A pair of Senate Democrats are urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to secure the release of journalists detained while reporting overseas on behalf of taxpayer-funded media outlets like Voice of America.
Citing President Trump's recent executive order scaling back funding and operations for VOA, Radio Free Europe and other government-funded media operations, the Democratic senators wrote to Rubio they are "concerned that jailed journalists affiliated with these networks risk being left behind."
The lawmakers, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), wrote to Rubio that they are aware of at least five USAGM-supported employees remaining jailed in Vietnam, two in Russia, one in Belarus, one in Azerbaijan, and two in Myanmar.
"We request that you with regularity use the voice of the United States to raise concern about their cases, and direct relevant regional bureaus, the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, (DRL), Consular Affairs (CA) and the Office of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA) to engage on their behalf where appropriate," the lawmakers wrote. "We also request that you provide a plan to secure these journalists’ release following grant terminations for USAGM networks and its entities."
The letter comes just weeks after Trump's administration announced plans to severely scale back the work of VOA, while its senior advisor Kari Lake has signaled plans to reimage the English-language news service as one that promotes America abroad.
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