Thursday, March 19, 2026

Judge orders Trump admin to restore 1,000 VoA jobs

A US judge on Tuesday ruled that more than 1,000 Voice of America workers should be reinstated and the government should plan to resume international broadcasts following an earlier ruling that President Donald Trump's pick to oversee mass layoffs at the VOA was unlawfully appointed, making the job cuts invalid.

Posted by lamplighter at 07:50 PM | 6 COMMENTS | permalink

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More from the article ...

... Kari Lake, a former TV anchor, slashed jobs and funding after she was appointed by Trump to head the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which runs VOA, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and other stations.

Lamberth, an appointee of Republican president Ronald Reagan, ordered the reinstatement by March 23 of 1,042 VOA employees who have been on paid administrative leave for the past year.

The judge also ordered USAGM to come up with a plan by next week to resume international broadcasts.

VOA was created in the wake of World War II as a key instrument of American soft power worldwide.

Trump frequently attacks media outlets and denounced the editorial firewall at VOA that prevents the government from intervening in its coverage.

Three VOA employees who filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse Lake's moves welcomed the judge's ruling.

"We are eager to begin repairing the damage Kari Lake has inflicted on our agency and our colleagues, to return to our congressional mandate, and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year," they said in a statement. ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 07:52 PM

Glad to have learned about this.

It's sad to realize how many of Trump's appointees are merely former TV hosts he saw. As though pseudo celebrity meant they're qualified to run important American government agencies. VOA is an important part of our remaining "soft power" outreach. Unfortunately at the same time the world has lost faith in us because of Trump.

FoxNews weekend host Pete Hegseth as SecDef? Really?

#2 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-03-19 08:00 PM

@#2 ... VOA is an important part of our remaining "soft power" outreach. ...

Agreed.

... and shortwave broadcasts still seem to be important in some areas.

#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 08:27 PM

@#2 ... As though pseudo celebrity meant they're qualified to run important American government agencies. ...

My view is that a TV presence and an adulation towards Pres Trump were the qualifying criteria.

But that's a different thread.

#4 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 08:29 PM

@#4 ... But that's a different thread. ...

Which see ...

Trump taps loyalists with few qualifications for top jobs
drudge.com


#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 08:44 PM

@#3 ... nd shortwave broadcasts still seem to be important in some areas. ...

For example ...

A Mysterious Code Is Being Broadcast on Shortwave Radio. Is It Iran?
www.theatlantic.com

... On February 28, the day that bombs started falling on the Islamic Republic, a man's voice began broadcasting in Farsi on a shortwave-radio frequency. He announced himself""Tavajjoh! Tavajjoh!" (Attention! Attention!)"and then read a string of seemingly random numbers. Anyone with a shortwave radio could hear him. But the announcer's intended audience was likely no more than a handful of people using a centuries-old system to decipher his otherwise incoherent message. ...

Random Numbers, Persian Code: A Mysterious Signal Transfixes Radio Sleuths -- And Intelligence Experts
www.rferl.org

... The radio signal first started broadcasting on February 28, about 12 hours after the United States and Israel began bombing Iran.

On a scratchy shortwave signal almost twice a day -- in the early morning and early evening on Coordinated Universal Time -- a man's voice can be heard speaking Persian, counting out a series of apparently random numbers. The numbers are read out for varying stretches of time, followed by a pause in which the word tavajjoh -- which translates as "attention" -- is spoken three times. ...


#6 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-19 09:27 PM

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