We’re back in court today (9/22) as three appellate judges hear whether Judge Royce Lamberth's April preliminary injunction to restore the jobs of employees and contractors should be upheld. Join us and show your support! The hearing will also be live-streamed: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGf4...

"The lawsuit claims the August 28 order was retaliation for unions’ litigation and grievances opposing the agency’s dismantlement." Read this report by @matthewkeys.net on @thedesk.net

This is why we need to get VOA Bangla, which managed radio programming in the Rohingya language for refugees, back on the air - to fight disinformation.

"...Trump and federal officials violated the First and Fifth Amendments when they pulled out of the parties’ contract on August 29 and stripped workers of their collective bargaining rights," said AFGE and @afscme.bsky.social in the lawsuit.

When Trump tried to dismantle VOA with an EO in March, a group of employees including VOA journalists Patsy Widakuswara & Jessica Jerreat sued the Trump admin, alongside @afscme.bsky.social, AFGE, @afsaorg.bsky.social, @newsguild.org & @rsf.org. Patsy & Jessica explain why they fight to save VOA.

The unions, AFGE and @afscme.bsky.social, argue that "the administration’s union-busting action is a direct attempt to prevent the agency’s employees – who are journalists and other media professionals – and their unions from exercising their First Amendment rights..."

In this exclusive interview with @rsf.org, Patsy Widakuswara and Jessica Jerreat explain “VOA’s singular abilities to cover news worldwide and what may come next for the global media landscape.”

Losik’s detention showed that the work of @rferl.org.web.brid.gy, RFA & VOA – whose journalists have also been jailed in Azerbaijan, Burma, Iran, Russia & Vietnam - “clearly strikes a nerve with authoritarian regimes that aim to maintain a tight lid on information.”

Get to know the three named plaintiffs in the Widakuswara v. Lake lawsuit. Read more on @govacctproj.bsky.social

FCC Commissioner @agomezfcc.bsky.social slams the Trump administration's efforts to weaken press freedom, including its attempts to silence the Voice of America. Read on @radio-world.bsky.social 👇

“Sadly, threats to journalists aren’t new — they’ve always existed, and in some places they’re worse than ever. That’s why efforts like Voice of America mattered so much, bringing reliable information into places where it was otherwise suppressed.” -USC Annenberg Professor Geoffrey Cowan.

From Yale Daily News: Former U.S. ambassador Daniel Rosenblum warned that America has “surrendered” the information war in Central Asia, leaving a vacuum for Russian and Chinese influence. He also criticized Trump's efforts to slience VOA.

The witnesses in the Helsinki Commission agreed that VOA “played a crucial role in promoting democracy in Georgia,” and “helped the Georgian people as well as fostered good relations between the U.S. and Georgia.” cohen.house.gov/media-center...

“As Stripes also has demonstrated around the world, our government-funded media outlets serve as shining examples of a free press and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which restricts government interference with the press.” newsguy.substack.com/p/a-salute-t...

✨THANK YOU!✨ To everyone who showed up, sang along, and supported the #SaveVOA Benefit Concert last week (9/5). We’re beyond grateful. 🙌🎶 Because of you, we sold out the event and raised $10,000 to support our most vulnerable colleagues. 💙💪 Let’s continue our fight to Save VOA!

[email protected]y journalist Ihar Losik is free, but nine of our colleagues remain behind bars just for their journalism.

The SaveVOA campaign welcomes the news that Ihar Losik, from our sister network RFE/RL is finally free after 5 years in a Belarus prison, thanks to the diplomatic efforts of US and Lithuanian officials.

VOA Khmer Deserves to Be Heard In 2007, Kari Lake said Cambodia’s story mattered. Today, as USAGM CEO, she has helped silence VOA Khmer — one of the last independent news outlets there. VOA reporter Chenda Hong calls on us to act. #SaveVOA

“In countries with strict authoritarian regimes, VOA and RFA are often the only accessible forms of information other than state-sponsored or heavily-censored media.”

VOA Azerbaijani: A Lifeline for Millions We gave millions access to free and independent media, covering what others could not: political prisoners, human rights, silenced voices. Cutting us off meant cutting millions from the truth. #SaveVOA #VOAAzerbaijani #FreeMedia

Event alert! 🔔 On 9/30, VOA Director Michael Abramowitz will join USC Annenberg Professor Geoffrey Cowan (who ran VOA from 1994 to 1996) and Professor Nick Cull in discussing the political and legal challenges to VOA and RFE/RL.

VOA Burmese: America’s Voice in a Region of Conflict Silencing VOA Burmese is not just shutting down journalism; it weakens U.S. security and abandons millions who depend on the truth. #SaveVOA #PressFreedom

U.S. terminates agreements with European countries to fight disinformation from Russia, China and Iran. Former diplomat James Rubin described the move as a "unilateral act of disarmament.” Read @financialtimes.com report 👇 www.ft.com/content/d31b56e3-aca9-4ee7-af5a-abec74830455

Stephanie Sugars, senior reporter at the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at @freedom.press, spent years documenting attacks on the press. The pattern shows “it’s deliberate” and she fears for the future of U.S. democracy.

"After decades of relative freedom, the press now faces a precarious future." @poynterinstitute.bsky.social is compiling a list of federal actions impacting journalists. The list includes the Trump admin's efforts to silence VOA and how VOA journalists are fighting back with lawsuits.

All of America’s foreign broadcasters, which include VOA, "are in grave danger," @theatlantic.com writer @anneapplebaum.bsky.social wrote. "Everywhere American voices disappear, other powers will fill the gap."

When Trump admin silenced VOA, it opened the door for Russian disinformation. Now Moscow is meddling in Moldova’s parliamentary elections. Must-read this report by Steven Lee Myers from @nytimes.com

VOA: The Gold Standard of Journalism “VOA drowns out the noise with truth. If its voice goes silent, the world learns any nation can silence anything it wants.” — John Dinkelman, Retired U.S. Diplomat & AFSA President #SaveVOA #PressFreedom #Democracy

“When the press is silenced, free expression for all quickly falls prey.” Read commentary by @postbaron.bsky.social, former executive editor of @washingtonpost.com, via @berkshireeagle.com 👇

"When shutting down VOA, the administration not only failed to provide “reasoned analysis,” Judge Lamberth wrote, it failed to engage in any analysis at all." Read this commentary by NYU law professor Paul Barrett www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/202...

Podcast host Chris Quinn noted several actions that harm free speech in the US, including Trump’s lawsuits against news organizations, shuttering VOA, defunding NPR, and rewriting history at Smithsonian. Read more on @cleveland.com 👇

Joseph Nye believed institutions like the Voice of America, Peace Corps, and USAID "represent a country’s often unappreciated strengths."

“Democrats used the hearing to redirect attention to what they characterized as the Trump administration’s systematic assault on free expression. Rep Jamie Raskin detailed a litany of concerns,” including: The decimation of Voice of America.

Columnist @ishaantharoor.bsky.social reiterates Joseph Nye’s point: “If Trump thinks he can compete with China while weakening trust among American allies, asserting imperial aspirations, destroying USAID, silencing Voice of America,” … “he is likely to fail.”

In a letter to the editor, Ken Berg of Watertown says he’s “appalled by the state of affairs in America.” Among his concerns: Trump’s order to lay off nearly all of VOA’s 1,300 journalists who tell the world about democracy. Read more ⬇️

VOA: Power of Freedom “Voice of America is a strategic tool — a lifeline of truth that brings the free world’s facts and news to the people of North Korea.” - David Maxwell, Retired US Army Special Forces Colonel & VP, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy #SaveVOA #PressFreedom

“The United States, long the world’s foremost champion of freedom, is moving from promoting democracy abroad to undermining it.” Read @maxboot.bsky.social’s opinion on @washingtonpost.com

The #SaveVOA Benefit Concert is this Friday! Come listen to journalists play R&B, Rock, Pop & Jazz for a good cause. Get your tickets, posters and also #savevoa buttons today!!!

VOA is a lifeline of truth for millions under censorship. Silencing it would damage America’s credibility and weaken democracy worldwide. - José Zamora, CPJ Regional Director #SaveVOA #PressFreedom

In his opinion piece, @rbreich.bsky.social blasted Trump for silencing VOA and other news outlets. “we shouldn’t trust any administration to decide what museums, universities, or the media tell us. It’s not a matter of right or left or “woke.” It’s about the political independence of truth-tellers.”

One of many reasons why VOA should be fully restored. Read opinion from 3 experts: @larrydiamond.bsky.social from @hooverinstitution.bsky.social Orville Schell from @asiasociety.org and Robert Daly from Kissinger Institute via @washingtonpost.com

A group of VOA employees who have sued the Trump admin condemned the firings. "We find Lake's continued attacks on our agency abhorrent,” they said. "We are looking forward to her deposition to hear whether her plan to dismantle VOA was done with the rigorous review process that Congress requires."

"We find Lake's continued attacks on our agency abhorrent," said a group of VOA journalists who sued the Trump admin. Read on @cbsnews.com 👇

“Critics say Trump's attempts to strip back VOA amount to an attack on press freedom, and impacts America's ability to exercise soft power abroad.”

“A group of VOA journalists and other USAGM employees suing Lake and the Trump administration in a different lawsuit issued a joint statement following Friday’s RIF announcement, calling the move “abhorrent” and suggesting that it may be illegal.”

“VOA journalists Patsy Widakuswara and Jessica Jerreat, and Kate Neeper, a director at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, called Lake’s firings ‘abhorrent.’” Read @scottnover.bsky.social report on @washingtonpost.com 👇

Paula Hickey, the president of the union that represents Voice of America employees, called the layoffs illegal and said that “the manner in which they are being executed reveals the contempt this administration has for federal employees and the rule of law.”

🧵 1/2 Last night (08/29), many full-time employees from across VOA and USAGM received Reduction in Force (RIF) notices, terminating their employment. Most of them had been on adminstrative leave since mid-March, after President Trump ordered that the agency be dismantled.

. @afscme.bsky.social President Lee Saunders released the following statement after President Trump moved to strip Voice of America employees of their union:

VOA Ukrainian Service: A Voice for Truth in Wartime “Russia’s attack on Kyiv killed 20+ people, including children. Radio Liberty kept reporting even after their office was hit. This is why a free press matters. Yet VOA is silent — a loss for America and the world.” – Ruslan Petrychka