Several dozen sidelined Voice of America staffers have suddenly been called back to work as the Israel-Iran conflict escalates.
It is a dramatic turn of events for the American government-funded broadcasting system that was shut down by the Trump administration in March.
Steve Herman, who has been VOA’s chief national correspondent since 2022, said the broadcaster specifically brought back Farsi language speakers who have been on paid administrative leave. The move suggests that the US government wants to bolster its programming into Iran.
Before the cutbacks were instituted in March, VOA said that it produced four-plus hours a day of “Persian-language programming to Iran.”
The VOA website said the 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.”
It is unclear how much content VOA has been beaming into Iran in recent weeks. The broadcaster’s VOA Farsi channel on YouTube showed eight new videos since Israel struck inside Iran early Friday.
Staffers from some other VOA language services have also been called back to work.
Brett Bruen, president of the consulting firm Global Situation Room, reacted to Herman’s X post about the news by tweeting to Kari Lake, the Trump loyalist who has been tasked with gutting VOA.
“Turns out not having a channel to communicate with the Iranian people was a pretty bad idea, @KariLake,” Bruen wrote.
A spokesperson for Lake did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Patsy Widakuswara, one of the sidelined journalists who is suing the Trump administration to salvage the broadcaster, told CNN on Friday that “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.”
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