Radio Free Asia is halting operations as its federal funding dries up, eliminating one of the few independent sources of media in a region dominated by authoritarian regimes.
The network, which has broadcast for nearly 30 years, announced Wednesday that it will pause its work to preserve what’s left of its budget after cuts imposed by President Donald Trump and delays in receiving new funding as a result of the government shutdown.
“For RFA journalists who sacrificed so much in defying powerful and malignant forces, it’s an excruciating moment,” Executive Editor Rosa Hwang said in a statement. “And make no mistake, authoritarian regimes are already celebrating RFA’s potential demise.”
The halt in operations, which RFA said would be temporary if funding is restored, is the latest blow to independent media organizations supported by the U.S. government under a hostile administration.
In March, Trump ordered cuts to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America along with RFA and other networks whose mission is to provide uncensored news in countries with little or no free press. Kari Lake — appointed by Trump to oversee the dismantling of organizations within USAGM — cut hundreds of employees at the agency in August.
RFA said the shutdown would begin Friday and operations would resume if Congress provides the money they need to stay on the air.
“Once our funding returns, so will we,” Hwang said.
The organization plans to shutter its overseas bureaus, lay off staff members who had been furloughed, including many who had gone without pay since the initial cuts in March, President and CEO Bay Fang said in a statement.
“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.
The Trump administration has portrayed its cuts as an effort to root out “radical propaganda,” though RFA and the affiliated networks are often one of the few sources of independent media in much of the world.
