A group of veteran Voice of America staffers sued its parent agency and Donald Trump appointee Kari Lake on Monday, alleging that Lake ordered the U.S.-funded news organization to air pro-Trump propaganda on its airwaves in violation of its charter after she forced out the majority of its staff.
The suit also names Michael Rigas, who Trump named this month as the acting CEO for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, VOA’s parent agency. A USAGM spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit was brought by Barry Newhouse, the former acting director of Voice of America’s central news division; Ayesha Tanzeem, the director of VOA’s South and Central Asia division; Dong Hyuk Lee, the head of its Korean-language service; and Ksenia Turkova, a journalist for the Russian language service. PEN America and Reporters Without Borders, both of which advocate for press freedoms, joined the lawsuit as well.
The staffers allege that Lake, who has suffered legal setbacks that invalidated her attempts to lead the agency, has continued to pursue airing content that touts only the administration’s perspective while praising Trump. They claimed that VOA has been forced to broadcast White House statements nearly verbatim and that it aired photos of Trump “in the style of Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il.” They also allege the agency’s leaders suppressed VOA staffers from covering news stories the administration did not like and violated First Amendment principles.
The charter for the organization, which airs U.S.-style journalism for an international audience in countries where press freedoms are limited, demands the “objective” agency be a “consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.” A legal firewall also prevents it from serving as a tool for any one political perspective.
“The integrity of VOA’s content is not just a legal requirement — it is in the national interest,” the plaintiffs said in a joint statement. “For decades, VOA has represented America’s commitment to freedom of the press to audiences who are denied this right in their own countries. Allowing that legacy to be compromised from within serves no one — least of all the United States.”
They also told VOA staffers in an internal note that it was “critical that VOA’s journalism meets the legal standards imposed by Congress when they approved our funding.”
All of the VOA staffers suing were put on administrative leave last year save for Turkova, a contractor who held off returning due to a concern that she couldn’t report freely without the influence of the Trump administration’s agenda, according to NPR.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled this month in a lawsuit brought by other VOA and USAGM employees that Lake’s appointment as acting CEO of the agency was illegal, invalidating many of her acts — including mass layoffs across the agency. He also ordered the agency to allow its staff to return to work. The government has told the court it would appeal the rulings.