RSF - Reporters sans frontières
RSF - Reporters sans frontières
04/22/2025 | Press release | Archived content
USA: RSF and VOA coalition win injunction against Trump administration
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 orderon 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 VOAemployees and their unions filed a lawsuitto stop the illegal dismantling of VOAand protect its staff.
On April 22, the judge orderedthe defendants to reinstate the employees and contractors to the positions they held on the eve of the executive order, and to restore VOAprogramming, 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
Director of RSF North America bureau
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 VOAand other independent public service media outlets operating under the umbrella of the USAGM are depriving a weekly audienceof 427 million people-many of whom live under authoritarianism-of a reliable source of information.
Published on22.04.2025