Judge blocks Trump’s dismantling Voice of America
March 31, 2025
A federal judge in New York has thwarted the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the US international broadcaster Voice of America (VoA), calling the move a “classic case of arbitrary and capricious decision making.”
Judge James Paul Oetken blocked the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which runs Voice of America, from axing some 1,300 staff that it sidelined in mid-March in the wake of President Donald Trump ordering its funding slashed.
Oetken issued a temporary restraining order – valid for 21 days – barring the agency from “any further attempt to terminate, reduce-in-force, place on leave, or furlough” employees or contractors, and from closing any offices or requiring overseas employees to return to the US.
A statement issued by The White House earlier this month has said that the executive order was designed to “ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda”. Trump accused the federally funded news organisation of being “anti-Trump” and “radical”.
Andrew G. Celli Jr, an attorney for the VoA staff who filed suit, commented: “This 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.”
VoA, primarily a radio service, was set up during World War II to counter Nazi propaganda. It still reaches hundreds of millions of people globally each week. It went off the air soon after Trump issued an executive order on March 14th. VoA is seeking to return to the air as soon as possible.
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