News TV channels in the Middle East launch employees and leave the air after cutting funds
Cairo (AP) – The head of U.S.-funded Arabic TV and online news media claimed that in the Middle East and North Africa, 30 million grand audiences terminated most staff and TV shows on Saturday, accusing the Trump administration and Elon Musk of being “irresponsible and illegally owned.”
Chief Jeffrey Gedmin said in a notice notifying Al Hurra news staff about their dismissal that he soon gave up the U.S. government’s freeze prosecution for Congress-approved Al Hurra and his U.S.-funded Arabic-speaking sister groups to obtain Congress-approved funds.
Gedmin accused President Donald Trump’s appointee Kari Lake, who is responsible for U.S. government agencies, Al Hurra, Voice and other U.S.-funded news shows abroad, and they are willing to talk to her about the funding approaching.
“I want to conclude that she deliberately starved us to death, which is the money we need for our dedicated and hardworking employees,” Gadming said in a severance letter received by the Associated Press.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
Egyptian journalist Mohamed al-Sabagh, who works on the AL Hurra news website in Dubai, told the Associated Press that all employees on the website and TV channels received emails to terminate the contract.
Al-Hurra is the latest news outlet funded by the U.S. government – after the voice of the U.S., Free Europe/Radio, Free Asia Radio and others – in the channel is the Trump administration and Musk administration’s efficiency move to fulfill its congressional private placement.
Lake, appointed to oversee the US global media agency, described her institution as consumed by “giant decay” that requires destruction and reconstruction of the institution.
The news organizations supported by the United States began with the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union. Their designated goal is to provide objective news on other topics in the United States and abroad, often to people under authoritarian governments without the need for free access to news.
The George W. Bush administration founded Al Hurra in 2003, the same year his administration invaded Iraq and overthrew its leaders. Al Hurra’s journalist covers American occupation, sectarian and extremist violence, some of whom died at work in the 2011 Arab spring, as well as other political changes in the Middle East.
Al Hurra has faced prejudicial allegations from American conservatives and liberals for years, but it is one of the few media outlets in the region that provide space for free media and speech.
Getmin said in notes to employees that his organization will retain dozens of employees and “exist” online as the courts struggled with cuts in the U.S. courts.
“It makes no sense to keep the American voice in the Middle East silent,” Gadming wrote.
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Nick Mell reported from Washington.
