This is the audio version of my March 19 essay about the Trump administration’s attempt to gut U.S. international broadcasters, “The Voice of America needs us to hope.” It’s one of my most-shared pieces, generating a high number of new subscribers, I think, perhaps, because it makes real the seemingly intangible loss of freedom that’s hard to describe. It also, somehow, leaves folks feeling empowered. I’ll let you read — or listen — and decide for yourself. Let me know what you think.
Recording the audio version of this essay, I was reminded of the difficulties I used to have filing for VOA 20 years ago as a radio reporter in Cambodia. One of the biggest struggles back then was finding a quiet place to tape my dispatches. Phnom Penh often suffered electrical blackouts, and the hum of generators made it almost impossible to record in silence. For one of my first reports, I thought I was so clever by locking myself in the bathroom at work, a villa converted into a publishing office, an…
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