This is not the end of USAGM
President Trump's dramatic and divisive executive orders get lots of attention. (And he likes it that way.) But his memos are often the least interesting part of the story. How they're implemented – and resisted by interest groups and sometimes rejected by the courts – is more interesting and important.
Two weeks ago Trump said he wanted the U.S. Agency for Global Media eliminated "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law." Kari Lake immediately put the entire Voice of America workforce on administrative leave and pulled funding for all the other U.S.-backed international broadcasters. But now the law is catching up, and many of the initial impacts have been reversed, at least for the time being:
– Radio Marti is back on the air after dozens of employees at the Office of Cuba Broadcasting were brought back to work earlier this week.
– Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's funds are being restored after the network filed suit and won a restraining order.
– The Open Technology Fund, which also sued, has been told that its grant termination has also been rescinded.
– Radio Free Asia filed a lawsuit yesterday, and executives expect the suit will trigger the restoration of its funds, too.
– The other grantee, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, is also preparing to sue, according to source involved in the matter.
– Voice of America is still offline and off the air, but multiple lawsuits against the shutdown are pending, and a judge in New York will hear arguments in one of the cases today.
– USAGM's HR director said in a court filing earlier this week that a few dozen employees have been brought back from administrative leave as the agency figures out how to conduct a reduction in force.
www.cnn.com
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