In what must be understood as a propaganda program designed to normalize not only fascist ideology, but also specifically pro-Trump regime and cult of personality messaging, noted liar. conspiracy theorist and failed Senatorial candidate Kari Lake has now announced Voice of America will be carrying the One America News feed.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/07/voice-america-one-america-news

Embattled Voice of America to use newsfeed from hard-right network

"Kari Lake, a special adviser to the body that oversees the government-funded VoA, announced on X that One America News (OAN), which was sued by voting machine companies for promoting claims of election fraud, will provide “newsfeed and video service”.

“Every day I look for ways to save American taxpayers money. Bringing in OAN as a video/news source does both,” Lake said. “OAN is one of the few family-owned American media networks left in the United States. We are grateful for their generosity.”

The news that OAN, which many see as a pro-Trump propaganda outfit, will provide content for VoA, which has traditionally been a more politically neutral news source, is a move that will spur further fears about Donald Trump’s crackdown on the press.

OAN, which spread conspiracy theories about the coronavirus epidemic, almost exclusively interviews Republican politicians and rightwing voices, including this week the founder of an organization that denies the existence of the climate crisis."

For those of you blessedly unfamiliar with OAN, calling it a "hard right" news organization is absolutely The Guardian being coy. These folks are malevolent fascists, and they produce content which satisfies a rabidly pro-Trump, white nationalist audience that thinks Fox News isn't nazi enough for their tastes. This is, for all intents and purposes, like turning a state-controlled media news feed over to Bannon-era Breitbart News or Candice Owens. In other words the content OAN creates isn't news, it's propaganda, riddled with lies, nazi conspiracy theories, and cult of personality adulation for Downmarket Mussolini; if you're not seeing the parallels between what the Trump regime is trying to do here, and the adoring state-controlled media that fueled Hitler's cult of personality in Nazi Germany, it's because you're either being dishonest, or you're simply ignorant of interwar history.

Of course no knowledgeable person on the left is going to cry for the demise of Voice of America, and to a significant degree VOA has always been state news in so much as it existed to project a pro-American image into "enemy territory" during the Cold War and the War on Terror. The difference here is that now, VOA isn't merely pro-American or even pro-imperialist propaganda; it's pro-Trump's cult of personality propaganda. Furthermore the exact same global reach that made VOA a problem in the hands of US imperialist governments, now means that OAN, the Cult of Trump, and American fascism will be on display globally for all the world to observe and use a defining prism through which to see American life, news, and politics. Finally, while it may be hard to imagine now, projecting Trump's media suppression policies and actives out a couple of years, it's not hard to see how Voice of America could easily become much more popular domestically as Trump delegitimizes, censors, and revokes the broadcast licenses for news organizations that won't promote his deceptions, regime, or cult. In other words, this is the kind of small move that's easy to ignore, but remains part of a much larger plan to control the American media environment and use that control to prop up the Trump regime and its fascist agenda.

As a closing aside, I would encourage readers to please take note of the crass dishonesty and manipulative propaganda employed by Lake to justify this two stage transformation at VOA. First, she explained the clearly political and retaliatory decision to cancel VOA's sharing of news feeds from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse by pointing out that VOA had an almost billion-dollar budget and could produce its own news feeds. Now, she's justifying the installation of a pro-Trump cult fascist propaganda network to provide that very same news feed, under the auspices of saving money for the government and the American taxpayer. This woman is a crass liar, who thinks you're a fucking rube and absolutely none of this has anything to do with government spending on Voice of America.

As we've discussed before, while much of America seems to be existing in a national fascist "unreality" bubble engineered by the US right and fascist collaborators in corporate media, the view from outside the realm is clearer. Ahead of World Press Freedom Day, international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders is sounding the alarm in a report that indicates Trump's attempts to erode press freedoms are already succeeding.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-press-freedom-2025

Reporters Without Borders Sounds Alarm Over Trump Effort to 'Bring the Press Into Line'

"Trump was elected to a second term after a campaign in which he denigrated the press on a daily basis and made explicit threats to weaponize the federal government against the media," the report states.

"His early moves in his second mandate to politicize the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), ban The Associated Press from the White House, or dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media, for example, have jeopardized the country's news outlets and indicate that he intends to follow through on his threats, setting up a potential crisis for American journalism," the publication continues, accusing Trump of using "false economic pretexts" to "bring the press into line."

As the article notes, the RSF report features a very granular look at press freedom in America that touches on crises that predate and exist independently from Trump; although there's no question his assaults on the media are exacerbating those problems. It examines subjects like the lack of public trust in media, the lack of financial support for actual journalism, and the disintegration of local news in the United States. With that noted however, RSF makes it abundantly clear that rhetorical attacks from a primarily right wing (fascist) political class have created an environment of intimidation and danger for journalists in America.

"Politicians' open disdain for the media has trickled down to the public," RSF added. "Journalists reporting on the ground can face harassment, intimidation, and assault while working. When covering demonstrations, journalists are sometimes attacked and physically assaulted by protestors or wrongfully arrested by police. According to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, there were 49 journalist arrests in 2024 compared to only 15 in 2023. The last journalist to be killed in the course of his work was Dylan Lyons in February of 2023."

These alarming comments about the rapid decline of American press freedom are part of a larger Reporters Without Borders global report noting that freedom of the press is in trouble on a planetary scale as well. But RSF isn't the only watchdog organization raising the alarm about the United States. The Committee to Protect Journalists has also released a highly critical report examining Trump's first one hundred days in office, in advance of World Press Freedom Day.

"On Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published a report on Trump's first 100 days in office, which the group said were "marked by a flurry of executive actions that have created a chilling effect and have the potential to curtail media freedoms."

"From denying access to upending respect for the independence of a free press to vilifying news organizations to threatening reprisals, this administration has begun to exert its power to punish or reward based on coverage," CPJ said. "Whether in the states or on the streets, this behavior is setting a new standard for how the public can treat journalists."

Frankly folks I don't have a ton to add here; while modern American society seems to hold a great deal of contempt for watchdog organizations that track extractivist plundering, wealth inequality, freedom of the press, and democratic rights, the fact that you're not going to hear about these kind of things on the evening news is why publicizing these reports is so important. Having well-research data and international observers to confirm our arguments that the Trump regime is trying to stop even what passes for our media from reporting negatively on their fascist activities is an important part of making folks who aren't paying enough attention accept that those arguments are based in an increasingly disturbing reality. If you want people to band together and stop a fascist takeover, they have to be aware its happening and the work of organizations like RSF and CPJ help us make each other aware of the severity of the problem.

#Fascism #Trump #Media #Propaganda #RSF#FreeSpeech #ReportersWithoutBorders #GOP #Censorship #StateMedia #FreedomOfThePress #CPJ #WPFD2025