Judge Orders Voice of America to Restart All News Operations
More than 1,000 full-time journalists and support staff at the news group were ordered to return to work by March 23 and to resume broadcasting.
Voice of America radio, which was shut down last year following a controversy, is returning to the airwaves. Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia overturned the Trump administration's actions last year to close Voice of America and ordered VOA journalists to return to work and reinstate the news service and programming. Judge Lamberth had previously ruled that Kari Lake's appointment was illegal, thus invalidating all the firings and closures she had implemented. Voice of America, founded in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda during World War II, broadcast its programs in 49 languages to more than 360 million people worldwide before its closure. If Judge Royce's ruling is upheld, the goal is to regain those audience levels. Furthermore, the Voice of America Museum and the Westchester, Ohio Amateur Radio Club, a popular attraction during Hamvention, have no connection to the current situation and are not affected by it.
Voice of America was created during the Second World War. Alongside Radio Free Europe, launched during the Cold War, and Radio Free Asia, created in 1996, the international station aimed to carry the "voice of America" to the world, particularly to authoritarian countries.
