Widakuswara v. Lake
Court: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Date Filed: March 28, 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 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.
A group of VOA journalists sued the Trump administration, asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction blocking the administration’s moves from taking effect.
Our Position: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, joined by the Committee to Protect Journalists, filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the district court to grant the VOA journalists’ 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 shutter VOA unilaterally would sabotage the independence that makes it effective and violate the First Amendment.
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 VOA at any time, the foundation for that reliability disappears — unlikely to return.”
Related: The Reporters Committee, joined by CPJ, filed similar friend-of-the-court briefs in four related cases — Abramowitz v. Lake, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty v. Lake, Radio Free Asia v. United States, 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.”
Updates:
- During a hearing on March 28, 2025, Judge J. Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an order from the bench temporarily blocking the Trump administration from dismantling Voice of America. In a written opinion, which cited the brief filed by the Reporters Committee and CPJ, the judge called the administration’s actions “arbitrary and capricious.”