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Judge
Royce Lamberth granted a preliminary injunction against Kari Lake and
the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) sought by Reporters Without
Borders (RSF), Voice of America (VOA) employees, and their unions on
April 22. The ruling begins to unwind the damage done by President
Donald Trump’s order to shut down the public service broadcaster VOA, as
well as Radio Free Asia (RFA), Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN)
and the Open Technology Fund (OTF). RSF urges the Trump administration
to immediately implement this ruling and allow over 1,300 VOA employees
to go back to work.
Trump issued an executive order
on March 14, 2025, effectively gutting the US Agency for Global Media
(USAGM) and the media outlets it oversees, including VOA. In response,
RSF and a coalition of co-plaintiffs that includes VOA employees and
their unions filed a lawsuit to stop the illegal dismantling of VOA and protect its staff.
On April 22, the judge ordered the defendants to reinstate the employees
and contractors to the positions they held on the eve of the executive
order, and to restore VOA programming, enabling USAGM to fulfill its
statutory mandate to serve as a reliable and authoritative source of
information.
"We're very pleased that Judge Lamberth has recognized that the
Trump administration acted improperly in shutting down Voice of America.
The USAGM must immediately implement this ruling and put over 1,300 VOA
employees back to work to deliver reliable information to their
audience of millions around the world. Every day they’re off the air is a
gift to authoritarian regimes that forbid the free press, like China
and Iran. We know this fight is not over, though, and RSF will continue
to have the backs of VOA and other USAGM employees."
Clayton Weimers
Executive Director, RSF USA
The illegal dismantling of VOA is just one front in Donald Trump’s war
on the free press that includes punishment for disfavored journalists
and outlets, politically motivated investigations into media companies,
lawsuits against news organizations meant to threaten their editorial
independence, and more. Trump’s moves to shut down VOA and other
independent public service media outlets operating under the umbrella of
the USAGM are depriving a weekly audience of 427 million people—many of whom live under authoritarianism—of a reliable source of information.
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