Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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US Judge Rules in Favor of CEO of US Agency for Global Media

VOA News

   A U.S. federal judge has ruled in favor of Michael Pack, the chief
   executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, in a lawsuit over Pack's
   decision to fire the heads of government-funded international news
   agencies.

   District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell denied a request to reverse
   Pack's decision to replace the agency heads, saying the decision
   belongs "at the ballot box" rather than in court.

   The judge ruled last week that the suit filed on behalf of the Open
   Technology Fund, a nonprofit corporation that supports global internet
   freedom technologies, had "fallen short of making the requisite
   showings."

   The fund had argued that Pack did not have the legal authority to
   dismiss Libby Liu, the chief executive of Open Technology, or fire the
   chiefs of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the
   Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

   Pack, who took control of USAGM last month, also oversees Voice of
   America, but the lawsuit pertains to Pack's dismissals of the heads of
   the USAGM entities, not his oversight of VOA.

   Pack is the first Senate-confirmed CEO of USAGM following a major
   overhaul of the agency's leadership structure that Congress approved in
   late 2016 and former President Barack Obama signed into law. The
   changes gave expansive new powers to the CEO over all of the U.S.
   government-funded civilian broadcasters, including the power to set
   budgets and terminate funding for agencies the CEO no longer sees as
   effective.

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