The U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday, outlining seven federal agencies to be reduced in size, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which runs the Voice of America (VOA) and the Radio Free Asia (RFA) news agencies. 

“We have been told that we are on paid leave but we don’t know for how long,” a VOA employee told DVB on the condition of anonymity. “[This] could harm countries like Myanmar, and others which have been trying to get freedom from dictatorship,” Yin Aye, the Save Myanmar-USA spokesperson, told DVB. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told USA Today on Saturday that “All taxpayers should not be funding anti-American propaganda in the name of journalism.”

Many independent media outlets from Myanmar operating in exile along the Thailand border have been kept operational with the help of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has also been shut down by President Trump. 

“If there is no longer a media outlet to report on such human rights violations [in Myanmar], the harm to the public could be even greater,” a source from USAID told DVB on the condition of anonymity.

RFA president Bay Fang said that she received a grant termination notice on March 15. “The termination of the grant is a reward to dictators and despots, including the Chinese Communist Party,” added Fang.