WASHINGTON, United States – United States billionaire Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, has called for the shutdown of U.S. government-funded propaganda machines Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Voice of America.
Musk made the remarks Sunday on social platform X in response to a post by Richard Grenell, the U.S. special envoy for special missions, who criticised the outlets as taxpayer-funded media filled with “far-left activities.”
“These outlets are a relic of the past. We don’t need government-paid media outlets,” Grenell wrote.
Musk echoed Grenell. “Yes, close them. Europe is free now (not counting the stifling bureaucracy). Nobody listens to them anymore. They are just crazy radical leftists talking to themselves while burning American taxpayer money. That’s about $1 billion a year wasted.”
Established in 1942, the Voice of America is the largest and oldest of the U.S. international broadcasters. It produces digital, TV, and radio content in 48 languages, which it distributes to affiliate stations around the world, including a special service for Zimbabwe, called Studio 7, since 2003.
Studio 7 was in response to the stifling of independent media voices by the Zanu PF government.
If the threat to shut down VOA is carried through, more than two dozen Zimbabwean journalists working for the service in Washington could be rendered jobless.
There have not yet been reactions from the two outlets.
Musk, as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has criticized federal payments to media organisations such as Politico, the Associated Press, and The New York Times, deeming them inefficient uses of taxpayer funds and moving to eliminate them.
