United States Agency for Global Media

USAGM statement on President’s FY23 budget request

March 28, 2022

Washington, D.C. — The President today released his Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request, including $840.0 million for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to deliver fact-based and compelling journalism in support of freedom and democracy.  

This request represents an increase of $29.5 million, or 3.6 percent, above the FY 2022 requested level and focuses new investments on countering Russian and Chinese disinformation, as well as on research, facilities modernization, and diversity and inclusion.  

“This budget includes critical funding to support USAGM in getting the facts to people living in media-restricted areas,” said Kelu Chao, Acting CEO of USAGM. “We will continue to provide trustworthy news sources to audiences around the world, and push back on the disinformation that authoritarian regimes, such as Russia and China, sow within and beyond their borders.”   

In addition to countering Russian and Chinese disinformation, USAGM is addressing regional political and humanitarian crises where a robust free press is lacking, including in a post-coup Burma, in Cuba, and across Africa and the Middle East.  

Through its two federal networks — the Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) — and its four non-federal entities — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), and the Open Technology Fund (OTF) — USAGM is building on successes in key markets with a weekly audience of 394 million people, an 11.2 percent increase over the prior year, in 62 languages around the world.  

In order to effectively identify and address these and other challenges around the world, USAGM will be guided by its recently released 2022-2026 Strategic Plan – Truth over Disinformation: Supporting Freedom and Democracy.

Developed with performance data and feedback from key stakeholders, it commits the agency to continue audience growth, further earn their trust with impactful and compelling content, and modernize the agency’s production and broadcasting capabilities to compete in a quickly evolving media environment.  

Additional information is available here.