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Radio Free Asia

Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a United States government-funded private non-profit corporation operating a news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia.[5][6][7][8] The service, which provides editorially independent reporting,[6][7][8] has the stated mission of providing accurate and uncensored reporting to countries in Asia that have poor media environments and limited protections for speech and press freedom.[9][10][11]

Radio Free Asia
AbbreviationRFA
FormationMarch 12, 1996; 27 years ago (1996-03-12)[1]
Type501(c)(3) organization
52-1968145
PurposeBroadcast Media
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
Official languages
Burmese, Cantonese, English, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Mandarin, Tibetan, Uyghur, and Vietnamese
OwnerU.S. Agency for Global Media
President
Bay Fang[2]
Executive Editor
Min Mitchell[3]
Carolyn Bartholomew (Chair), Michael J. Green, Michael Kempner, Keith Richburg, Shanthi Kalathil, Allison Hooker
Parent organization
U.S. Agency for Global Media
Budget
$51.3 million (2023)
Staff
253[4]
Websiterfa.org

Based on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and preceded by the CIA-operated Radio Free Asia (Committee for a Free Asia), it was established by the US International Broadcasting Act of 1994 with the stated aim of "promoting democratic values and human rights", and countering the narratives and monopoly on information distribution of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as providing media reports about the North Korean government.[12][page needed] It is funded and supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media[13] (formerly Broadcasting Board of Governors), an independent agency of the United States government.

RFA distributes content in ten Asian languages for audiences in Mainland China, Hong Kong, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia,[14] Vietnam and Myanmar.[15]

History edit

After the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, American interest in starting a government broadcasting organization grew.[16] A more concrete concept for such an organization aimed towards Asian countries was first presented by then-United States Senator from Delaware Joe Biden, and later became a part of President Bill Clinton's platform during his 1992 presidential campaign.[17] The International Broadcasting Act was passed by the Congress of the United States and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, officially establishing Radio Free Asia.[18]

Radio Free Asia was incorporated in March 1996, and began broadcasting in September 1996. Although RFA directors preferred to broadcast under the name "the Asia-Pacific Network", Republican representatives including Chris Smith and Jesse Helms insisted on returning the name to Radio Free Asia before broadcasting began, to which president Richard Richter complied. Radio Free Asia was forced to change the name in part due to financial pressures from the US government, for although they operated with an independent board, their initial $10 million dollar annual budget came from the Treasury.[19]

In 1997, the then US Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott, began talks with the government of Australia to purchase abandoned transmission facilities near Darwin, Northern Territory for the purpose of expanding RFA's signal to overcome jamming. Richter personally lobbied in Canberra to support this effort.[20] Although the Australian Government intended to sell the facilities to a foreign broadcaster, preference was given to the BBC over the fledgling RFA due to fears that such a sale would anger China, with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer stating, "we are certainly not in the game of provocatively damaging our relations with China."[20][21]

In response to radio jamming efforts from China, Newt Gingrich and House Republican leaders helped to increase the budget of RFA and VOA, with further funding of RFA proposed as a way to combat China's political repression without levying trade restrictions that would anger American businesses.[17]

With the passage of the International Broadcasting Act in 1994, RFA was brought under auspices of the United States Information Agency where it remained until the agency's cessation of broadcasting duties and transitioned to U.S. Department of State operated Broadcasting Board of Governors in 1999. In September 2009, the 111th Congress amended the International Broadcasting Act to allow a one-year extension of the operation of Radio Free Asia.[22]

RFA broadcasts in nine languages, via shortwave, satellite transmissions, medium-wave (AM and FM radio), and through the Internet. The first transmission was in Mandarin Chinese and it is RFA's most broadcast language at twelve hours per day. RFA also broadcasts in Cantonese, Tibetan (Kham, Amdo, and Uke dialects), Uyghur, Burmese, Vietnamese, Lao, Khmer (to Cambodia) and Korean (to North Korea). The Korean service launched in 1997 with Jaehoon Ahn as its founding director.[23] Broadcasts in Khmer to Cambodia that began under the country's communist regime continue despite the country no longer being communist.[24] In 2017, RFA and other networks, such as Voice of America, were put under the then newly created U.S. Agency for Global Media that also sends representatives to its board of directors.[25]

In January 2022, RFA announced that it had appointed Carolyn Bartholomew as the new chair of its board of directors.[26][27] As of December 2023, its board members include: Michael J. Green, Michael Kempner, Keith Richburg, Shanthi Kalathil, and Allison Hooker.[28] RFA receives its funding through annual budget allocations from the U.S. Agency for Global Media.[29]

List of presidents edit

Name Term
Richard "Dick" Richter 1996–July 29, 2005[30][31]
Libby Liu September 2005[32]–November 2019[33]
Bay Fang November 20, 2019[33]–June 2020[34]
Stephen J. Yates December 2020[35]–January 22, 2021[36]
Bay Fang January 2021[37]–present

Radio jamming and Internet blocking edit

Since broadcasting began in 1996, Chinese authorities have consistently jammed RFA broadcasts.[38]

Three RFA reporters were denied access to China to cover U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit in June 1998. The Chinese embassy in Washington had initially granted visas to the three but revoked them shortly before President Clinton left Washington en route to Beijing. The White House and United States Department of State filed complaints with Chinese authorities over the matter but the reporters ultimately did not make the trip.[38][39]

The Vietnamese-language broadcast signal was also jammed by the Vietnamese government from the beginning.[40] Human rights legislation has been proposed in Congress that would allocate money to counter the jamming.[41] Research by the OpenNet Initiative, a project that monitors Internet filtering by governments worldwide, showed that the Vietnamese-language portion of the Radio Free Asia website was blocked by both of the tested ISPs in Vietnam, while the English-language portion was blocked by one of the two ISPs.[42]

To address radio jamming and Internet blocking by the governments of the countries that it broadcasts to, the RFA website contains instruction on how to create anti-jamming antennas and information on web proxies.[43]

On March 30, 2010, China's domestic internet censor, known as the Great Firewall, temporarily blocked all Google searches in China, due to an unintentional association with the long-censored term "rfa".[44] According to Google, the letters, associated with Radio Free Asia, were appearing in the URLs of all Google searches, thereby triggering China's filter to block search results.[45]

Arrests of Uyghur journalists' relatives edit

 
RFA's six Uyghur journalists (2018)

In 2014–2015 China arrested three brothers of RFA Uyghur Service journalist Shohret Hoshur. Their jailing was widely described by Western publishers as Chinese authorities' efforts to target Hoshur for his reports on otherwise unreported violent events of the Xinjiang conflict.[46][47][48][49] Much larger numbers of relatives of RFA's Uyghur-language staff have since been detained, including the family of Gulchehra Hoja.[50]

RFA is the only station outside China that broadcasts in the Uyghur language.[50] It has been recognized by journalists of The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Economist for playing a role in exposing Xinjiang internment camps.[51][52][53] In particular, The New York Times regards certain RFA articles as part of the few reliable sources of information about Xinjiang.[46][needs update]

Xinjiang internment camps edit

In 2018, after RFA Journalist Gulchehra Hoja published an interview with an individual who had been detained in the Xinjiang internment camps, Chinese authorities detained approximately two dozen of Hoja's relatives.[54][55][56] Later that year, Chinese authorities forcibly disappeared two brothers and five cousins of an editor for RFA's Uyghur language service.[57][58][59]

National Review has reported that as of 2021, eight of Radio Free Asia's fifteen staff of Uyghur ethnicity have family members who are detained in the Xinjiang internment camps.[55]

Mission edit

Radio Free Asia's functions, as listed in 22 U.S.C. § 6208, are to:

  1. provide accurate and timely information, news, and commentary about events in Asia and elsewhere; and
  2. be a forum for a variety of opinions and voices from within Asian nations whose people do not fully enjoy freedom of expression.

Additionally, the International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (Title III of Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 103–236), which authorized the creation of the RFA, contains the following paragraph:

The continuation of existing U.S. international broadcasting, and the creation of a new broadcasting service to people of the People's Republic of China and other countries of Asia, which lack adequate sources of free information and ideas, would enhance the promotion of information and ideas, while advancing the goals of U.S. foreign policy.

The RFA's mission statement is outlined on its website as follows:[10]

Radio Free Asia operates under a Congressional mandate to deliver uncensored, domestic news and information to China, Tibet, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma, among other places in Asia with poor media environments and few, if any, free speech protections.

— RFA

Reception edit

 
The logo of Radio Free Asia from 2010 to Fall 2021

In 1999, Catharin Dalpino of the Brookings Institution, a former assistant secretary deputy for human rights, called Radio Free Asia "a waste of money" and elaborated that she believed its goals had more to do with domestic political symbolism than with supporting democratic movements in Asia, stating that "Wherever we feel there is an ideological enemy, we're going to have a Radio Free Something." Dalpino said she had reviewed scripts of RFA's broadcasts and viewed the station's reporting as unbalanced due to focus on the testimony of dissidents in exile rather than the events occurring in the countries themselves.[60][61] Lynne Weil, a director of communications and external affairs for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, has disputed descriptions of government-funded outlets as propaganda, referring to outlets such as BBC as examples of non-propagandist journalism funded by a government entity.[62] In 2001, Richter stated that congressional interference in the organization was minimal, saying that he "wanted to make sure we weren't just getting set up to be a kill-the-Commie organization."[63]

Monroe Price, director of the Center for Global Communication Studies, described RFA as "a modern iteration of Cold War use of the airwaves, emphasizing a turn from the traditional Cold War targets to new ones" and argued that the goals of RFA prove that the "instruments of international broadcasting are a reflection of the priorities and internal politics of the sending nation."[64]

Vietnamese newspapers such as the state-run Nhân Dân have criticized the goals of RFA and broadcasts into the country, with a writer for Nhân Dân accusing the network of attempting to "interfere in other countries' internal affairs."[65]

Chinese citizens calling in to RFA have expressed a wide range of opinions on the network, both positive and negative, many calling from pay phones to hide their identities.[63]

Awards edit

Radio Free Asia has received several awards for its journalism, including:

Broadcasting information edit

Broadcasting Information (Channels 1, 2, 3, 4)
Language Service Target audience Launch Date Daily
Broadcast Hours
Mandarin China September 1996 24 Hours, Daily

÷ over 3 channels

Tibetan Tibet Autonomous Region
Qinghai
December 1996 23 Hours, Daily, 1 ch
Burmese Myanmar February 1997 8 Hours, Daily

÷ over 3 channels

Vietnamese Vietnam February 1997 8 Hours, Daily

÷ over 2 channels

Korean North Korea March 1997 9 Hours, Daily, 1 ch
Cantonese Guangdong
Guangxi
Hong Kong
Macau
May 1998 7 Hours, Daily

÷ over 2 channels

Lao Laos August 1997 5 Hours, Daily, 1 ch
Khmer Cambodia September 1997 5 Hours, Daily, 1 ch
Uyghur Xinjiang December 1998 6 Hours, Daily, 1 ch

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "History". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  2. ^ "Bay Fang Named Radio Free Asia's New President". RFA. November 20, 2019. from the original on December 22, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  3. ^ "Min Mitchell, Executive Editor". rfa.org. Radio Free Asia. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  4. ^ "RFA – USAGM". from the original on January 4, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Wong, Edward (March 3, 2016). "Tibetan Monk, 18, Dies After Self-Immolation to Protest Chinese Rule". The New York Times.
  6. ^ a b Denyer, Simon (February 28, 2018). "China detains relatives of U.S. reporters in apparent punishment for Xinjiang coverage". The Washington Post. Their reporting for the U.S. government-funded news organization has offered one of the only independent sources of information about the crackdown in the province
  7. ^ a b Ball, Molly (December 16, 2017). "When the Presses Stop". The Atlantic.
  8. ^ a b Beitsch, Rebecca (April 6, 2021). "In departure from Trump, State affirms editorial freedom of Voice of America". The Hill. USAGM, which runs Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and other networks, is funded by the government but operates under an editorial "firewall" designed to block any interference in its coverage.
  9. ^ "VOA, Radio Free Asia get editors back post-Trump but worry about damage". France 24. AFP. January 26, 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Mission". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  11. ^ Folkenflik, David (January 15, 2021). "New Chief's Ties Shock Radio Free Asia, While Pompeo Visit To VOA Stirs Outcry". National Public Radio.
  12. ^ David Welch (November 27, 2013). "ch. 7; Radio Free Asia And China's Harmonious Society (Gary D. Rawnsley)". Propaganda, Power and Persuasion: From World War I to Wikileaks. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0-85773-737-3. from the original on August 19, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  13. ^ "RFA". U.S. Agency for Global Media. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  14. ^ Multiple sources:
  15. ^ "Radio Free Asia | USAGov". from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  16. ^ Susan B. Epstein: CRS Report for Congress September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (PDF)
  17. ^ a b Mann, Jim (October 1, 1997). "Republican Voltage Keeps Radio Free Asia Buzzing". Los Angeles Times.
  18. ^ "Radio Free Asia, Taiwan Sales Approved". The New York Times. Associated Press. May 1, 1994. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  19. ^ Mann, Jim (September 30, 1996). "After 5 Years of Political Wrangling, Radio Free Asia Becomes a Reality". Los Angeles Times. from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  20. ^ a b Clark, Pilita; Skehan, Craig (November 3, 1997). "Cabinet in a jam over US radio bid". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  21. ^ Greene, Gervase (November 6, 1997). "US facing rejection on Radio Free Asia broadcasts from NT". The Age.
  22. ^ Bill Text Versions for the 111th Congress, 2009–2010. The Library of Congress.[1] March 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ Brown, Emma (June 10, 2011). "Jaehoon Ahn, reporter and Post researcher, dies". Washington Post. from the original on February 6, 2018. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
  24. ^ "Radio Free Asia Targets Indonesia". Far Eastern Economic Review. 165 (39). October 3, 2002.
  25. ^ "US Launches New Mandarin Network as Washington and Beijing Battle for Global Influence". South China Morning Post. November 24, 2019. from the original on November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  26. ^ "RFA Welcomes Carolyn Bartholomew as New Board Chair". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  27. ^ "Carolyn Bartholomew, Chair". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  28. ^ . Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  29. ^ "USAGM". USAGM. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  30. ^ "Radio Free Asia Founding President Retires". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  31. ^ "Statement of RFA President on the Passing of Dick Richter, RFA's Founding President". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  32. ^ "Libby Liu, President". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  33. ^ a b "Bay Fang Named Radio Free Asia's New President". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  34. ^ "New U.S. broadcasting chief fires agency heads". Politico. Washington. Associated Press. June 17, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  35. ^ "Stephen Yates joins U.S. international broadcasting as President of RFA". USAGM. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  36. ^ Folkenflik, David (January 22, 2021). "USAGM Chief Fires Trump Allies Over Radio Free Europe And Other Networks". npr. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  37. ^ Fromer, Jacob (January 26, 2021). "A quick Biden fix: Trump appointees ousted from US broadcasting agency". South China Morning Post. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  38. ^ a b Mann, Jim (June 23, 1998). "China Bars 3 Journalists From Clinton's Trip". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  39. ^ Sieff/Scully "Radio Free Asia reporters stay home; Clinton kowtows to Beijing's ban, critics contend", The Washington Times, June 24, 1998
  40. ^ "Radio Free Asia says broadcasts to Vietnam are being jammed". CNN. February 7, 1997. from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
  41. ^ "H.R. 1587 Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2004". Congressional Budget Office. June 24, 2004. from the original on October 17, 2007. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
  42. ^ "OpenNet Initiative: Vietnam". OpenNet Initiative. from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
  43. ^ "RFA: Anti-jamming antenna". from the original on July 23, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
  44. ^ Censky, Annalyn (March 30, 2010). "Google blames China's 'great firewall' for outage". CNN. from the original on April 3, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  45. ^ "Google says China's "great firewall" blocked search". Reuters (in Japanese). March 31, 2010. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  46. ^ a b Forsythe, Michael (July 31, 2015). "A Voice From China's Uighur Homeland, Reporting From the U.S." The New York Times. from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  47. ^ Casey, Michael (July 9, 2015). "China's War Against One American Journalist". Slate. from the original on July 25, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  48. ^ Denyur, Simon (January 8, 2015). "China uses long-range intimidation of U.S. reporter to suppress Xinjiang coverage". The Washington Post. from the original on August 22, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  49. ^ Editorial Board (June 9, 2015). "China exports repression beyond its borders". The Washington Post. from the original on August 19, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  50. ^ a b "To suppress news of Xinjiang's gulag, China threatens Uighurs abroad". The Economist. October 23, 2019. from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  51. ^ "Knowledge of China's gulag owes much to American-backed radio". The Economist. October 26, 2019. from the original on October 25, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  52. ^ Hiatt, Fred (November 3, 2019). "In China, every day is Kristallnacht". The Washington Post. from the original on September 7, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  53. ^ "What It's Like to Report on Rights Abuses Against Your Own Family". The Atlantic. March 1, 2019. from the original on December 11, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  54. ^ Greenberg, Ilan (June 23, 2021). "How China threatens prominent Uyghurs — in the US, in China and everywhere". Coda Story.
  55. ^ a b Nordlinger, Jay (May 4, 2021). "A Uyghur Daughter, and Journalist". National Review.
  56. ^ Hoja, Gulchehra (December 5, 2019). "Uighur journalist Gulchehra Hoja on exposing China's detention camps". FT Magazine.
  57. ^ McCormick, Andrew (March 1, 2019). "What It's Like to Report on Rights Abuses Against Your Own Family". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  58. ^ Ramzy, Austin (March 1, 2018). "After U.S.-Based Reporters Exposed Abuses, China Seized Their Relatives". The New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  59. ^ Lipes, Joshua; Hoshur, Shohret (March 3, 2021). "Brothers of RFA Journalist Confirmed Detained by Xinjiang Authorities". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  60. ^ Hopkins, Mark (1999). "A Babel of Broadcasts". Columbia Journalism Review. 38 (2): 44. ISSN 0010-194X. 'The U.S. is propagandizing the world with a jumble of wasteful, redundant radio and TV programs – Voice of America, Radio Free This-and-That.' [...] Brookings Institution Asian scholar Catharin Dalpino says, 'I do think Radio Free Asia is propagandistic.'
  61. ^ . May 1, 1999. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  62. ^ Chuck, Elizabeth (July 20, 2013). "Taxpayer money at work: US-funded foreign broadcasts finally available in the US". NBC News.
  63. ^ a b Gamerman, Ellen (April 7, 2001). "China Calling". The Baltimore Sun.
  64. ^ Price, Monroe (2003). "Public diplomacy and the transformation of international broadcasting". Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. 21 (1): 51–85.
  65. ^ Mares, Peter (2013). Losing Control: Freedom of the Press in Asia. ANU Press. p. 250. JSTOR j.ctt5vj71c.18. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  66. ^ "Investigative Reporting Rewarded in Hong-Kong". Radio Free Asia. June 27, 2008. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  67. ^ "Commentator Wins 'Courage in Journalism' Award". Radio Free Asia. May 13, 2010. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  68. ^ "Gulchehra Hoja". International Women's Media Foundation. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  69. ^ "2019 Edward R. Murrow Awards". Radio Television Digital News Association. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  70. ^ "2014 Sigma Delta Chi Award Honorees". Society of Professional Journalists. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  71. ^ "Radio Free Asia Wins Regional Edward R. Murrow Award". rfa.org. Washington. April 18, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  72. ^ "2013 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award Winners". Radio Television Digital News Association. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  73. ^ "Radio Free Asia Wins Gracie for Web Coverage of Uyghur Women". Radio Free Asia. February 24, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  74. ^ "Burke Honors reporting in Korea and China". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  75. ^ "RFA Wins Major Environmental Reporting Prize". Radio Free Asia. July 28, 2010. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  76. ^ "2021 National Edward R. Murrow Award winners". www.rtdna.org. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  77. ^ "BenarNews — an RFA Affiliate — Wins Murrow Award for COVID Report". USAGM. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  78. ^ "Preserving the Erased Decade of the Chinese Feminist Movement". Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  79. ^ Duggan, Paul; Clarence Williams (November 1, 2008). "Cover-Up Alleged in D.C. Killing Of Lawyer". The Washington Post. from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved December 31, 2008.

Further reading edit

  • Engelhardt, Tom (1998). The End of Victory Culture. Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 1-55849-133-3.
  • Laville, Helen; Wilford, Hugh (1996). The US Government, Citizen Groups And the Cold War. The State-Private Network. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-35608-3.
  • Thussu, Daya Kishan (2000). International Communication. Continuity and Change. Arnold. ISBN 0-340-74130-9.

External links edit

  • Official website  

radio, free, asia, this, article, about, news, outlet, founded, 1990s, other, organizations, with, similar, name, disambiguation, united, states, government, funded, private, profit, corporation, operating, news, service, that, broadcasts, radio, programs, pub. This article is about the news outlet founded in the 1990s For other organizations with a similar name see Radio Free Asia disambiguation Radio Free Asia RFA is a United States government funded private non profit corporation operating a news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news information and commentary for its audiences in Asia 5 6 7 8 The service which provides editorially independent reporting 6 7 8 has the stated mission of providing accurate and uncensored reporting to countries in Asia that have poor media environments and limited protections for speech and press freedom 9 10 11 Radio Free AsiaAbbreviationRFAFormationMarch 12 1996 27 years ago 1996 03 12 1 Type501 c 3 organizationTax ID no 52 1968145PurposeBroadcast MediaHeadquartersWashington D C Official languagesBurmese Cantonese English Khmer Korean Lao Mandarin Tibetan Uyghur and VietnameseOwnerU S Agency for Global MediaPresidentBay Fang 2 Executive EditorMin Mitchell 3 Board of directorsCarolyn Bartholomew Chair Michael J Green Michael Kempner Keith Richburg Shanthi Kalathil Allison HookerParent organizationU S Agency for Global MediaBudget 51 3 million 2023 Staff253 4 Websiterfa wbr orgBased on Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty and preceded by the CIA operated Radio Free Asia Committee for a Free Asia it was established by the US International Broadcasting Act of 1994 with the stated aim of promoting democratic values and human rights and countering the narratives and monopoly on information distribution of the Chinese Communist Party as well as providing media reports about the North Korean government 12 page needed It is funded and supervised by the U S Agency for Global Media 13 formerly Broadcasting Board of Governors an independent agency of the United States government RFA distributes content in ten Asian languages for audiences in Mainland China Hong Kong North Korea Laos Cambodia 14 Vietnam and Myanmar 15 Contents 1 History 1 1 List of presidents 1 2 Radio jamming and Internet blocking 1 3 Arrests of Uyghur journalists relatives 1 3 1 Xinjiang internment camps 2 Mission 3 Reception 4 Awards 5 Broadcasting information 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksHistory editAfter the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre American interest in starting a government broadcasting organization grew 16 A more concrete concept for such an organization aimed towards Asian countries was first presented by then United States Senator from Delaware Joe Biden and later became a part of President Bill Clinton s platform during his 1992 presidential campaign 17 The International Broadcasting Act was passed by the Congress of the United States and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 officially establishing Radio Free Asia 18 Radio Free Asia was incorporated in March 1996 and began broadcasting in September 1996 Although RFA directors preferred to broadcast under the name the Asia Pacific Network Republican representatives including Chris Smith and Jesse Helms insisted on returning the name to Radio Free Asia before broadcasting began to which president Richard Richter complied Radio Free Asia was forced to change the name in part due to financial pressures from the US government for although they operated with an independent board their initial 10 million dollar annual budget came from the Treasury 19 In 1997 the then US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott began talks with the government of Australia to purchase abandoned transmission facilities near Darwin Northern Territory for the purpose of expanding RFA s signal to overcome jamming Richter personally lobbied in Canberra to support this effort 20 Although the Australian Government intended to sell the facilities to a foreign broadcaster preference was given to the BBC over the fledgling RFA due to fears that such a sale would anger China with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer stating we are certainly not in the game of provocatively damaging our relations with China 20 21 In response to radio jamming efforts from China Newt Gingrich and House Republican leaders helped to increase the budget of RFA and VOA with further funding of RFA proposed as a way to combat China s political repression without levying trade restrictions that would anger American businesses 17 With the passage of the International Broadcasting Act in 1994 RFA was brought under auspices of the United States Information Agency where it remained until the agency s cessation of broadcasting duties and transitioned to U S Department of State operated Broadcasting Board of Governors in 1999 In September 2009 the 111th Congress amended the International Broadcasting Act to allow a one year extension of the operation of Radio Free Asia 22 RFA broadcasts in nine languages via shortwave satellite transmissions medium wave AM and FM radio and through the Internet The first transmission was in Mandarin Chinese and it is RFA s most broadcast language at twelve hours per day RFA also broadcasts in Cantonese Tibetan Kham Amdo and Uke dialects Uyghur Burmese Vietnamese Lao Khmer to Cambodia and Korean to North Korea The Korean service launched in 1997 with Jaehoon Ahn as its founding director 23 Broadcasts in Khmer to Cambodia that began under the country s communist regime continue despite the country no longer being communist 24 In 2017 RFA and other networks such as Voice of America were put under the then newly created U S Agency for Global Media that also sends representatives to its board of directors 25 In January 2022 RFA announced that it had appointed Carolyn Bartholomew as the new chair of its board of directors 26 27 As of December 2023 its board members include Michael J Green Michael Kempner Keith Richburg Shanthi Kalathil and Allison Hooker 28 RFA receives its funding through annual budget allocations from the U S Agency for Global Media 29 List of presidents edit Name TermRichard Dick Richter 1996 July 29 2005 30 31 Libby Liu September 2005 32 November 2019 33 Bay Fang November 20 2019 33 June 2020 34 Stephen J Yates December 2020 35 January 22 2021 36 Bay Fang January 2021 37 presentRadio jamming and Internet blocking edit Further information Radio jamming in China and Radio jamming in Korea Since broadcasting began in 1996 Chinese authorities have consistently jammed RFA broadcasts 38 Three RFA reporters were denied access to China to cover U S President Bill Clinton s visit in June 1998 The Chinese embassy in Washington had initially granted visas to the three but revoked them shortly before President Clinton left Washington en route to Beijing The White House and United States Department of State filed complaints with Chinese authorities over the matter but the reporters ultimately did not make the trip 38 39 The Vietnamese language broadcast signal was also jammed by the Vietnamese government from the beginning 40 Human rights legislation has been proposed in Congress that would allocate money to counter the jamming 41 Research by the OpenNet Initiative a project that monitors Internet filtering by governments worldwide showed that the Vietnamese language portion of the Radio Free Asia website was blocked by both of the tested ISPs in Vietnam while the English language portion was blocked by one of the two ISPs 42 To address radio jamming and Internet blocking by the governments of the countries that it broadcasts to the RFA website contains instruction on how to create anti jamming antennas and information on web proxies 43 On March 30 2010 China s domestic internet censor known as the Great Firewall temporarily blocked all Google searches in China due to an unintentional association with the long censored term rfa 44 According to Google the letters associated with Radio Free Asia were appearing in the URLs of all Google searches thereby triggering China s filter to block search results 45 Arrests of Uyghur journalists relatives edit nbsp RFA s six Uyghur journalists 2018 In 2014 2015 China arrested three brothers of RFA Uyghur Service journalist Shohret Hoshur Their jailing was widely described by Western publishers as Chinese authorities efforts to target Hoshur for his reports on otherwise unreported violent events of the Xinjiang conflict 46 47 48 49 Much larger numbers of relatives of RFA s Uyghur language staff have since been detained including the family of Gulchehra Hoja 50 RFA is the only station outside China that broadcasts in the Uyghur language 50 It has been recognized by journalists of The Atlantic The Washington Post The New York Times and The Economist for playing a role in exposing Xinjiang internment camps 51 52 53 In particular The New York Times regards certain RFA articles as part of the few reliable sources of information about Xinjiang 46 needs update Xinjiang internment camps edit In 2018 after RFA Journalist Gulchehra Hoja published an interview with an individual who had been detained in the Xinjiang internment camps Chinese authorities detained approximately two dozen of Hoja s relatives 54 55 56 Later that year Chinese authorities forcibly disappeared two brothers and five cousins of an editor for RFA s Uyghur language service 57 58 59 National Review has reported that as of 2021 eight of Radio Free Asia s fifteen staff of Uyghur ethnicity have family members who are detained in the Xinjiang internment camps 55 Mission editRadio Free Asia s functions as listed in 22 U S C 6208 are to provide accurate and timely information news and commentary about events in Asia and elsewhere and be a forum for a variety of opinions and voices from within Asian nations whose people do not fully enjoy freedom of expression Additionally the International Broadcasting Act of 1994 Title III of Pub L Tooltip Public Law United States 103 236 which authorized the creation of the RFA contains the following paragraph The continuation of existing U S international broadcasting and the creation of a new broadcasting service to people of the People s Republic of China and other countries of Asia which lack adequate sources of free information and ideas would enhance the promotion of information and ideas while advancing the goals of U S foreign policy The RFA s mission statement is outlined on its website as follows 10 Radio Free Asia operates under a Congressional mandate to deliver uncensored domestic news and information to China Tibet North Korea Vietnam Cambodia Laos and Burma among other places in Asia with poor media environments and few if any free speech protections RFAReception edit nbsp The logo of Radio Free Asia from 2010 to Fall 2021In 1999 Catharin Dalpino of the Brookings Institution a former assistant secretary deputy for human rights called Radio Free Asia a waste of money and elaborated that she believed its goals had more to do with domestic political symbolism than with supporting democratic movements in Asia stating that Wherever we feel there is an ideological enemy we re going to have a Radio Free Something Dalpino said she had reviewed scripts of RFA s broadcasts and viewed the station s reporting as unbalanced due to focus on the testimony of dissidents in exile rather than the events occurring in the countries themselves 60 61 Lynne Weil a director of communications and external affairs for the U S Agency for Global Media has disputed descriptions of government funded outlets as propaganda referring to outlets such as BBC as examples of non propagandist journalism funded by a government entity 62 In 2001 Richter stated that congressional interference in the organization was minimal saying that he wanted to make sure we weren t just getting set up to be a kill the Commie organization 63 Monroe Price director of the Center for Global Communication Studies described RFA as a modern iteration of Cold War use of the airwaves emphasizing a turn from the traditional Cold War targets to new ones and argued that the goals of RFA prove that the instruments of international broadcasting are a reflection of the priorities and internal politics of the sending nation 64 Vietnamese newspapers such as the state run Nhan Dan have criticized the goals of RFA and broadcasts into the country with a writer for Nhan Dan accusing the network of attempting to interfere in other countries internal affairs 65 Chinese citizens calling in to RFA have expressed a wide range of opinions on the network both positive and negative many calling from pay phones to hide their identities 63 Awards editRadio Free Asia has received several awards for its journalism including 2008 Consumer Rights award Hong Kong Consumer Council Hong Kong Journalists Association 66 2010 and 2020 The International Women s Media Foundation s Courage in Journalism Award 67 68 Edward R Murrow National Award 2019 Radio Television News Directors Association 69 Sigma Delta Chi award 2014 The Society of Professional Journalists 70 Annual Human Rights Press Award 2012 2008 2007 2006 2005 and 2000 Amnesty International Hong Kong Journalists Association Foreign Correspondents Club Hong Kong Edward R Murrow Regional Award 2013 71 72 2005 2003 2002 and 2001 Radio Television News Directors Association Gracie Allen Award 2013 2010 and 2008 American Women in Radio and Television 73 The U S Broadcasting Board of Governors David Burke Distinguished Journalism Award 2010 74 Society of Environmental Journalists s First Prize for Outstanding Online Reporting on the Environment for RFA s 2010 multimedia series The Last Untamed River 75 BenarNews a RFA affiliate that reports in Bengali Thai Bahasa Malaysia Bahasa Indonesia and English targeting South and Southeast Asia won the 2021 Murrow Award for Excellence in Video Small Digital News Organization from the Radio Television Digital News Association for a video report showcasing volunteers who helped transport bury and conduct the last rites for people who died from COVID 19 in Bangladesh 76 77 歪脑 WHYNOT simplified Chinese 歪脑 traditional Chinese 歪腦 pinyin Wainǎo a RFA affiliate aiming for younger Mandarin speakers won the 2021 Online News Association s Journalism Award Feature Small Newsroom for Preserving the Erased Decade of the Chinese Feminist Movement 78 Broadcasting information editBroadcasting Information Channels 1 2 3 4 Language Service Target audience Launch Date DailyBroadcast HoursMandarin China September 1996 24 Hours Daily over 3 channelsTibetan Tibet Autonomous RegionQinghai December 1996 23 Hours Daily 1 chBurmese Myanmar February 1997 8 Hours Daily over 3 channelsVietnamese Vietnam February 1997 8 Hours Daily over 2 channelsKorean North Korea March 1997 9 Hours Daily 1 chCantonese GuangdongGuangxiHong KongMacau May 1998 7 Hours Daily over 2 channelsLao Laos August 1997 5 Hours Daily 1 chKhmer Cambodia September 1997 5 Hours Daily 1 chUyghur Xinjiang December 1998 6 Hours Daily 1 chSee also edit nbsp United States portal nbsp Politics portal nbsp Radio portalInternational Broadcasting Bureau Media coverage of North Korea Murder of Robert Eric Wone former counsel for Radio Free Asia 79 Open Technology Fund a Radio Free Asia program that was created in 2012 to support global Internet freedom technologiesReferences edit History Radio Free Asia Retrieved July 3 2021 Bay Fang Named Radio Free Asia s New President RFA November 20 2019 Archived from the original on December 22 2019 Retrieved November 8 2019 Min Mitchell Executive Editor rfa org Radio Free Asia Retrieved February 7 2022 RFA USAGM Archived from the original on January 4 2019 Retrieved April 7 2021 Wong Edward March 3 2016 Tibetan Monk 18 Dies After Self Immolation to Protest Chinese Rule The New York Times a b Denyer Simon February 28 2018 China detains relatives of U S reporters in apparent punishment for Xinjiang coverage The Washington Post Their reporting for the U S government funded news organization has offered one of the only independent sources of information about the crackdown in the province a b Ball Molly December 16 2017 When the Presses Stop The Atlantic a b Beitsch Rebecca April 6 2021 In departure from Trump State affirms editorial freedom of Voice of America The Hill USAGM which runs Radio Free Europe Radio Free Asia and other networks is funded by the government but operates under an editorial firewall designed to block any interference in its coverage VOA Radio Free Asia get editors back post Trump but worry about damage France 24 AFP January 26 2021 a b Mission Radio Free Asia Retrieved April 20 2021 Folkenflik David January 15 2021 New Chief s Ties Shock Radio Free Asia While Pompeo Visit To VOA Stirs Outcry National Public Radio David Welch November 27 2013 ch 7 Radio Free Asia And China s Harmonious Society Gary D Rawnsley Propaganda Power and Persuasion From World War I to Wikileaks I B Tauris ISBN 978 0 85773 737 3 Archived from the original on August 19 2020 Retrieved January 3 2019 RFA U S Agency for Global Media Retrieved July 3 2021 Multiple sources Laura Oliver July 6 2023 As Cambodia approaches a crucial election journalists suffer shutdowns and abuse Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism University of Oxford Retrieved August 28 2023 Staff Writer August 2 2023 Cambodia Access to Independent Media Blocked Human Rights Watch Retrieved August 28 2023 Radio Free Asia USAGov Archived from the original on August 21 2016 Retrieved July 22 2016 Susan B Epstein CRS Report for Congress Archived September 27 2007 at the Wayback Machine PDF a b Mann Jim October 1 1997 Republican Voltage Keeps Radio Free Asia Buzzing Los Angeles Times Radio Free Asia Taiwan Sales Approved The New York Times Associated Press May 1 1994 Retrieved July 3 2021 Mann Jim September 30 1996 After 5 Years of Political Wrangling Radio Free Asia Becomes a Reality Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on August 19 2016 Retrieved July 8 2016 a b Clark Pilita Skehan Craig November 3 1997 Cabinet in a jam over US radio bid The Sydney Morning Herald Greene Gervase November 6 1997 US facing rejection on Radio Free Asia broadcasts from NT The Age Bill Text Versions for the 111th Congress 2009 2010 The Library of Congress 1 Archived March 6 2016 at the Wayback Machine Brown Emma June 10 2011 Jaehoon Ahn reporter and Post researcher dies Washington Post Archived from the original on February 6 2018 Retrieved June 17 2011 Radio Free Asia Targets Indonesia Far Eastern Economic Review 165 39 October 3 2002 US Launches New Mandarin Network as Washington and Beijing Battle for Global Influence South China Morning Post November 24 2019 Archived from the original on November 24 2019 Retrieved November 25 2019 RFA Welcomes Carolyn Bartholomew as New Board Chair Radio Free Asia Retrieved December 13 2023 Carolyn Bartholomew Chair Radio Free Asia Retrieved December 13 2023 Governance Radio Free Asia Archived from the original on December 13 2023 Retrieved December 13 2023 USAGM USAGM Retrieved December 31 2023 Radio Free Asia Founding President Retires Radio Free Asia Retrieved December 23 2020 Statement of RFA President on the Passing of Dick Richter RFA s Founding President Radio Free Asia Retrieved December 23 2020 Libby Liu President Radio Free Asia Retrieved December 23 2020 a b Bay Fang Named Radio Free Asia s New President Radio Free Asia Retrieved December 23 2020 New U S broadcasting chief fires agency heads Politico Washington Associated Press June 17 2020 Retrieved December 23 2020 Stephen Yates joins U S international broadcasting as President of RFA USAGM Retrieved December 23 2020 Folkenflik David January 22 2021 USAGM Chief Fires Trump Allies Over Radio Free Europe And Other Networks npr Retrieved April 7 2021 Fromer Jacob January 26 2021 A quick Biden fix Trump appointees ousted from US broadcasting agency South China Morning Post Retrieved April 7 2021 a b Mann Jim June 23 1998 China Bars 3 Journalists From Clinton s Trip Los Angeles Times Retrieved July 3 2021 Sieff Scully Radio Free Asia reporters stay home Clinton kowtows to Beijing s ban critics contend The Washington Times June 24 1998 Radio Free Asia says broadcasts to Vietnam are being jammed CNN February 7 1997 Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved February 11 2008 H R 1587 Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2004 Congressional Budget Office June 24 2004 Archived from the original on October 17 2007 Retrieved February 11 2008 OpenNet Initiative Vietnam OpenNet Initiative Archived from the original on May 9 2008 Retrieved February 11 2008 RFA Anti jamming antenna Archived from the original on July 23 2014 Retrieved February 11 2008 Censky Annalyn March 30 2010 Google blames China s great firewall for outage CNN Archived from the original on April 3 2010 Retrieved March 30 2010 Google says China s great firewall blocked search Reuters in Japanese March 31 2010 Retrieved August 27 2023 a b Forsythe Michael July 31 2015 A Voice From China s Uighur Homeland Reporting From the U S The New York Times Archived from the original on December 1 2017 Retrieved August 2 2015 Casey Michael July 9 2015 China s War Against One American Journalist Slate Archived from the original on July 25 2015 Retrieved August 2 2015 Denyur Simon January 8 2015 China uses long range intimidation of U S reporter to suppress Xinjiang coverage The Washington Post Archived from the original on August 22 2015 Retrieved August 2 2015 Editorial Board June 9 2015 China exports repression beyond its borders The Washington Post Archived from the original on August 19 2015 Retrieved August 2 2015 a b To suppress news of Xinjiang s gulag China threatens Uighurs abroad The Economist October 23 2019 Archived from the original on October 24 2019 Retrieved October 24 2019 Knowledge of China s gulag owes much to American backed radio The Economist October 26 2019 Archived from the original on October 25 2019 Retrieved October 25 2019 Hiatt Fred November 3 2019 In China every day is Kristallnacht The Washington Post Archived from the original on September 7 2020 Retrieved November 4 2019 What It s Like to Report on Rights Abuses Against Your Own Family The Atlantic March 1 2019 Archived from the original on December 11 2019 Retrieved December 18 2019 Greenberg Ilan June 23 2021 How China threatens prominent Uyghurs in the US in China and everywhere Coda Story a b Nordlinger Jay May 4 2021 A Uyghur Daughter and Journalist National Review Hoja Gulchehra December 5 2019 Uighur journalist Gulchehra Hoja on exposing China s detention camps FT Magazine McCormick Andrew March 1 2019 What It s Like to Report on Rights Abuses Against Your Own Family The Atlantic Retrieved June 12 2021 Ramzy Austin March 1 2018 After U S Based Reporters Exposed Abuses China Seized Their Relatives The New York Times Retrieved June 12 2021 Lipes Joshua Hoshur Shohret March 3 2021 Brothers of RFA Journalist Confirmed Detained by Xinjiang Authorities Radio Free Asia Retrieved June 12 2021 Hopkins Mark 1999 A Babel of Broadcasts Columbia Journalism Review 38 2 44 ISSN 0010 194X The U S is propagandizing the world with a jumble of wasteful redundant radio and TV programs Voice of America Radio Free This and That Brookings Institution Asian scholar Catharin Dalpino says I do think Radio Free Asia is propagandistic A new agency with a bold mission is set to boost America s broadcast efforts overseas May 1 1999 Archived from the original on September 21 2015 Retrieved June 23 2021 Chuck Elizabeth July 20 2013 Taxpayer money at work US funded foreign broadcasts finally available in the US NBC News a b Gamerman Ellen April 7 2001 China Calling The Baltimore Sun Price Monroe 2003 Public diplomacy and the transformation of international broadcasting Cardozo Arts amp Entertainment Law Journal 21 1 51 85 Mares Peter 2013 Losing Control Freedom of the Press in Asia ANU Press p 250 JSTOR j ctt5vj71c 18 Retrieved July 6 2021 Investigative Reporting Rewarded in Hong Kong Radio Free Asia June 27 2008 Retrieved July 6 2021 Commentator Wins Courage in Journalism Award Radio Free Asia May 13 2010 Retrieved April 29 2021 Gulchehra Hoja International Women s Media Foundation Retrieved April 25 2021 2019 Edward R Murrow Awards Radio Television Digital News Association Retrieved April 25 2021 2014 Sigma Delta Chi Award Honorees Society of Professional Journalists Retrieved April 25 2021 Radio Free Asia Wins Regional Edward R Murrow Award rfa org Washington April 18 2013 Retrieved February 7 2022 2013 Regional Edward R Murrow Award Winners Radio Television Digital News Association Retrieved February 7 2022 Radio Free Asia Wins Gracie for Web Coverage of Uyghur Women Radio Free Asia February 24 2010 Retrieved July 6 2021 Burke Honors reporting in Korea and China Radio Free Asia Retrieved April 29 2021 RFA Wins Major Environmental Reporting Prize Radio Free Asia July 28 2010 Retrieved April 29 2021 2021 National Edward R Murrow Award winners www rtdna org Retrieved December 14 2021 BenarNews an RFA Affiliate Wins Murrow Award for COVID Report USAGM Retrieved December 14 2021 Preserving the Erased Decade of the Chinese Feminist Movement Retrieved December 14 2021 Duggan Paul Clarence Williams November 1 2008 Cover Up Alleged in D C Killing Of Lawyer The Washington Post Archived from the original on November 7 2012 Retrieved December 31 2008 Further reading editEngelhardt Tom 1998 The End of Victory Culture Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation University of Massachusetts Press ISBN 1 55849 133 3 Laville Helen Wilford Hugh 1996 The US Government Citizen Groups And the Cold War The State Private Network Routledge ISBN 0 415 35608 3 Thussu Daya Kishan 2000 International Communication Continuity and Change Arnold ISBN 0 340 74130 9 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Radio Free Asia Official website nbsp Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Radio Free Asia amp oldid 1195053340, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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