The outlets — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks — have had to scale back their news programming.
A federal appeals court in Washington ruled on Thursday night that, for now, the Trump administration could continue to withhold money from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, federally funded organizations that provide news coverage to countries with limited press freedoms.
In doing so, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit temporarily reversed parts of two lower-court rulings from last month that stopped the administration from cutting off funds to the news outlets.
The appeals court kept in effect parts of one lower court ruling, which required that Trump officials bring back journalists at Voice of America, another federally funded newsroom, from paid leave and resume its news programming.
Unlike Voice of America, which is a government entity, the other three news outlets are private nonprofits that have independent hiring authorities but receive nearly all of their funding from Congress.
The order was an administrative stay, which temporarily blocks a lower-court ruling until appeals court judges decide on whether to overrule the lower court order while they reach a final verdict. It is a partial victory for President Trump, who has accused the newsrooms of spreading anti-American and partisan propaganda, and sought to dismantle the outlets’ parent agency in charge of disbursing funds and overseeing their operations.
The ruling will deprive those news organizations of the funding they need for news programming that around 140 million listeners tune into every week across the world.