Radio Free Asia v. United States

Court: U.S. District Court for District of Columbia

Date Filed: April 10, 2025

Background: On March 14, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order gutting the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the federally funded agency that oversees Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, and other overseas broadcasters. The order stated that USAGM, which was created by Congress, “shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” Trump administration officials justified dismantling the agency by pointing to disagreements with the networks’ content, which, by statute, is produced independent of political interference.

After the government terminated Radio Free Asia’s grant and furloughed most of its Washington, D.C.-based staff, the broadcaster sued the Trump administration in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit, which called the cuts “abrupt and unlawful,” asks the district court for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction blocking the administration’s moves from taking effect.

“RFA remains committed to fulfilling its Congressional mandate of providing a voice that counters the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party and other authoritarian regimes in Asia,” said RFA President and CEO Bay Fang. “They may be celebrating RFA’s defunding right now, but we are confident that we shall prevail in blocking the unlawful termination of our grant.”

Our Position: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Committee to Protect Journalists filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the district court to grant RFA’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.

• The editorial independence of USAGM networks is essential to their credibility, their mission, and the safety of their reporters.

• Allowing the Trump administration to withhold USAGM networks’ funding unilaterally would destroy the independence that makes them effective.

From the Brief: “Because of the freedom Congress has codified, USAGM networks have earned trust and built reputations that have allowed their journalists to gather and disseminate news to audiences without other access to independent sources of news. But if any President has the power to effectively shutter RFA at any time, the foundation for that reliability disappears — unlikely to return.”

Related: The Reporters Committee and CPJ filed similar friend-of-the-court briefs in four related cases — Abramowitz v. Lake, Widakuswara v. Lake, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty v. Lake, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc. v. United States — urging federal district courts to prevent the shuttering of USAGM networks.

Previously, the Reporters Committee joined a coalition of press freedom and journalism groups led by CPJ in calling on the United States to protect reporters and media workers employed by USAGM, noting in a letter that many of them “face significant personal risk in reporting on and from highly repressive regimes.” The letter added: “Eliminating these organizations is a significant blow to press freedom — and a gift to autocrats worldwide.”