Voice of America, which for eight decades brought news to corners of the globe where reliable journalism was scarce, went dark in March after the Trump administration cut its funding and put its workers on leave.
But next week, journalists for the organization, a U.S.-funded international news broadcaster, are expected to return to work, its director said, after a decision in federal district court ordering it to resume programming.
The director, Mike Abramowitz, said in an email to his staff on Friday that the Justice Department had alerted Voice of America that the broadcaster’s access to its computer systems was being restored. The email was obtained by The New York Times.
“I am seeking further details, and I will share them as soon as possible,” Mr. Abramowitz wrote. “But on the face of it, this news is a positive development.”
That appeared to be complicated on Saturday, when a federal appeals court paused the parts of the lower court’s order that required the Trump administration to restore funding for the agency that finances Voice of America.
The appeals court, in Washington, D.C., wrote that it was leaving in place the portion of the ruling that ordered the government to revive Voice of America’s “statutorily required programming levels.”
But a dissenting judge, Cornelia Pillard of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, predicted that the decision would leave deep staff cuts in place and result in the “silencing” of Voice of America “for the foreseeable future.”
A coalition representing Voice of America journalists said that it was reviewing the decision. “In the meantime, Voice of America must continue to resume programming,” the statement said.
Voice of America, founded in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda, was broadcasting in 49 languages to an estimated 360 million people around the world before President Trump moved to mute its airwaves.
The broadcaster had long been seen as a vital tool in America’s efforts to promote democracy globally, and it transmitted news into countries such as Russia and Iran, where press freedoms were limited.
Mr. Trump has accused Voice of America of being biased against him and branded it the “voice of radical America.” He issued an executive order in mid-March to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the congressionally chartered agency that funds Voice of America and other government-supported international news outlets.
The order targeted parts of the federal bureaucracy that the president had determined to be “unnecessary,” it said. Almost immediately, Voice of America’s roughly 1,300 workers were sent home. The network’s radio transmitters were cut, and its wire services were terminated.
A battle in the courts followed, with Voice of America and other federally funded news outlets arguing that Mr. Trump lacked the power to withdraw funding that had been authorized by Congress.
Last week, Royce C. Lamberth, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, agreed. He issued a temporary order requiring the administration to restore funding for Voice of America. The administration appealed the ruling.
The issue remains unsettled. The federal appeals court has left in place the ruling requiring the administration to allow Voice of America to resume its news programming. But the appeals court said that the administration could continue, for now, to withhold funding from three broadcasters under the umbrella of the Agency for Global Media: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
Voice of America is a government entity, unlike the other three broadcasters, which are federally funded private nonprofits.
Mr. Trump has installed one of his loyalists, Kari Lake, a former news anchor and Senate candidate from Arizona, to advise the Agency for Global Media. In an email on Saturday, Ms. Lake said that she had always intended to “bring V.O.A. into the 21st century.”
She added that “frivolous litigation” had slowed her efforts to “streamline” Voice of America, but that she looked forward to “effectively telling America’s story to a worldwide audience.”
In court papers, journalists for Voice of America said the Trump administration had engaged in the “wholesale” dismantling of the broadcaster by “ordering virtually the entire staff not to report to work, turning off the service and locking the agency’s doors.”
On Friday evening, Voice of America’s lawyers received the email from the Justice Department indicating that the government was following Judge Lamberth’s order, Mr. Abramowitz told his staff.
It was unclear if the appeals court ruling on Saturday would affect the government’s plans. Ms. Lake said in an email that she was reviewing the decision.
Peter Baker contributed reporting.
