VOA director fired after declining reassignment to low-level post
Michael Abramowitz, the director of Voice of America, has been fired after refusing to accept what he called an “illegal” reassignment to run a broadcasting station in North Carolina, according to a new court filing on Monday.
A letter sent Friday by John A. Zadrozny, a senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA, said Abramowitz would be terminated after 30 days notice, on Aug. 31.
The Trump administration’s action against Abramowitz, a critic of efforts to dismantle the agency, is the latest move to consolidate power at an institution that has long run the U.S. government’s foreign broadcasting operations. Kari Lake, whom Trump chose to head the Voice of America, has not been able to take up that post in large part because President Donald Trump dismissed the Senate-confirmed board in charge of removing and appointing directors. Instead she has served as the effective but unofficial head of the USAGM.
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