US President Donald Trump has been accused of being hostile and discriminatory towards the news media in a March 21 lawsuit launched by journalists working for Voice of America (VOA) and by organizations and unions representing the press.
The lawsuit was filed in New York after Trump’s March 14 executive order to dismantle the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which funds VOA and Radio Liberty (RL), broadcasters which have historically reported on developments in Iran and other authoritarian states.
The USAGM is an independent government agency that broadcasts news, and until recently provided funding grants to VOA, RL and Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Voice of America, Radio Free Europe Funding Halted as Trump Culls Government-Funded Media Outlets
The lawsuit names Victor Morales, acting CEO of USAGM; Kari Lake, the Senior Advisor to the acting CEO of USAGM; and USAGM as defendants. It also alleges that the dismantling of USAGM is unconstitutional and illegal; that it violates the right to free speech, press freedom and the right to information; and that it causes irreparable harm to VOA staff and other USAGM-funded journalists whose livelihoods have been jeopardized by the executive order.
Trump tried to dismantle USAGM in his first presidency. He called VOA a “disgrace” in April 2020 and accused it of publishing Chinese and Iranian “propaganda.” His effort to shut down USAGM failed when a federal district judge stopped the action via a preliminary injunction.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and a senior advisor to Trump, is also cited in the recent lawsuit. In a Feb. 9 post on X, his social media platform, Musk called VOA employees “just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching.” The post is cited in the 56-page filing.
“President Trump, his administration and his advisors—including Defendant Lake—have demonstrated animus towards USAGM, VOA, and its journalists based on the content of their reporting,” the lawsuit said, adding that VOA’s Persian News Network and RFE/RL were legally required to provide round-the-clock coverage of Iran news.
“Today, some of American broadcasting’s biggest audiences are in North Korea, Iran, and China, where millions of people seek credible, impartial news uninfluenced by government agenda or politics,” the filing said.
The plaintiffs to the lawsuit include:
- The VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara
- The VOA Press Freedom Editor Jessica Jerreat
- The Director of Strategy and Performance Assessment at USAGM Kathryn Neeper
- Four male reporters who worked at VOA, identified by the pseudonyms John Does 1, 2, 3 and 4
- Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
- The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the largest US trade union for public employees
- The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA); and
- The NewsGuild-CWA, a labor union founded by journalists.
Fiona O’Brien, the UK Director of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told Kayhan Life that the measures against VOA were welcome news for the Islamic Republic.
“Authoritarian rulers are going to be emboldened by the actions that Donald Trump’s administration are taking. They are a dream come true to the Iranian leadership,” she said. “All of the regimes that have routinely repressed journalism are now watching that happen on an American stage as well. So that is a hugely emboldening action too.”
“In terms of Iran, if there is an information black hole, if developments are not being reported on, then that is a passport for anything to be able to happen. There is a reason that journalism shines a light on wrongdoing. It is there to hold people to account, to tell people what’s happening, to make sure that governments cannot act without complete impunity,” O’Brien said. “If you remove services like independent media services, you increase the potential for harmful actions on the part of authoritarian governments.”
Separate legal proceedings filed by RL in the US District Court in Washington, D.C. requested a temporary restraining order in its lawsuit against USAGM over the termination of its funding.
The order was granted after the court ruled on March 25 that USAGM was likely to have acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in cancelling RL’s funding, and that the actions would cause the broadcaster “irreparable harm” if implemented.
The plaintiffs in the current lawsuit then “filed a motion for a temporary restraining order on March 23 to halt the immediate dissolution of VOA and the reinstatement of its employees,” according to an updated RSF press release.
While information about the anonymous male reporters in the suit is limited, the legal filing confirms that the plaintiff journalists reside in the US. John Doe 3 and John Doe 4 are foreign nationals working in the US on visas which cannot be renewed if USAGM remains closed.
“Upon expiration, John Doe 3 must return to John Doe 3’s home country, which is governed by an authoritarian regime that has labeled VOA a subversive organization,” the filing said. “John Doe 3 risks imprisonment for 15 years on charges of spreading ‘false information’ for reporting about John Doe 3’s home country at VOA.”
“John Doe 4 is a member of the LGBTQ community and is from a home country which persecutes and discriminates against LGBTQ people,” the filing added.
Iran’s government has routinely harassed and threatened journalists for carrying out their work, and it has detained journalists in and out of Iran for reporting on developments in the country. From 2021 to 2024, at least 10 journalists from RL, BBC Persian in London and Manoto TV were charged with “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” and tried in absentia in secret court hearings in Iran.
An estimated 80 journalists were arrested in Iran from 2022 to 2023 following nationwide anti-government protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. Those arrested included female reporters Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who broke the news of Amini’s detention, hospitalization, and death.
Furthermore, officials from the Islamic Republic have been implicated by Western courts in assassination attempts and physical violence against Iranian reporters in the UK and the US in recent years.
Iran’s government has also been strongly criticized by the United Nations and human rights bodies for its ongoing human rights violations against women and children, ethnic and religious minority groups and political dissidents, and its attempts to suppress evidence of those violations through internet blackouts, brutal crackdowns and threatening behavior.
The lawsuit asks the court to issue an injunction to return all employees back to their pre-executive-order status, to restore news programming at the outlets involved, and to acknowledge the violations alleged in the filing.
Kari Lake’s office did not immediately respond to Kayhan Life requests for comment.
