Trump officials move to fire most Voice of America journalists

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Aug 29 moved to lay off nearly all of the remaining staff at Voice of America, setting up a potential battle with a federal judge who had blocked attempts to restructure the federally funded news network.

Ms Kari Lake, a fierce Trump ally and the acting chief executive of Voice of America’s oversight agency, announced on social media that the agency sent layoff notices to 532 employees. About 100 journalists and other staff members remained employed. Ms Lake had to rescind a previous effort in June to lay off workers.

Trump officials first started shuttering government-funded newsrooms in March, following the President’s orders. Ms Lake said on Aug 29 that the latest layoffs would allow these organisations to focus on getting news to people living under communist governments and dictators.

But Ms Paula Hickey, the president of the union that represents Voice of America employees, called the layoffs illegal and said that “the manner in which they are being executed reveals the contempt this administration has for federal employees and the rule of law”.

Ms Lake has faced significant hurdles in her efforts to shrink Voice of America. Judge Royce Lamberth, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled in April that the administration had to restore the network, citing the law that requires the continued broadcasting of Voice of America. Ms Lake had begun moving to fire employees and cut the number of languages that Voice of America broadcast in.

Despite the order, Voice of America currently broadcasts only in four languages – Persian, Mandarin and the two main languages in Afghanistan, Dari and Pashto. Before, it aired news programmes in 49 languages to 360 million people every week, including in Russia, China and Iran. Nearly all 1,300 Voice of America journalists had already been fired or had remained on paid leave before Aug 29, according to court filings.

The Aug 29 layoffs came a day after a federal judge blocked Mr Trump and Ms Lake from removing the director of Voice of America, Mr Michael Abramowitz, and as Ms Lake faces the possibility of being held in contempt for defying the judge’s order.

The remaining employees had asked Judge Lamberth to force Ms Lake and other Trump officials to prove that they had been complying with his April order.

On Aug 25, Judge Lamberth sided with them and ordered Ms Lake to provide sworn testimony at a deposition, which is usually in front of a camera, to demonstrate compliance. He also threatened to hold Ms Lake in contempt, saying it appeared the government was not complying with his order.

The government lawyers have argued that Trump officials have broad discretion to determine the level of broadcasting required under the International Broadcasting Act that stipulates Voice of America’s existence. The law requires the news organistion to “be designed so as to effectively reach a significant audience” and “present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions”.

The agency Ms Lake oversees, the US Agency for Global Media, had already moved to fire its employees. In June, it sent layoff e-mails to around 600 federal employees at Voice of America, but it had to rescind those notices just a week later, after employees noticed that the layoff documents had errors including incorrect years of service, birth dates and veteran status.

In June, the administration brought back some reporters from Voice of America’s Persian service after the war between Iran and Israel intensified. But some of those very reporters who had been put back to work were notified a week later that they would be laid off. NYTIMES