Abramowitz v. Lake
Court: U.S. District Court for District of Columbia
Date Filed: March 28, 2025
Background: On March 14, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order gutting the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the federally funded agency that oversees Voice of America and other overseas broadcasters. The order stated that USAGM, which was created by Congress, “shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” Trump administration officials justified dismantling the agency by pointing to disagreements with the networks’ content, which, by statute, is produced independent of political interference
Michael Abramowitz, VOA’s director, sued the Trump administration to prevent what he called “the wholesale destruction of VOA.” The lawsuit asked the U.S. District Court for District of Columbia for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction blocking the administration’s moves from taking effect.
Our Position: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Committee to Protect Journalists filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the district court to grant the VOA director’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
- The editorial independence of USAGM networks is essential to their credibility, their mission, and the safety of their reporters.
- Allowing the Trump administration to shutter VOA unilaterally would sabotage the independence that makes it effective.
From the Brief: “If not stopped here, the Administration’s unilateral shuttering of VOA will put the entire model of federally funded networks at risk, not just today but well into the future. And it will risk, too, the safety of reporters who have committed their careers to producing credible journalism under exceptionally challenging and dangerous conditions.”
Related: The Reporters Committee and CPJ filed similar friend-of-the-court briefs in two related cases — Widakuswara v. Lake and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty v. Lake — urging federal district courts to prevent the shuttering of USAGM networks.
And previously, the Reporters Committee joined a coalition of press freedom and journalism groups led by CPJ in calling on the United States to protect reporters and media workers employed by USAGM, noting in a letter that many of them “face significant personal risk in reporting on and from highly repressive regimes.” The letter added: “Eliminating these organizations is a significant blow to press freedom — and a gift to autocrats worldwide.”