Voice of America employees sue Trump administration over shuttered news outlets

NEW YORK – Voice of America (VOA) journalists and their unions sued the Trump administration on March 21, saying that the shutdown of US-funded news agencies violated the workers’ First Amendment right to free speech.

The US Agency for Global Media, its acting director Victor Morales and special adviser Kari Lake,

placed more than 1,300 employees on leave and cut funding for several news services

on March 15.

Those actions violated the First Amendment and the laws by which Congress authorised and funded VOA, according to a complaint filed in New York federal court.

The cuts are part of a sweeping push by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to shrink the federal government, which they say wastes US taxpayer money on causes that do not line up with US interests.

The lawsuit seeks a court order reversing the decision to shutter the US Agency for Global Media, which funds VOA and other media outlets such as Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.

The rapid shutdown will embolden authoritarian regimes around the world, according to the lawsuit.

“In many parts of the world, a crucial source of objective news is gone and only censored state-sponsored news media is left to fill the void,” the plaintiffs wrote.

The US Agency for Global Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on March 21.

Since its inception to combat Nazi propaganda at the height of World War II, VOA grew to become an international media broadcaster, operating in more than 40 languages online, on radio and television, spreading US news narratives into countries lacking a free press.

VOA, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia had more than 425 million listeners every week before they were shut down, according to the complaint. REUTERS