Voice of America was founded in 1942 to beam truthful news into Nazi-occupied Europe — including Allied defeats, not just victories, to build credibility with audiences suffocating under state propaganda. Eight decades later, the network’s own journalists are suing their leadership, accusing them of turning that mission on its head.

The lawsuit, filed by four veteran VOA journalists alongside PEN America and Reporters Without Borders, alleges that Trump administration official Kari Lake transformed the network into a pro-Trump mouthpiece. Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial candidate tapped to run the broadcaster, fired contractors, placed more than 1,000 employees on administrative leave, and slashed 49 language services down to six. She also canceled contracts with the Associated Press and Reuters while negotiating a deal with the right-wing One America News Network, according to the complaint.

The Persian-language service became a particular vehicle for political messaging, the lawsuit alleges — including an hour-long retrospective praising Trump’s first year back in office, with Lake herself appearing to laud the president. Journalists say they were blocked from reporting on opposition figures in Iran.

Federal Judge Royce C. Lamberth has repeatedly ruled against Lake, finding last week that she unlawfully assumed CEO powers and ordering sidelined employees returned to work. Congress, in a bipartisan rebuke, allocated four times what Lake requested for the agency — she had asked for only enough money to shut it down.

“The integrity of VOA’s content is not just a legal requirement — it is in the national interest,” the plaintiffs said in a statement. The broader question now before the courts: whether the legal “firewall” meant to shield U.S.-funded broadcasting from political interference can survive when the appointees charged with upholding it are the ones breaching the wall.

Sources