Voice of America (VOA) was set up in 1942, broadcasting first on February 1st. The service was primarily directed at Germany, promising to tell the truth, even if it was bad news for America. As allies won territories, broadcasting was expanded to those, blanketing more of Northern Africa and Europe. In 1946, the US State Department took over VOA, and began broadcasting into Russia to try to counter some of the more troubling propaganda by the Soviet government.

By the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union and freedom came to Eastern Europe, VOA had expanded to cover many other languages and areas such as Tibetan, Kurdish (to Iran and Iraq), Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Macedonian. Today, the service broadcasts video and audio and is available on the internet translated into 44 languages.