Concerns rising amid Voice of America employees placed on leave Story by Baileigh Bockover

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Employees at the Voice of America (VOA), the federally funded international media network, have been placed on administrative leave ahead of President Donald Trump’s signed executive order. The VOA transmission site is in eastern Pitt County. How many employees are based at the Edward R. Murrow transmitting station on VOA Site B Road is unknown. Trump signed an executive order last week to cut several federal agencies, including one overseeing VOA. VOA broadcasts in over 40 languages online, on radio, and on television. Concerns are rising about potential job cuts and the impact on local communities. According to NBC News, the order represents the latest step by Trump to remake the federal bureaucracy, a task he has largely put in the hands of tech billionaire, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. Currently, in Eastern North Carolina there are three VOA sites, with site B (near Beaufort/Craven line) being the only one actively broadcasting 24/7. Site A (across the Beaufort County line), owned by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and known as the VOA Game Land, is not active in Beaufort County. Site C was sold to East Carolina University in 2001 and is now part of their West Research Campus, according to the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.