The Voice of America building, Monday, June 15, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
The Voice of America is an International broadcasting media network that was founded February 1, 1942. It was primarily used as a means to deliver uncensored anti-propaganda information to an international audience, particularly during World War II, where the Axis countries suppressed free press and disseminated misinformation. During the cold war and beyond, the United States continued to broadcast radio, music and television programming in as much as forty-eight languages, particularly aimed at peoples who lived under communist regimes or exploitive autonomous rulers. While the aims of the broadcasts were purportedly a boost to the promulgation of free speech and free thinking, there is no doubt that the V of A was consider, by some, to be a soft power tool for the United States to present our culture, education and arts in a favorable light and hopefully promote democratic principals. You find yourself on either side of the motives behind why these broadcasts were provided. One thing seems to be true, most people found the free programing an intellectual lifesaver, a welcome portal into an otherwise unavailable world of opposing thought. An alternative world of arts, music, education and culture that they may have never been aware.
On March 15, 2025, an executive order from President Donald Trump ordered the closing and discontinuation of news and other regular programming. It was a rather abrupt change and overnight almost all of the 1300 journalists, administrators, and managers were put on leave. The V of A has been one of the only sources of news, music, education and art programming for people in underdeveloped or restricted countries for over its eighty-three years.
Some may say that the continuation of the mission of the V of A is outdated, a remnant of a world where communications were less sophisticated, where anyone with a digital radio, a cell phone or a television can today receive an almost unlimited amount of news from multiple sources without ever needing to rely on the V of A broadcast anymore. Many people in the third world do not have the luxury of possessing or having access to these devices. Radios are relatively cheap links to these people and the services were provided in multiple languages. Do the myriad of bloggers, digital reporters, newswire services et al provide translations in as many languages as V of A did? This chainsaw evisceration of the V of A has left a gapping hole in the flow of truthful information being sent out to those people who have relied upon the V of A. It is likely that this hole will be filled by another broadcaster. A broadcaster who will try to win over new fans of their own particular version of the truth. Easy to guess who they may be and what their messaged programming might sound like.
But why is a jazz journalist interested in such an occurrence? Another journalist that I read and respect, Richard Williams, wrote a short post today about the shut down of of V of A (link to Richard's post here). He mentioned he couldn't recall listening to the V of A since the '60s, but nonetheless remembers how much his exposure to the V of A broadcast of the show Jazz Hour with Willis Conover meant to him.
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| Photo of Willis Conover from Wikipedia (photo credit unknown) |
Williams lives in England and it on Conover's show where he first heard Miles Davis's "All Blues" from Kind of Blue and Gil Evans's " La Nevada" from his seminal Out of the Cool record. He calls them "...still the richest and most compelling extended pieces of music I know." What more do we need to hear about how important this broadcasting has been for Williams and countless others. And that's just from a jazz music point of view.
I just hope the brainiacs in charge realize that their impulsive actions do not help this country and in fact most likely to cede influence in the world. It was a special thing to have a voice reaching out to other people, in their own language, and allowing them to see some of our openness warts and all. Soft power or not it was a service that served us well, celebrating and sharing our art, our music and our culture proudly and it will be missed.