The BBC takes over from the Voice of America dismantled by Trump and launches a Burmese-language channel.

BarcelonaOn March 28, 2025, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar, in Southeast Asia, between China, Laos, and Thailand. The quake left more than 3,000 dead in a country already affected by a civil war that has been ongoing since 2021. It is a difficult context for reporting, and the NGO Reporters Without Borders ranked the country 171st out of 180 countries with the worst press freedom, and it has arguably worsened after Voice of Ame. The disaster has dramatically increased the need for reliable news, and the British broadcaster BBC has stepped up to fill the information gap.

The BBC has responded to the emergency by launching a satellite video channel with information in Burmese, the local language, which will be available starting in May. This channel will use the Thaicom 6 satellite, which covers the Myanmar region, and will also offer a QR code to access digital content on the BBC website. The week after the earthquake, BBC News' Burmese digital audience quadrupled, according to the British network, a sign that made clear the urgent need for independent reporting. The new channel will replace VOA, which shut down its broadcast weeks before the earthquake.

VOA was the American international historical service, which was born during World War II to counter Nazi propaganda and later, during the Cold War, served to combat Soviet propaganda. It was known for providing free information in authoritarian regimes where press freedom is very limited or non-existent, and it stopped broadcasting with Trump's arrival in power. the White House, which cut off funding because he considered it "radical propaganda." Although a federal judge recently ordered the restoration of funding and more than 1,000 jobs linked to the service, its status remains uncertain, as the government may appeal this decision.

Steve Herman, VOA's national politics correspondent in Washington, explained to The Country that if the outlet reopens, it will have lost many professionals and a large audience, at a time when "the world could be filled with voices of disinformation and manipulation from China or Moscow," and that he is skeptical that VOA could rebuild itself. While the legal battle continues, the BBC is taking action. "In Myanmar, where press freedom is severely restricted and a brutal conflict continues, we now have a population also suffering from a natural disaster," said Jonathan Munro, deputy global director of BBC News. "With the launch of this new satellite video service, we will provide an essential flow of information to a public struggling to recover from the calamity that has claimed so many lives. This is another timely and much-needed initiative aimed at an audience in great need, and one that stems from the commitment and expertise of the BBC teams." Still, the British broadcaster also faces financial pressures, and in 2014, the British government cut part of its subsidy.

When the earthquake struck, the BBC was the trusted source of information for many people in the country. BBC News Burmese journalists reported from the earthquake's epicenter in Mandalay, Yangon, and Bangkok, as well as from London. BBC News Burmese, which broadcasts news in the region's language, doubled the length of its radio bulletin to 30 minutes live to include additional reporting and helpline information.