President Donald Trump’s efforts to make deep cuts to Voice of America and other government-run, pro-democracy programming have been temporarily stopped by a court order.
On March 28, federal judge James Paul Oetken issued a temporary restraining order barring the U.S. Agency for Global Media from firing more than 1,200 journalists, engineers and other staff that it sidelined on March 14 after Trump issued an executive order.
The Manhattan judge called the president’s action a “classic case of arbitrary and capricious decision making” in his order stopping the agency that runs VOA and other broadcast outlets Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Afghanistan and Radio Marti from “any further attempt to terminate, reduce-in-force, place on leave, or furlough” employees or contractors, and from closing any offices or requiring overseas employees to return to the U.S.
On the previous day, the Agency for Global Media said it was restoring Radio Free Europe’s funding after another judge in Washington, D.C. ordered it to; and Radio Marti which broadcasts into Cuba from southern Florida returned to air on March 26.
Judge Oetken faulted the Trump administration for “taking a sledgehammer to an agency that has been statutorily authorized and funded by Congress” and criticized the agency’s leadership, including its special Trump-appointed adviser Kari Lake, for pulling the plug “seemingly overnight” on the U.S. government’s global broadcaster with “no consideration of the effects.”
Trump and other Republicans have accused VOA of a “leftist bias”, failing to project “pro-American” values, and “The Voice of Radical America”, citing coverage they said was “too favorable” to former President Joe Biden and stories about white privilege, racial profiling and transgender migrants seeking asylum.
His ruling came after a coalition of VOA journalists, labour unions and Reporters Without Borders sued to block the cuts and ultimately have VOA return to the air. They argued in court that the shutdown violated a court finding during Trump’s first term that VOA journalists have a free-speech firewall protecting them from White House interference and that their absence from the airwaves has left a vacuum being filled by “propagandists whose messages will monopolize global airwaves”.
After Trump’s first moves to shut it down, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it “condemns this decision as a departure from the U.S.’s historic role as a defender of free information and calls on the U.S. government to restore VOA and urges Congress and the international community to take action against this unprecedented move.”
VOA director Michael Abramowitz said “virtually” all 1300 VOA employees had been put on leave.
“For the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” he said in a statement. “VOA promotes freedom and democracy around the world by telling America’s story and by providing objective and balanced news and information, especially for those living under tyranny.”
Voice of America has operated since World War II, begun as a counterpoint to Nazi propaganda and playing a prominent role in the U.S. government’s Cold War efforts to curb the spread of communism.
It has in the past been criticised and viewed as the propaganda arm of the United States but for many more recent years has been considered a valid journalistic source with an estimated weekly audience of more than 361 million people, broadcasts in 49 languages, and a Congressional appropriation of nearly $860 million for the current fiscal year.
Judge blocks Trump attempts to close Voice of America – March 28
Radio Marti back on air – March 26
Trump did what Castro couldn’t, take Radio Marti off air – New York Times March 24
Silencing a window into democratic America – Llewellyn King, AEJ March 22
Trump guts Voice of America – AP
Trump slashes VOA – New York Times
Law suits challenge closing of US agency for global media
Trump closes VOA – BBC 16 March 2025
Voice of America ends contracts with Reuters, AP, AFP – AP 14 March 2025
DOGE cuts leave a vacuum for China to fill – New York Times
Asserting control over Voice of America – AP March 6
Voice of America – AP January 17
VOA – Wikipedia
