Judge restores Voice of America jobs after Trump admin cuts

This week, a federal judge ordered that Voice of America (VOA), along with the United States Agency for Global Media employees (USAGM), return to work.

The decision comes one year after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that gutted the agencies, which began broadcasting in the 1940s to combat German propaganda.

For decades, VOA journalists say the agency’s mission has been to provide accurate news to countries through radio, TV and social media in multiple languages around the world. That goal came to a halt last year after Trump’s executive order placing VOA journalists on administrative leave.

Patsy Widakuswara is the White House bureau chief for the agency and lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed after the executive order.

“Obviously, there’s been a lot of ups and downs,” she told News4. “There’s a lot of anxiety and especially in the early days when we realized that the Trump administration is basically dismantling our agencies, but since then, it’s been an uphill battle, and we’re very grateful for the latest ruling by the judge,”

That latest ruling came from a federal judge who denied the government’s stay of order motion that looked to stop a prior ruling that ordered VOA employees to return for work on Monday and ruled that the Trump administration’s action to reduce the agency was unlawful.

More than 1,800 journalists and support staff were given notices of termination in March of last year. The lease for the new VOA building was terminated, and for the last year, journalists like Widakuswara say they’ve been left in limbo.

“They dismantled everything,” she said. “They took away our badges, they took away our equipment, our laptops, and so it’s going to take a lot of time and taxpayer money to overcome those challenges and rebuild the physical infrastructure.”

In a statement to the Associated Press, White House Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, in part, that “President Trump was elected to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse across the administration, including the voice of America […] and that this will not be the final say on the matter.”

In a Friday ruling, a federal judge lifted the March 23 deadline for VOA and USAGM employees to return to work and accepted a government plan to onboard employees at about 70 per week with required check-ins every two weeks.

For Widakuswara, she says the agency’s goal remains the same: to inform viewers and listeners across the world.

“The kind of journalism that VOA brings, the kind of journalism that reflects a nation that is so confident in itself that it’s not afraid to confront its own flaws and leaders that are not afraid of scrutiny,” she said. “That’s the type of journalism that has been successful.”