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NEW YORK — <\/span>In a strongly worded decision this week<\/a>, a federal judge ordered that the Voice of America \u2014 its mission to provide news for countries around the world largely shut down for the past year by the Trump administration \u2014 come roaring back to life.<\/p>\n Whether or not that actually happens is anybody’s guess.<\/p>\n The government filed notice Thursday to appeal U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth’s order two days earlier to put hundreds of VOA employees who have been on paid leave the past year back to work. Lamberth had ruled on March 7 that Kari Lake, who was President Donald Trump’s choice to oversee the bureaucratic parent U.S. Agency for Global Media, didn’t have the authority<\/a> to reduce VOA to a skeleton.<\/p>\n The Voice of America was established as a news source in World War II, beaming reports to many countries that had no tradition of a free press. Before Trump took office again last year, Voice of America was operating<\/a> in 49 different languages, heard by an estimated 362 million people.<\/p>\n Trump’s team contended that government-run news sources, which also include Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, were an example of bloated government and that they wanted news reporting more favorable to the current administration. With a greatly reduced staff, it currently operates in Iran, Afghanistan, China, North Korea and in countries with a large population of Kurds.<\/p>\n Lamberth, in his decision, said Lake had \u201crepeatedly thumbed her nose\u201d at laws mandating VOA’s operation.<\/p>\n VOA director Michael Abramowitz said legislators in both parties understand the need for a strong operation and have set aside enough funding for the job to be done. \u201cIt is time for all parties to come together and work to rebuild and strengthen the agency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Don’t expect that to happen soon. \u201cPresident Trump was elected to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse across the administration, including the Voice of America \u2014 and efforts to improve efficiency at USAGM have been a tremendous success,\u201d said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. \u201cThis will not be the final say on the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s White House bureau chief and a plaintiff in the lawsuit to bring it back, said that “restoring the physical infrastructure is going to take a lot of money and some time but it can be done. What is more difficult is recovering from the trauma that our newsroom has gone through.\u201d<\/p>\n It’s an open question whether the administration wants a real news organization or a mouthpiece, said David Ensor, a former Voice of America director between 2010 and 2014. \u201cWe don’t know \u2014 maybe no one does at the moment \u2014 what the future holds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The administration’s efforts over the past year to bolster friendly outlets<\/a> and fight coverage<\/a> that displeases them offer a clue, even though Congress has required that Voice of America be an objective and unbiased news source. This week it was announced that Christopher Wallace, an executive at the conservative network Newsmax who had previously spent 15 years at Fox News Channel, will be the new deputy director at VOA. Abramowitz didn’t know he was getting a new deputy until it was announced.<\/p>\n Widakuswara wouldn’t comment on what Wallace’s appointment might mean. \u201cI’m not going to pass judgment before seeing his work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n While Lamberth ordered more than a thousand employees on leave to go back to work, it’s not clear how many of them moved on to other jobs or retired in the past year. The judge also said he did not have the authority to bring back hundreds of independent contractors who were terminated.<\/p>\n One employee who left is Steve Herman, a former White House bureau chief and national correspondent at VOA and now executive director of the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation at the University of Mississippi. Despite the court decisions, he questions whether the Trump administration would oversee a return to what the organization used to be.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m a bit of a pessimist,\u201d Herman said. \u201cI think it’s going to be very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides fighting to shut it down, Trump is loath to admit defeat. Last week, the White House nominated Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to run the U.S. Agency for Global Media, putting it more firmly within the administration’s control. Her nomination requires Senate approval.<\/p>\n \u201cIs Marco Rubio’s State Department going to allow objective journalism in 49 languages?\u201d Herman asked. \u201cI don’t think so. I would want that to happen, but that’s a fairy tale.\u201d<\/p>\n In the budget bill passed in February, Congress set aside $200 million for Voice of America’s operation. While that represents about a 25% cut in the agency’s previous appropriation, it sent a bipartisan message of support, said Kate Neeper, VOA’s director of strategy and performance evaluation. Besides being a plaintiff with Widakuswara in the lawsuit to restore the agency, she has helped some of her colleagues deal with some of their own problems over the past year, including immigration issues.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot of enthusiasm for going back to work,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are eager to show up on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n The hunger for information from Voice of America in Iran when he was director was a clear example of what the organization meant, Ensor said. Surveys showed that between a quarter and a third of Iran’s households tuned in to VOA once a week, primarily on satellite television. Occasionally the government would crack down and confiscate satellite dishes, but Iranians could usually quickly find replacements, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe in Voice of America as a news organization and as a voice of America,\u201d Ensor said. \u201cIt was important, and it can be again.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http:\/\/x.com\/dbauder<\/a> and https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/dbauder.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n