NPC Member Insight: MBN leadership must restore Middle East broadcaster to full strength
In the early hours of Saturday, April 12, I was among more than 500 employees at Middle East Broadcast Networks (MBN) who lost their jobs following the Trump administration's termination of grants that fund MBN, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and other media groups within the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM).
But I can tell you that the circumstances surrounding our dismissal differ significantly from those of our colleagues at the other entities that comprise USAGM: MBN is the only USAGM entity that has laid off staff — almost its entire staff — leaving only a skeleton crew behind.
As National Press Club President Mike Balsamo said in a statement on April 14: "Silencing journalists silences the people they serve."
MBN is the US government grant-funded Arabic-language multimedia organization that once broadcast 24/7 on TV, radio and digital websites and until this crisis, reached 33.5 million people each week in 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, providing them with objective, accurate and relevant news and information about their region, the world and the United States primarily through television news broadcasts.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled in favor of Voice of America and grantees MBN and RFA in a lawsuit that they brought against the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle those USAGM broadcast networks. On the face of it, this development would seem to be a win for the employees, as the judge ordered that the entities should "take all necessary steps to return USAGM employees and contractors to their status prior to the March 14, 2025 Executive Order."
Many of the employees of MBN who were terminated on April 12, including myself, have questions regarding whether MBN's leadership will abide by the judge's order and bring us all back to work. These questions stem from the way in which the legal challenges have been framed by MBN’s leadership, as well as MBN's preemptive termination of hundreds of employees before the courts could decide whether the administration acted legally. Many of us are now left wondering whether MBN's leaders will fight to restore MBN to its full strength, or whether they have another, different agenda.
A large number of my colleagues gathered Tuesday, Aprill 22, in protest outside the National Press Building to voice those concerns, and as they did, MBN Board Chairman Ambassador (retired) Ryan Crocker issued a statement: “It remains our intention to pay annual leave and end of service for MBN employees we were compelled to terminate earlier this month.”
Due to the April 12 cuts, more than 40 hard-working journalists, in this country on work visas, must now leave the US within 30 days of their contract termination. Now colleagues who love America are forced to pull their children out of school, pack up and pay all kinds of related costs, leaving the American dream behind. Some of these former employees are struggling to get out of rental leases and car payments; others are faced with selling their homes. These are people who came to the United States because they believe in the stated mission of all U.S. broadcasters: democracy and freedom of the press.
We, as U.S.-based staff, including producers, directors, anchors, videographers, control room staff and assignment editors, to name a few will lose healthcare benefits at the end of April.
Many of us hope MBN leadership will stay true to its word and rehire the employees summarily let go on April 12, but there are many reasons for doubt.
MBN’s President and CEO Jeff Gedmin wrote in an op-ed for Real Clear Politics that after the release of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, the leadership at MBN anticipated proposals for reform and had started restructuring. "We slashed spending last fall by 25%. We closed bureaus in the region. We upped our game in technology and AI. We were prepared to do more."
On Labor Day last year, in a preemptive blow, as the Republican-led House was in budget mode, MBN laid off 150 of its broadcast professionals.
By firing more than 500 employees on April 12 — before a court decision — Gedmin has set an unfortunate precedent. He is challenging the executive order to have funding restored for MBN without working to restore the journalists and employees whose work forms the core of the network’s identity. In court, Judge Lamberth asked the USAGM attorneys a direct question about VOA: “In addition to administrative leave, what else is the money (received from Congress for that purpose) being spent on?”
This is the question I have for MBN's leaders: If funding is being restored, will the people who were laid off be reinstated in order that full 24/7broadcast television production can continue?
And, if not, then what possible explanation do they have for their actions?
As USAGM Senior Advisor Kari Lake maintains appeals will continue under the pretext of modernization, MBN employees are waiting for answers.
Baumel worked for more than five years as an interview producer at MBN.