- “We shouldn't be paying outside news companies to tell us the news,” Kari Lake told Channel X.
WASHINGTON: A senior adviser to President Donald Trump said Thursday she would end long-standing contracts between three international news agencies and the federal agency that oversees U.S. government-funded news organizations.
In a post on the X website announcing the decision to sever contracts with Agence France-Presse (AFP), Reuters and the Associated Press, former journalist-turned-politician and ardent Trump supporter Kari Lake said: “We should not be paying outside news companies to tell us the news.”
Today, I decided to cancel costly and unnecessary news contracts for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, including contracts worth tens of millions of dollars with the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
USAGM is a taxpayer-funded news organization with…
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 13, 2025
Last month, Lake joined the U.S. Agency for Global Media as a special adviser. The agency oversees several media entities dedicated to covering news and combating censorship abroad, including the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia.
“Today, I made the decision to cancel costly and unnecessary news contracts for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, including tens of millions of dollars in contracts with The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse,” Lake said.
“We need to produce our own news. And if that's not possible, American taxpayers need to know why,” she added.
AFP has a number of long-term contracts to provide text, photo and video services to USAGM agencies.
Trump has made federally funded agencies overseen by USAGM a particular target of his media reforms, with close adviser Elon Musk calling for the complete closure of Voice of America and Radio Free Europe for “wasting” taxpayer money.
In December, he appointed Lake to head Voice of America, but her candidacy has not yet been confirmed.
