Employees, agencies take legal action to save government-funded media
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Six Voice of America staffers filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Friday for shuttering the U.S. Agency for Global Media and effectively dismantling the five broadcast agencies it supports. On Monday, they filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to freeze any further attempts to gut VOA and its sister broadcasters.
Why it matters: Their lawsuit followed a separate legal action against the administration from sister broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty last week. Collectively, the efforts suggest impacted journalists and press advocacy groups won't let government media die without a fight.
- The RFE/RL lawsuit argues it's illegal for USAGM to pull Congressionally appropriated grants to USAGM broadcast agencies.
- The Open Technology Fund, an independent non-profit that's a subdivision within the USAGM, has also sued USAGM for withholding funds.
State of play: The coalition that filed for a temporary restraining order includes VOA employees, press freedom groups Reporters Without Borders and the NewsGuild-CWA and government worker advocacy groups.
- The initial lawsuit was filed to seek relief from efforts to shutter VOA and its sister networks, said VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, who is named as a plaintiff on the lawsuit.
- Widakuswara is joined by VOA journalist Jessica Jerreat and USAGM director of strategy and performance assessment Kathryn Neeper as named plaintiffs on the complaint. There are four unnamed USAGM employees who are also listed.
In an interview, Widakuswara said employees began organizing a legal effort shortly after they were placed on leave earlier this month.
- In addition to press freedom concerns, the lawsuit is meant to address the irreparable harm the Trump administration's actions have had on the careers of VOA employees, as well as the risks associated with losing access to their salaries, benefits and legal support.
- There are currently nine USAGM journalists in jail in places like Vietnam, Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Myanmar.
The big picture: The VOA was created more than 80 years ago to combat Nazi propaganda during WWII. Its mission has always been to promote democracy and American interests abroad through fact-driven journalism, regardless of which political party is in power.
- The Trump administration believes VOA and other government-funded broadcasters should align their coverage with the goals of the administration, per David Seide, a lawyer representing the VOA employees in their lawsuit.
Between the lines: A legal firewall is supposed to protect VOA from any government interference, but those boundaries were tested during the first Trump administration.
- A judge, for example, granted an injunction in 2020 in response to a legal complaint alleging former Trump-era USAGM CEO Michael Pack violated the First Amendment by interfering with editorial decisions made at the VOA.
- In 2020, OTF sued USAGM and Pack for withholding its Congressionally appropriated funds and trying to overhaul its board. An appeals court sided with OTF and blocked Pack's efforts with an emergency stay.
Catch up quick: The Trump administration earlier this month ordered nearly all 1,300 employees of VOA to be placed on leave and said it would cut funding for other USAGM broadcasters and subsidiaries, such as Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and OTF.
- Those orders were given by Kari Lake, a Trump ally who was named USAGM special adviser in late February.
- Lake canceled USAGM's 15-year lease and has since suggested that the agency needs to be reduced "to the bare minimum and start fresh."
Zoom out: The gutting of USAGM comes amid a broader push by the Trump administration to cut government spending through a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk. Musk has called for VOA to be shut down.
- Press freedom advocates argue the administration and Lake are destroying decades of efforts to spread democracy and accurate information in vulnerable places overseas.
- Lake and DOGE have "shattered 80 years of tradition and goodwill that was built up over 80 years for for their own ideological reasons," said Seide.
