DC Circuit Court overturns stay, orders restoration of funding to Radio Free Asia

Late last night, the full bench of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a stay that had blocked a preliminary injunction ordering the U.S. Agency for Global Media to distribute Congressionally mandated funds to grantees including Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and others. 

This follows a lawsuit filed by the Guild, other unions and journalists to restore grantee funding and return Voice of America journalists and media workers to their jobs. The NewsGuild-CWA represents about 100 journalists and media workers at Radio Free Asia through the Washington-Baltimore News Guild Local 32035. The vast majority were laid off this month after the U.S. Agency for Global Media stopped paying grantees, following President Trump’s executive order effectively trying to shutter the Congressionally mandated agency. 

“This is a critical win for press freedom and for respecting the role of Congress in funding public media,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss. 

“Journalists and other workers at Radio Free Asia, Voice of America and other newsrooms must be brought back immediately. They cover countries where press freedom is under constant assault, but this funding crisis shows that threats to independent journalism can come from our own government, too. The court’s decision is a necessary check on executive overreach and a step toward restoring these vital newsrooms.”