US Agency for Global Media to cancel contracts with AP, Reuters, and AFP

The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is ending its contracts with major international news agencies, including The Associated Press (AP), Reuters, and Agence France-Presse (AFP), according to senior Trump administration advisor Kari Lake.

Lake announced the move on social media, stating that she had “moved today to cancel expensive and unnecessary newswire contracts” for the agency. She criticized the use of taxpayer dollars to fund outside news organizations, arguing that USAGM should be producing its own news content.

“USAGM is an American taxpayer-funded News Organization with an 83-year history. We should not be paying outside news companies to tell us what the news is—with nearly a billion-dollar budget, we should be producing news ourselves. And if that’s not possible, the American taxpayer should demand to know why,” Lake wrote.

USAGM is an independent U.S. government agency responsible for broadcasting news and information internationally. It oversees several state-funded media outlets, including Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.

The decision to cut contracts with AP, Reuters, and AFP follows the appointment of L. Brent Bozell III, a conservative media critic, as the head of USAGM in January after President Trump took office. Bozell has been a vocal critic of mainstream media and has advocated for reshaping U.S. government-funded news operations.