Oct. 30 (UPI) — After more than three decades of operation, Radio Free Asia has shuttered amid the U.S. government shutdown.
RFA, a U.S. federally funded news organization, went dark Thursday over what it said was “uncertain funding.”
“For RFA journalists who sacrificed so much in defying powerful and malignant forces, it’s an excruciating moment. And make no mistake, authoritarian regimes are already celebrating RFA’s potential demise,” RFA Executive Editor Rosa Hwang said in a statement.
Created through legislation to combat human rights abuses in Asia, RFA began operating in 1996 with the mission to deliver uncensored, domestic independent news and information to Asian nations with “poor media environments and few, if any, free speech protections” including China, North Korea, Myanmar and others.
These international media organizations were once important soft power mechanisms of the U.S. government. However, RFA and the three other federally funded news organizations have been repeatedly targeted by the Trump administration with cuts to funding and jobs, citing left-leaning bias and inefficiency, as well as to align with its other broader goals of scaling back federal agencies.
On March 15, the Trump administration terminated funding for RFA, which led to staff being laid off and its service being limited.
On Oct. 1, when the government shutdown began, Voice of America suspended service due to funding cuts.
Nicolas Burns, Harvard professor and former Ambassador to China, called RFA’s closing “a major mistake.”
“Shutting down Radio Free Asia will prevent us from telling the truth to the Chinese people and countering Beijing’s propaganda,” Burns said on X.
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and a visiting professor at Princeton University, called it, “Trump’s gift to Chinese propagandists.”
“Independent journalism is at the core of RFA,” Hwang said in the statement. “For the first time since RFA’s inception almost 30 years ago, that voice is at risk.”
