The U.S. government stopped funding Radio Free Asia (RFA) on March 15, raising questions about whether the station can continue reporting on China and other authoritarian countries.
Radio Free Asia, which broadcasts uncensored news to people living in repressive regimes across Asia, formally filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking the restoration of congressionally authorized funds that were abruptly frozen earlier this month.
The lawsuit alleges that the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) violated federal law, including the U.S. Constitution, by denying funding to RFA because only Congress has the power to determine federal spending.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP and the nonprofit organization Democracy Forward on behalf of Radio Free Asia.
When news broke that Radio Free Asia might be shut down, Chinese state media cheered, with a reporter from a CCP-controlled media outlet even calling it "excellent news."
RFA President and CEO Fang Bei called the funding termination "illegal." She stated in a press release that "RFA remains committed to fulfilling its congressionally mandated mission of providing voices that counter the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party and other authoritarian regimes in Asia."
"At this moment, they may be celebrating the fact that Radio Free Asia has been cut off from funding, but we are confident that we can successfully prevent this illegal termination of our funding," she said.
The lawsuit also targets Victor Morales, acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media; Kari Lake, Morales' special adviser; Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget; and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Most of Radio Free Asia's Washington-based staff were forced to take unpaid leave due to a temporary funding termination announced on March 15.
The sudden announcement followed an executive order issued late on March 14 by US President Trump, which called for the cuts to the "non-statutory" divisions of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the federal agency responsible for forwarding budgets for Radio Free Asia and other independent global news organizations. Special Counsel Mark Lake later stated that the action was necessary because the agency was "irretrievably broken."
Journalists 'face jail time'
Radio Free Asia was established in 1996 by an act of Congress with bipartisan support in the U.S. after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing, China.
It provides independent news and information in nine languages every week through radio, television and the internet to millions of people in Asia, including those in countries with little or no press freedom, such as North Korea, China, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Thursday's lawsuit cites RFA's "groundbreaking" reporting on several key issues, including Chinese government atrocities against the Uighur minority in China's northwestern Xinjiang region, the Chinese Communist Party's cover-up of the COVID-19 death toll, its attempts to erase Tibetan culture and language, and the civil war in Myanmar.
The lawsuit states that because of the U.S. Agency for Global Media's termination of funding, "Radio Free Asia's operations have effectively ceased, making it unable to carry out its statutory mandate."
"(RFA) journalists—who often risk their lives to provide reliable and unbiased news in countries unfriendly to a free press—may soon lose RFA's support and protection, and face even greater risks of imprisonment and physical harm," the document reads.
The lawsuit states that Radio Free Asia has suspended the work of more than 200 American employees, representing 75% of its total US-based staff; and terminated or suspended the contracts of 93% of its international and domestic freelance journalists.
The lawsuit also states that dozens of journalists working in the United States on work visas could also be suspended or fired and then forced to return to their home countries, "some of whom would face immediate risk of arrest and detention for their journalistic work."
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and other defendants from withholding congressional funding. RFA believes it should receive the $35 million originally allocated by Congress through September 30, 2025.
The Trump administration's cuts to news organizations funded by Congress, including Voice of America, and organizations funded through federal grants, such as Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, have already triggered a flurry of lawsuits.
On Tuesday, a U.S. district court granted Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL)'s (RFE/RL) request for a temporary restraining order barring the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) from unilaterally terminating its funding to RFE/RL.
The judge ruled that USAGM's decision lacked justification and that forcibly shutting down Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty while the station was challenging the agency's decision would cause "irreparable harm."
