Voice of America, who eight decades brought news to the corners of the world, where reliable journalism was Carce, darkened in March after the Trump administration reduced its funds and put its workers licensed.
But next week, the organization’s journalists, an international news station funded by the United States, are expected to return to work, said its director, after a decision in the Federal District Court that ordered him to resume the program.
The director, Mike Abramowitz, told his staff on Friday that the Department of Justice had alerted to Voice of America that the broadcaster’s access to his computer systems was restored. The email was obtained by the New York Times.
“I am looking for more details and I will share them as soon as possible,” Abramowitz wrote. “But at first glance, this news is a positive development.”
That seemed to be complicated on Saturday, when a Federal Court of Appeals arrested the parties of the order of the lower courts requesting the Trump administration to restore the funds for the agency that financed Voice of America.
The Court of Appeals, in Washington, DC, wrote that he was leaving in place the part of the ruling which ordered the government to revive the voice of the “programming levels required by the United States.”
But a judge who decelerated, Cornelia Pillard, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Circuit of the Columbia district, predicted that the decision would leave deep cuts of the staff and result in the “silencing” of the voice of America “for the future future.”
A coalition that represents the journalists of Voice of America said he was reviewing the decision. “Meanwhile, Voice of America must continue to resume programming,” said the statement.
Voice of America, founded in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda, was transmitting in 49 languages to an estimated 360 million people around the world before President Trump to silence their waves.
The radio station had been seen for a long time as a vital tool in the United States efforts to promote democracy worldwide, and transmitted news to countries such as Russia and Iran, where press freedoms were limited.
Trump has accused Voice of America or is partial against him and described him with the “voice of radical America.” He issued an executive order in mid -March to dismantle the US agency for global media, the Autonomous Agency of Congress that finances Voice of America and other international media backed by the Government.
The order was addressed to parts of the federal bureaucracy that the president had determined that it was “unnecessary,” he said. Almost immediately, the approximately 1,300 workers of Voice of America were sent home. The radio transmitters of the network were cut and their wire services were finished.
He followed a battle in the courts, with Voice of America and other media funded by the federal government arguing that Trump lacked the power to withdraw funds that had been authorized by Congress.
Last week, Royce C. Lambeth, a federal judge in Washington, DC, who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, agreed. It issued a temporary order that required the administration to restore financing for Voice of America. The administration appealed the ruling.
The problem remains unstable. A Federal Court of Appeals has left in place the ruling that the Administration requires that Voice of America resume its news program. But the Court of Appeals said the Administration could continue, for now, to retain funds from three broadcasters under the umbrella of the Global Media Agency: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Networks.
Voice of America is a government entity, unlike the other three stations, which are private non -profit organizations financed by the federal government.
Trump has installed one of his loyal, Kari Lake, former news presenter and candidate for the Senate of Arizona, to advise the Global Media Agency. In an email on Saturday, Lake said he had always intended to “bring VOA to the 21st century.”
He added that the “frivolous litigation” had slowed its efforts to “rationalize” the voice of the United States, but that expected to “effectively tell the history of the United States to a world audience.”
In the judicial documents, the journalists of Voice of America said that the Trump administration, involved in the “wholesale” dismantling of the station “ordering virtually all the personnel who do not report to work, turn off the service and block the doors of the agency.”
On Friday night, Voice of America’s lawyers received email from the Department of Justice indicating that the government was following the order of Judge Lamberth, AbramoWitz told their staff.
It was not clear if the judgment of the Court of Appeals on Saturday would affect the government’s plans. Mrs. Lake said in an email that she was reviewing the decision.
Peter Baker Contributed reports.
