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yesterday

USAGM Eliminates 532 Jobs at Voice of America and Parent Agency Despite Judge's Warnings

The action comes after rulings that blocked the removal of VOA director Michael Abramowitz and required acting CEO Kari Lake to give a deposition by Sept. 15.

FILE - Kari Lake speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, Feb. 21, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
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Overview

  • Termination notices cover 532 full-time government positions, with employees told their pay and benefits end in about 30 days, around Sept. 30.
  • A court filing says 486 VOA staff and 46 at the parent agency received RIF notices, with plans to retain 108 VOA employees and 158 elsewhere at USAGM.
  • Judge Royce Lamberth has questioned the administration’s compliance with orders to restore VOA operations, warned of potential contempt, and set a deposition deadline for Lake.
  • VOA’s output has been pared back to four languages — Persian, Mandarin, Dari and Pashto — after historically broadcasting in 49 languages to audiences in the hundreds of millions.
  • Lake framed the reductions as cutting bureaucracy and refocusing resources, while employees and union leaders denounced the move as unlawful and pointed to earlier error-ridden layoff notices that were rescinded in June.