Kari Lake, who recently took on the role of special advisor at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), finds herself named in a federal lawsuit filed by Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, as reported by Phoenix New Times. These broadcasters, reaching millions in countries where press freedom is scarce, claim that USAGM owes them $7.4 million in congressionally appropriated funds and face serious operational threats without it, the lawsuit further explains that Congress, not Lake, has the power of the purse. Lake, who started her government career after several failed political campaigns, has already fired over a thousand USAGM employees and ended many grant contracts, actions that might not be within her legal rights and thus potentially adding fuel to her litigious record.
In a related turn, fears of agency-wide cuts and closures loom large under Lake's leadership, after statements by Elon Musk and consequent shifts within USAGM, as OPB reports, established international broadcasters such as Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which act as vital sources of news and soft diplomacy, fear for their existence. Within weeks of Musk's critique about 'radical left crazy people' wasting U.S. funds on these media outlets, there's been a push within USAGM that aligns closely with the DOGE initiative to control expenditures, exemplified by the firing of probationary employees and the specter of larger layoffs posing a threat to networks that often counter the propaganda of authoritarian regimes; the fate of these networks remains uncertain as they await the Trump administration's budget decisions.
According to Phoenix New Times, these legal challenges coincide with Lake's measures to "slimming this agency down, way down" with a likened approach to an "Ozempic diet," while the media organizations subject to her swings face dire consequences; without the funds, they risk shutting down operations overseas, potentially putting journalists at risk of deportation to hostile countries where they may face serious security threats, including harassment, abduction, and even assassination due to their journalistic work.
The actions of Lake and USAGM have raised serious concerns among employees, creating a climate of fear for those who deliver critical international coverage and are now under the guard of an administration that has already shown its intent to overhaul, and perhaps incapacitate, the very outlets designed to foster and exemplify a free press, "Clearly, this regime feels threatened by the forces of freedom, including independent journalism," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty chief Steve Capus said in a statement obtained by OPB, emphasizing the ever-growing importance of these networks' missions in the face of rising autocracy and their relentless purge by the hands supposedly tasked to protect them.
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