US court orders over 1,000 Voice of America staff back to work

A U.S. federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration must allow 1,042 sidelined Voice of America (VOA) employees to return to work by March 23.

District Judge Royce C. Lamberth issued the order 10 days after ruling that Kari Lake, President Trump’s appointee to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and a former television anchor, had not been legally appointed

“We don’t know yet how the Trump administration will respond to the judge’s order. But we are ready to resume broadcasting services for millions of audiences around the world, including Myanmar,” Ingyin Naing, a presenter for VOA Burmese based in the U.S., told DVB.

This court order comes almost one year since President Trump set out to dismantle Voice of America (VOA) and other media outlets under the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), including Radio Free Asia (RFA).

“The federal court has made it crystal clear, the Trump administration’s attacks on VOA, including firing virtually all of its employees, were illegal,” Thibaut Bruttin, the director general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said in a statement responding to the court order.

He added that RSF stood alongside VOA journalists throughout “the legal challenge.”

VOA is a U.S.-funded international broadcaster established during World War II in 1942 “to counter propaganda and provide reliable news to global audiences.” It programs in nearly 50 languages, including Burmese.