Ahead of looming shutdown, VOA fights to be heard

For the first time in 83 years, The Voice of America, the public broadcast news service that spread American soft power throughout the world, went dark on March 14. Since then, a small group of its journalists have been locked in a court battle with the Trump Administration to get back on the air. Today, employees who opted into the administration’s ‘Deferred Resignation Program’ receive their final day of pay and benefits, and a judge decides what happens next. For Patsy Widakuswara, she just wants to be a journalist again.

“I never wanted to be an activist,” Widakuswara said Friday at American University. She and Jessica Jerreat, Press Freedom editor at the VOA, are two of the plaintiffs in the case seeking to keep the VOA’s funding.

On Friday the two spoke about press freedom, censorship, and their ongoing case against the Trump administration at American University as part of the Centennial Speaker Series, hosted by The Eagle. The School of Communication’s Associate Journalism Division Director, Terry Bryant, moderated the discussion. The lawsuit, Widakuswara v. Lake, is awaiting further action from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Judge Royce Lamberth issued an injunction to restore employees and contractors to their positions, which the government is fighting.

The lawsuit is being brought by Widakuswara and six other journalists, as well as Reporters Without Borders, and a group of unions representing federal workers. A second suit by the director of the VOA was filed five days later. Both challenge the authority of the executive to unilaterally fire all the agencies’ workers and contractors without approval of the U.S. Agency for Global Media Board of Directors. The board had been previously disbanded by the president. So far, the courts have issued injunctions, delaying administration actions, stating that the government failed to ‘provide a single sentence of explanation for the colossal changes that have occurred at USAGM since March 15, 2025’.

The US Agency for Global Media is the parent company of not just VOA, but also Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Middle East Broadcasting Network, and the Open Technology Fund. The networks boast a combined reach of 427 million listeners worldwide in 64 languages.

That was in February. Today, the agency has gone from over 3700 articles and almost 2400 broadcast hours per week down to just 108 articles and 7.5 broadcast hours in 4 languages.

Friday’s conversation was a plea for support. As the September 30 deadline approaches, there is no clear answer on what happens next, and the stakes are high. Numerous diplomats and former VOA employees say that the loss of the broadcaster is a win for America’s adversaries. The Trump administration describes the broadcaster as a propaganda arm of the Democratic party.

The VOA is a unique organization within the federal government. It began as a CIA project to project American ideals throughout the world. It was later transferred to the State Department, which is where the Trump administration intends for it to return. The VOA charter, which was established in the 1994 International Broadcasting Act, ensures by law that the organization remains neutral in the context of American politics, and stands immune to coercion by any party or politician. It’s this ‘firewall’ that Widakuswara and Jerreat are trying to uphold.

According to the Trump administration, the VOA has strayed from that mission.

Widakuswara, the former White House Bureau chief for the VOA, pressed the Prime Minister of Ireland in a March 13 press conference about the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. President Trump responded by asking, “Who are you with?” Soon after, VOA advocates say the administration launched a targeted campaign against the agency. Through the combined efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency, the CEO of USAGM, Kathy Lake, VOA’s parent company, and a March 15 Executive Order, the agency has been hollowed out.

In an article released by the White House the following day, titled ‘The Voice of Radical America’, the administration highlighted examples they deemed indicative of radicalization. The order, the statement said, ensures ‘that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda’.

The agency has faced accusations of bias and pressure from other administrations and news outlets in the past. In 2001, the agency received pushback from the Bush administration over their intent to broadcast a phone call from a known terrorist after the 9/11 terror attacks.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative leaning think tank responsible for ‘Project 2025’, a conservative playbook for Trump’s second term, wrote in 2020 that ‘New leadership is exactly what Voice of America needs’. The article also accused the organization of liberal bias.

During the Biden administration, The National Review made claims of pro-Islamic bias when VOA journalists were instructed not to call Hamas a terrorist group unless quoting statements. In 2022, the agency was also sued by the conservative American Accountability Foundation for what they called, ‘Pro-Islamic bias in its’ Persian reporting’.

Jerreat and Widakuswara rejected accusations of bias in Friday’s conversation.

“Our journalism stands for itself,” Jerreat said. “We know the parameters of our beats, we’re not critical. We’re factual, and try to keep the stronger emotions out of our work.”

Jerreat said images of Tiananmen Square drove her to be a journalist with a focus on press freedom. She believes Trump is exhibiting the same authoritarian tactics she has studied for years. “I have the privilege to stand up and do this for my colleagues who don’t have that space,” she said.

“I don’t think about it,” Widakuswara said, when asked about the future. “I just try to take it one day at a time. I still have to feed my family.”

Instead, she thinks about the employees they are fighting to protect, many of whom may be forced to return to oppressive regimes if they are not able to keep their visas. She also thinks about her son, a high school senior.

“I want my son to live in a democracy. This is me doing my part to defend that,” she said.