New York — And with a strong accent Decision this weeka federal judge has ordered the Voice of America — its mission to provide news to countries around the world that the Trump administration has largely shut down over the past year — to come back to life.
Whether or not this actually happens is anyone’s guess.
The government filed notice Thursday to appeal U.S. District Judge Royce C.’s order. Two days ago, Lamberth decided to return to work hundreds of Voice of America employees who were on paid leave last year. Lamberth ruled on March 7 that Carey Lake, President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee the bureaucracy’s parent agency, Global Media, He didn’t have the power To reduce VOA to skeleton.
Voice of America was founded as a news outlet in World War II, broadcasting reports to many countries that did not have traditions of a free press. Before Trump took office again last year, Voice of America broadcast It was working In 49 different languages, it is heard by an estimated 362 million people.
Trump’s team asserted that government-run news sources, which also include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, were an example of bloated government and that they wanted to provide news reporting more favorable to the current administration. With greatly reduced staff numbers, it currently operates in Iran, Afghanistan, China, North Korea and in countries with large Kurdish populations.
In his decision, Lamberth said Lake “repeatedly flouted” the laws mandating the operation of the Voice of America.
Voice of America Director Michael Abramowitz said lawmakers in both parties understand the need for a robust process and have allocated sufficient funding to get the job done. “It is time for all parties to come together and work to rebuild and strengthen the agency,” he said.
Don’t expect that to happen soon. “President Trump was elected to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the administration, including at Voice of America — and efforts to improve efficiency at USAGM have been a tremendous success,” White House Press Secretary Anna Kelly said. “This will not be the final say on the matter.”
“Restoring the physical infrastructure will take a lot of money and some time but it can be done,” said Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s White House bureau chief and a plaintiff in the lawsuit to reinstate her. “What’s even more difficult is recovering from the trauma our newsroom went through.”
It’s an open question whether the administration wants a real news organization or its mouthpiece, said David Ensor, the former director of Voice of America from 2010 to 2014. He added: “We don’t know – perhaps no one knows at the moment – what the future holds.”
The efforts made by the administration during the past year to Promote friendly ports and Combat coverage What doesn’t satisfy them offers a clue, even though Congress has required VOA to be an objective and unbiased news source. It was announced this week that Christopher Wallace, an executive at the conservative Newsmax network who previously spent 15 years at Fox News, will be the new deputy director of the Voice of America. Abramowitz did not know that he would have a new deputy until the announcement was made.
Widakuswara did not comment on what Wallace’s appointment might mean. “I wouldn’t make a judgment before seeing his work,” she said.
While Lamberth placed more than a thousand employees on furlough to return to work, it is not clear how many of them moved on to other jobs or retired in the past year. The judge also said he did not have the authority to reinstate hundreds of terminated independent contractors.
One of the staff members who has departed is Steve Herman, a former White House bureau chief and national correspondent for Voice of America and now executive director of the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation at the University of Mississippi. Despite the court decisions, he wonders whether the Trump administration will oversee a return to what the organization once was.
“I’m a bit pessimistic,” Herman said. “I think it will be very difficult.”
Besides fighting to shut it down, Trump hates to admit defeat. Last week, the White House nominated Sarah Rogers, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, to run the US Agency for Global Media, putting it more tightly under the administration’s control. Her nomination requires Senate approval.
“Will Marco Rubio’s State Department allow objective journalism in 49 languages?” Herman asked. “I don’t think so. I would like it to happen, but this is a fairy tale.”
In a budget bill passed in February, Congress allocated $200 million to VOA operations. While this represented a roughly 25% cut in the agency’s previous appropriations, it sent a bipartisan message of support, said Kate Nipper, director of strategy and performance evaluation at Voice of America. Besides being Widakuswara’s plaintiff in the lawsuit to restore the agency, she has helped some of her colleagues deal with some of their own problems over the past year, including immigration issues.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm to get back to work,” she said. “People are eager to show up on Monday.”
Ensor said the thirst for information from the Voice of America in Iran when he was director was a clear example of what the organization is all about. Surveys have shown that between a quarter and a third of Iranian households listen to Voice of America once a week, especially via satellite channels. He said that sometimes the government cracks down on satellite dishes and confiscates them, but Iranians are usually able to find alternatives quickly.
“I believe in VOA as a news organization and as a voice for America,” Ensor said. “It was important, and it could happen again.”
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him on http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.