Judge stops Trump plans for the closure of Voice of America for the time being-Diepresse.com
A New York federal judge prohibited steps to handle the station, including the discharge of the journalists working there.
A US judge initially stopped the government of President Donald Trump to close the foreign broadcaster Voice of America. The New York federal judge J. Paul Oetken prohibited steps to handle the station on Friday, including the discharge of the journalists working there. Employees of Voice of America (VOA), journalist unions and the journalist organization reporters without limits had sued.
The director of Reporter Without Borders USA, Clayton Weimers, welcomed the judge. « We are calling the Trump government to release frozen funds for VOA again and use the employees without further delay. »
Flood of lawsuits against the government’s actions
The Trump government had recently started releasing hundreds of employees of US foreigners such as Voice of America. Trump and his advisor Elon Musk want to drastically trasted budgets and staff of ministries, authorities and state -financed institutions. This led to a flood of lawsuits, including because the funds had often been approved by the congress and therefore cannot simply be deleted by the government.
In addition to Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia are also affected by the Trump government’s procedure. The broadcasters have the goal of reaching people in countries without or with limited freedom of the press. Even in the case of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a US judge has put the Trump government’s procedure on hold. (APA/AFP)
