A new report has shed light on the extent of US government funding for major media outlets, but it was WikiLeaks that highlighted a particularly striking detail: citing a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report, WikiLeaks revealed that USAID has been funding over 6,200 journalists across 707 media outlets and 279 media-focused NGOs—amounting to 90% of the reportage out of Ukraine.
While funding for outlets such as POLITICO and the Associated Press has come from various branches of the federal government, USAID’s role in bankrolling journalism worldwide has been particularly significant. RSF noted that when the Trump administration froze $268 million in foreign aid earmarked for “independent media and the free flow of information,” it sent shockwaves through the global journalism community. Almost immediately, organizations reliant on American aid funding began reaching out to RSF, reporting confusion and instability. The affected groups ranged from large international NGOs backing independent media, like the International Fund for Public Interest Media, to smaller outlets in countries such as Iran and Russia.
USAID’s influence extends to more than 30 countries, though the full impact of its funding remains difficult to quantify. Many organizations hesitate to discuss the consequences openly, fearing the loss of long-term funding or political backlash. A now-removed USAID fact sheet from 2023 confirmed the agency’s financial support for thousands of journalists and news organizations, while the 2025 foreign aid budget has allocated $268 million for “independent media and the free flow of information.”
Yet, while reports from RSF and the Columbia Journalism Review warn of the global silencing of independent media, they fail to acknowledge a key point: USAID, once supposedly established with “noble intentions,” has become a deep-state slush fund. No matter how “independent” these media organizations claim to be, they remain tied to a system that ensures they are anything but.
