but if it survives, let’s hope it emerges as a real voice of America instead of an outlet for progressive propaganda.