Kari Lake Hostile Takeover of VOA: Brings in OAN

How Kari Lake Handed America's Voice to Right-Wing Propagandists

America's global storyteller is being silenced and replaced by a propaganda machine. Kari Lake, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate and newly appointed senior adviser to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), has engineered what may be the most brazen media capture in modern American history.

In a move that should terrify anyone who values press freedom, Lake has arranged for One America News Network (OAN) to provide "free" programming to Voice of America and Radio Martí while 1,300 professional VOA journalists remain on administrative leave following Trump's controversial March executive order.

The Weapon Lake Always Promised

During her failed campaign, Lake openly promised to use Voice of America as a "weapon" in an "information war." Now she's delivering on that threat with surgical precision. By replacing VOA's trusted journalism with content from a network known for spreading election conspiracies and extremist viewpoints, Lake is transforming a 80-year American institution into a state propaganda outlet.

As we discussed on today's show: "This absolute idiot of a person who has no right in any journalism... is making this decision now to let OAN news which is propaganda – it's not even – it's just foreign-owned bullshit."

What's Actually Being Lost

Voice of America isn't just another media outlet. Founded in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda during World War II, VOA has been America's most trusted voice to countries without free press. It's governed by a congressional charter mandating journalistic independence and prohibited from becoming a domestic propaganda arm of any administration.

VOA's professional staff – most still sidelined by Trump's executive order – represents decades of journalistic expertise and international credibility. As Chief national correspondent Steve Herman put it: "VOA is not to be the voice of left America nor the voice of right America."