{"id":960,"date":"2025-03-29T00:53:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T00:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/29\/u-s-judge-orders-halt-to-trumps-effort-to-dismantle-voice-of-america-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-03-29T00:53:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T00:53:02","slug":"u-s-judge-orders-halt-to-trumps-effort-to-dismantle-voice-of-america-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/29\/u-s-judge-orders-halt-to-trumps-effort-to-dismantle-voice-of-america-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Judge Orders Halt to Trump\u2019s Effort to Dismantle Voice of America &#8211; The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"site-content\">\n<article id=\"story\">\n<div id=\"top-wrapper\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/#after-top\">SKIP ADVERTISEMENT<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Voice of America journalists argued in a lawsuit that the administration\u2019s actions violated their First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"imageblock-wrapper\">\n<figure aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\">\n<div data-testid=\"imageContainer-children-Image\"><picture><source media=\"(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 3),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 3dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 288dpi)\" ><source media=\"(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 2dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 192dpi)\" ><source media=\"(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 1),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 1dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 96dpi)\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"The entrance to a gray, stone building with a plaque and blue flag that say \u201cVoice of America.\u201d\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/28\/multimedia\/BIZ-VOA-fgwb\/BIZ-VOA-fgwb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&#038;auto=webp&#038;disable=upscale\"   decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\"><\/picture><\/div><figcaption data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-ImageCaption\"><span>Voice of America building in Washington.<\/span><span><span>Credit&#8230;<\/span><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">Eric Lee\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><time datetime=\"2025-03-28T19:54:03-04:00\"><span>March 28, 2025<\/span><span>Updated <span>7:54 p.m. ET<\/span><\/span><\/time><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section name=\"articleBody\">\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<p>A federal judge on Friday temporarily halted the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to dismantle Voice of America, the government-funded international broadcaster whose prospective demise has alarmed advocates for press freedoms.<\/p>\n<p>The judge, J. Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, ruled after a hearing on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afscme.org\/press\/releases\/2025\/journalists-federal-workers-and-unions-file-lawsuit-to-challenge-closure-of-u-s-agency-for-global-media\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a lawsuit<\/a> filed by Voice of America journalists and their unions. The suit argues that the administration\u2019s actions, like placing hundreds of journalists at the organization on paid leave, violated the journalists\u2019 First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew G. Celli Jr., a lawyer for the journalists who brought the suit, said the judge had made clear during the hearing that he would issue a temporary restraining order.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a decisive victory for press freedom and the First Amendment, and a sharp rebuke to an administration that has shown utter disregard for the principles that define our democracy,\u201d Mr. Celli said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/26\/business\/voice-of-america-lawsuit-trump.html\" title>separate lawsuit<\/a>, brought by the director of Voice of America, Michael Abramowitz, is also pending.<\/p>\n<p>Inquiries to the leadership of Voice of America and the Agency for Global Media were not immediately returned.<\/p>\n<p>Voice of America, which was founded in 1942, provides news programming in 49 languages to dozens of countries around the world, including places, like China and Iran, where citizens have limited access to independent journalism. Voice of America had long been considered a key component of America\u2019s soft-power efforts to promote democracy overseas.<\/p>\n<p>The charter for Voice of America, which has a budget of roughly $270 million, was designed to protect its editorial independence. President Trump, however, has accused the broadcaster of having a left-wing bias, and he picked Kari Lake, a close ally and former right-wing TV anchor, to serve as a special adviser overseeing its parent agency.<\/p>\n<p>On March 14, Mr. Trump signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/26\/business\/voice-of-america-lawsuit-trump.html\" title>an executive order<\/a> that directed the Agency for Global Media to eliminate many of its functions. Employees have said they lost access to work email, and some of its radio frequencies in Asia and the Middle East <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/16\/business\/voa-trump-dismantle.html\" title>have gone dark<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<p>On Friday afternoon, all of the agency\u2019s employees, who include the journalists at Voice of America, received a human resources email inviting them to resign their positions; the employees would receive pay and benefits through September. Ms. Lake called attention to the offer in <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KariLake\/status\/1905686163441987614\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a social media post<\/a>, adding, \u201cHave a great weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since retaking office, Mr. Trump has pushed boundaries in his numerous efforts to undermine the American news media. The White House has prevented journalists from The Associated Press from attending certain events and begun handpicking which media outlets can participate in the press pool that covers presidential actions. Mr. Trump and his allies have also sued several news outlets.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week, a federal judge in Washington <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/26\/us\/politics\/trump-radio-free-europe.html\" title>temporarily blocked<\/a> a similar effort by the Trump administration to close down Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, another government-funded broadcaster that dates to the country\u2019s Cold War efforts to counter Soviet propaganda.<\/p>\n<p>Danielle Kaye contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>A correction was made on<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>March 28, 2025<\/p>\n<p>:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An earlier version of this article misstated the status of a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit brought by journalists at Voice of America. A federal judge said at a hearing that he would issue the order; he did not immediately issue the order.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Michael M. Grynbaum writes about the intersection of media, politics and culture. He has been a media correspondent at The Times since 2016.<span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/michael-m-grynbaum\">More about Michael M. Grynbaum<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"bottom-wrapper\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/#after-bottom\">SKIP ADVERTISEMENT<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Voice of America journalists argued in a lawsuit that the administration\u2019s actions violated their First Amendment rights. Voice of America building in Washington.Credit&#8230;Eric Lee\/The New York Times March 28, 2025Updated 7:54 p.m. ET A federal judge on Friday temporarily halted the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to dismantle Voice of America, the government-funded international [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}