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By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Voice of America journalists and their unions sued the Trump administration on Friday, saying that the shutdown of U.S.-funded news agencies violated the workers' First Amendment right to free speech.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media, its acting director Victor Morales, and Special Adviser Kari Lake placed over 1,300 employees on leave and cut funding for several news services last Saturday. Those actions violated the First Amendment and the laws by which Congress authorized and funded Voice of America, according to a complaint filed in New York federal court.
The cuts are part of a sweeping push by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to shrink the federal government, which they say wastes U.S. taxpayer money on causes that do not line up with U.S. interests.
The lawsuit seeks a court order reversing the decision to shutter the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which funds VOA and other media outlets like Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia.
The rapid shutdown will embolden authoritarian regimes around the world, according to the lawsuit.
"In many parts of the world a crucial source of objective news is gone, and only censored state-sponsored news media is left to fill the void," the plaintiffs wrote.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday.
Since its inception to combat Nazi propaganda at the height of World War Two, Voice of America (VOA) grew to become an international media broadcaster, operating in more than 40 languages online, on radio and television, spreading U.S. news narratives into countries lacking a free press.
Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia had more than 425 million listeners every week before they were shut down, according to the complaint.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Leslie Adler and Shri Navaratnam)
