Voice of America brings back 75 staffers amid Iran-Israel conflict
'Effective immediately, you are recalled from administrative leave,' Crystal G. Thomas, director of human resources, wrote to staff Friday afternoon in an email, which was obtained by The Washington Post. 'You are expected to report to your duty station immediately.'
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Voice of America's employees have sued the government to be reinstated at work, restore broadcasting and force the government to uphold the statutory mandate ascribed by Congress.
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Employees told The Post that most of the Persia team was restored to assist with the news out of the Middle East. VOA had already restored 10 Farsi language service journalists previously - along with Dari, Pashto, and Mandarin reporters - to demonstrate to the federal court that it is fulfilling its statutory mandate. The 10 Persian news service reporters have been exclusively publishing on social media and the internet, an employee said, but they are planning to broadcast live on satellite TV into Iran.
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Israel launched attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities late Thursday and killed top military officers, including Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran launched missile strikes on Israel on Friday in retaliation. The conflict has led to new uncertainty for the Trump administration's plan for a nuclear deal with Iran.
'The biggest purpose of the Persian division is to report America's story for Iranian audiences where there's censorship or filtering of the internet there,' one Voice of America journalist told The Post on the condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation from their employer. 'And when something of this magnitude happens like an outright war with Iran's outright nemesis, Israel, we have to have a presence inside Iran.'
'Are they going to bring back a language every time there is a crisis the administration has interest in?' another VOA journalist told The Post. 'This is why you don't smash first and think later.'
Steve Herman, chief national correspondent for VOA, called it a welcome but belated move. 'Will all of our Persian Service staff be put back on leave a few weeks from now when hostilities subside? What other crises would compel USAGM to reactivate our other 48 language services?' he said. 'The imagination runs wild.'
David Seide, senior counsel at the Government Accountability Project, who represents some of the VOA journalists suing the government, said it's a step in the right direction for the government: 'It's a step - and it's a positive step - but it's only one of many steps that need to be taken.'
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