Coalition sues to return employees to work

Plaintiffs eager to rebuild VOA following judge’s return-to-work order

March 17, 2026

This is a monumental decision, and we are deeply grateful. 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. We know the road to restoring VOA’s operations and reputation will be long and difficult. We hope the American people will continue to support our mission to produce journalism, not propaganda.

— Patsy Widakuswara, Jessica Jerreat and Kate Neeper

Plaintiffs welcome USAGM providing court with succession plan

March 12, 2026

We’re glad to see that the government has provided the court with information regarding USAGM leadership, and eager to see their plans for the agency’s congressionally-appropriated funds. Our objectives remain the same: to restore VOA’s global presence, and to ensure it continues to provide accurate, objective, and comprehensive news, as required by law.

— Patsy Widakuswara, Jessica Jerreat and Kate Neeper

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

March 7, 2026

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

Plaintiffs give an update on their lawsuit to restore VOA journalism

February 12, 2026

After Congress passed a bill in February funding VOA and President Donald Trump signed it into law, the plaintiffs in Widakuswara v. Lake urged for the full restoration of VOA’s global broadcasts and for the independence of its journalism.

“We’re grateful that lawmakers want to continue to fund VOA. We hope that money is used to fully restore VOA operations and ensure that we return to our independent journalism because if we model VOA after state media such as Russia Today and China Global Television Network, we would lose our audience,” said Patsy Widakuswara and Jessica Jerreat.

The plaintiffs said that their lawsuit has always been not just about saving VOA jobs, but also about saving its journalism.

“We have lost most, if not all, of our audience. And even more alarming, much of VOA’s current content reflects primarily the administration’s point of view. That is not our mandate,” they said.

On February 12, lawyers for the plaintiffs responded to federal Judge Royce Lamberth’s request for information on the significance of the Congressional appropriation of funding for USAGM and VOA. In a filing, they argued “Congress’s decision to once again appropriate hundreds of millions of dollars to USAGM and VOA confirms what Plaintiffs have been saying all along: restoring USAGM’s and VOA’s operation to its status before Defendants took their illegal action is imperative and legally required.”