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Please take a few minutes to call your representative and urge them to fully restore U.S. international media and ensure it remains able to deliver journalism, not propaganda.

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BREAKING NEWS: Judge Royce Lamberth rules Kari Lake was not lawfully appointed, says her actions “shall have no force or effect.” | Explore the timeline.

Update from plaintiffs in Widakuswara v. Lake

Plaintiffs call ruling a 'powerful step' to undo 'damage' inflicted by Kari Lake

We feel vindicated and deeply grateful. The judge’s ruling that Kari Lake’s actions shall have no force or effect is a powerful step toward undoing the damage she has inflicted on this American institution that we love. Even as we work through what this ruling means for colleagues harmed by her actions, it brings renewed hope and momentum to the next phase of our fight: restoring VOA’s global operations and ensuring we continue to produce journalism, not propaganda.

— Patsy Widakuswara, Jessica Jerreat and Kate Neeper (March 7, 2026)

Featured stories

An illustration showing VOA journalists reporting and broadcasting around the world.

Press Freedom

In authoritarian countries, the silencing of VOA is deafening

President Trump’s executive order succeeded in doing what authoritarian leaders had tried to do for decades: silence VOA.

Measuring the loss of VOA around the world

A look at how VOA’s output has declined since the Trump administration shut down most of the organization.

Fact Check

Lake’s attack on Voice of America

Read an annotated fact check of Kari Lake’s prepared remarks to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Voices

The Plaintiffs

VOA journalists

Ambassadors and experts

Headlines

Kari Lake speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Gage Skidmore / Creative Commons)

US Judge says Kari Lake broke law in overseeing Voice of America

He declared all of Lake's actions over the past year to be null and void. That includes the layoffs of more than 1,000 journalists and staffers at the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the Voice of America. (NPR | March 8, 2026)

Judge rules Kari Lake unlawfully ran US media agency, voiding layoffs (The Washington Post - March 7, 2026)
Judge voids mass layoffs at Voice of America (The New York Times - March 7, 2026)
US-funded international broadcaster sends new round of resignation offers to employees (Politico - February 26, 2026)
Trump officials seek to break editorial ‘firewall’ at US-funded news agencies (The New York Times - February 25, 2026)
Kari Lake promotes Trump on Voice of America. Does that break the law? (NPR - January 30, 2026)
Congress agrees to fund Voice of America, bucking Trump shutdown order (The Washington Post - January 13, 2026)

Editorials and analysis

As US bombs Iran, a judge rules on the battle for hearts and minds (Columbia Journalism Review)China is expanding its state-run propaganda with 16 new Tibetan-language radio programmes (Reporters Without Borders (RSF))

“To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful.”

Edward R. Murrow Director of the U.S. Information Agency (1961-1964)