The leaders of several US-funded international networks have instructed their organizations to continue broadcasting, ignoring a Trump administration order, because they believe last weekend’s terminations were unlawful, according to a person involved in the matter.
The entities – including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks – are continuing to operate around the world while network executives contemplate next steps, including potential legal action.
Lisa Curtis, who chairs the board of Radio Free Europe, wrote on LinkedIn that “our pro bono legal team is prepared to take all necessary steps to ensure that RFE/RL continues its Congressionally authorized mission.”
The source who spoke with on condition of anonymity did not say if or when a formal legal challenge will happen.
In the meantime, the broadcasters are reporting on the uncertainty over their future.
The top story on the English-language edition of Radio Free Asia’s website Tuesday morning noted that “Asian dissidents” and activists were voicing “dismay” over the funding freeze.
President Trump signed an executive order on Friday night calling for the dismantling of the US Agency for Global Media and several other federal agencies. The next morning, journalists at the Voice of America were told to stop working immediately, and employees were placed on administrative leave. Some were officially laid off on Sunday while others remain in a holding pattern.
Voice of America’s website is now frozen in time, with old articles like “forecasters warn of tornadoes in US in coming days” still on the home page, even though the stories from Saturday are now out of date.
VOA employees work directly for the federal government, which is why Trump loyalist Kari Lake – recently named a senior adviser to the agency – was able to take such dramatic action.
But most of the agency’s other networks are structured as nonprofit organizations that are funded through federal grants, and that distance is making a big difference right now.
Lake sent memos to the networks on Saturday telling them that their grants were terminated, effective immediately, and suggesting that any unused funds must be refunded.
For the journalists who work at the networks, and believe in the mission of providing uncensored news coverage to censored parts of the world, the precipitous termination was a gut punch.
But leaders of the networks said reporting and programming would continue for the time being.
As Radio Free Asia noted in one of its stories, “staff at RFA were still working Monday and the Washington-based news organization has yet to announce how the funding freeze would impact operations.”
Executives are trying to preserve what little money is left, the person involved in the matter told , while coming up with a careful response to Lake’s memo.
One outstanding question is whether Lake had the authority to order the funding freeze. The memos identified her as “senior advisor to the acting CEO with authorities delegated by acting CEO.”
Another question has to do with the separation of powers. Radio Free Europe’s story about the dispute on Monday repeatedly referred to its “Congress-approved funding.” Curtis wrote on LinkedIn that the termination violates the statute that governs Radio Free Europe and “violates Congressional appropriations laws.”
Over the weekend the American Foreign Service Mission, which represents some VOA employees, said that “unilaterally stripping a congressionally established agency of its core functions amounts to an affront to the constitutional balance of powers.”
A USAGM spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Washington on Monday State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce called the rapid dismantling of the agency “a fluid situation.”
People with knowledge of the situation in both Europe and Asia expressed concern that some journalists could be left in harms’ way due to the funding freeze.
Specifically, there are Russian-born journalists living in exile in Europe and working for Radio Free Europe who face imprisonment if they return home.
“If they lose their jobs, that could trigger visa expirations, leaving them essentially in legal limbo,” one of the sources told . “Without further support in the countries where they’re currently located, they face the risk of being stateless, deportation – things like that are all possibilities.”
“A lot of people who are citizens of authoritarian countries… are extremely worried, because this could leave them very vulnerable” and upend the “safe haven” they had been granted, the source added.
Although European countries could create legal routes for the most vulnerable journalists, nothing has yet been agreed.
A number of European lawmakers and diplomats have rallied around Radio Free Europe since Saturday, with some suggesting that Europe could provide some funding to fill the American void.
In an interview on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” Russian-American journalist Alsu Kermasheva said Radio Free Europe provides audiences in Russia, Iran and other countries with crucial access to information.
Without the networks, there will be an “empty space” in the global media, and “Russia and Chinese propaganda will fill in,” Kermasheva said.
But for the moment, “we are still in business,” she added, encouraging financial and legal support for the embattled broadcaster.
