Judge Pauses Federal Government’s Plan to Cut Jobs at Voice of America’s Parent Agency

A federal judge on Sept. 29 ordered the federal government to pause its plan to cut hundreds of jobs at the agency that oversees state-funded broadcaster Voice of America (VOA). U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington said in a written order that the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) must temporarily withhold its plan to terminate 532 full-time jobs, while the court determines whether the federal agency complied with an earlier court order. In April, Lamberth granted a preliminary injunction for the plaintiffs, ordering that employees of VOA, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Network be reinstated and returned to their prior status. Other groups under the USAGM were excluded....