Radio Free Asia suspends editorial operations amid funding cuts, government shutdown
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Radio Free Asia, one of several government-funded international broadcasters, announced Wednesday it would suspend operations and formally lay off its furloughed staff on Friday amid fiscal uncertainty.
Why it matters: It's the first time the outlet has gone dark since its founding in 1996. RFA was created to provide free and accurate news and information to Asian audiences following the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, and the subsequent information crackdowns in China thereafter.
- "Without consistent and reliable funding we have been forced into a very difficult position, which is unprecedented in our history as a news organization getting reporting out of the world's toughest media environments," RFA chief communications officer Rohit Mahajan said in a statement to Axios.
- "RFA has weathered shutdowns and delays in funding before, without any interruption of services and programming."
Catch up quick: Like its sister agencies — Voice of America, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Middle East Broadcasting Networks — RFA's operations have been severely limited since the Trump administration started targeting government-funded media in the spring.
- RFA, RFE/RE, VOA and MBN have all sued the administration, arguing its actions were illegal.
- While many of those legal battles are ongoing, agencies have had to take drastic measures to stay afloat while awaiting rulings that could possibly reinstate their funding.
Zoom in: Beginning Friday, RFA will start officially closing down its overseas bureaus and formally laying off furloughed staff and paying them severance, president and CEO Bay Fang said in a statement.
- Most of that staff has been on unpaid leave since March, when the agency that oversees RFA and its sister agencies, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, terminated RFA's congressionally appropriated funds.
What they're saying: "However drastic these measures may seem, they position RFA, a private corporation, for a future in which it would be possible to scale up and resume providing accurate, uncensored news for people living in some of the world's most closed places," Fang said.
- "We are carefully balancing the needs of our company to continue and the safety and well being of our journalists - most of whom have been on unpaid leave since March."
The big picture: The Trump administration has argued government-funded international broadcasters should be reined in as part of an effort to cut government spending.
- But its efforts have faced pushback — including from Republicans — who are concerned that the drastic cuts could impact America's efforts to combat global disinformation, especially from communist countries.
- "When RFA Uyghur journalists first exposed the violent repression and mass detainment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China harassed and arrested their family members. Still, our journalists bravely continued the work of uncovering atrocities," RFA executive editor Rosa Hwang said in a statement signing off on Wednesday.
- "With the world's only independent Uyghur-language news service shuttered, China's propaganda will fester without a potent and effective accountability check."
What to watch: China has quickly taken steps to fill the void left by RFA.
- In the past few months, China's state radio has added dozens of new radio frequencies previously used by RFA and has increased its own broadcasting frequencies in the area, per the Washington Post.
