US: Judge orders VOA employees to be reinstated

A US federal judge on Tuesday directed the Trump administration to reinstate more than 1,000 employees at "Voice of America" (VOA) and restart the state-funded broadcaster's operations.

The decision by District Judge Royce Lamberth comes ten days after he ruled that President Donald Trump's appointment of an official to carry out sweeping layoffs at VOA was unlawful, rendering those redundancies invalid.

Kari Lake, a former television news anchor, had reduced staffing and funding after being appointed by Trump to lead the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the organization that oversees VOA, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia.

But Lamberth, who was appointed by former Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1987, ordered that 1,042 VOA employees, who were placed on paid administrative leave for the past year, be reinstated by March 23.

"Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision," Lamberth wrote.

He also instructed USAGM to present a plan by next week to resume international broadcasts.

What is Voice of America?

Voice of America was established after the Second World War and became an important instrument of US soft power around the world.

Before Trump's executive order, VOA had operated in 49 different languages, broadcasting to 362 million people — often in countries with limited press freedom.

President Trump, who regularly criticizes media organizations he disagrees with, has opposed VOA's editorial independence, which is protected by rules limiting government involvement in its reporting.

Patsy Widakuswara, Voice of America's White House bureau chief and a plaintiff in the lawsuit to restore the service, said she was deeply grateful for the decision.

"We are eager to begin repairing the damage Kari Lake has inflicted on our agency and our colleagues, to return to our congressional mandate, and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year," she told the Associated Press.

"We know the road to restoring VOA's operations and reputation will be long and difficult," she said. "We hope the American people will continue to support our mission to produce journalism, not propaganda."

The Trump administration has indicated it will appeal Lamberth's earlier ruling that Lake's appointment was unlawful.

Edited by: Roshni Majumdar