Radio Free Asia (RFA) was founded almost three decades ago to spread awareness of developments and issues surrounding Asia. However, cuts to government funding by the Trump administration have forced the platform to cease operations for now.
The outlet had an annual budget of $60.8 million, comparable to the funding for a small public school district, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Despite the pause, journalists who had written numerous pieces expressed their concern, under the united slogan of: “We are RFA.”
In one of the last articles posted before the pause, RFA journalists recorded themselves in videos emphasizing the importance of RFA’s coverage, as well as the consequences of its absence.
“We bear the responsibility to tell the truth and break the censorship and propaganda the Vietnamese authorities impose on the entire society,” Truong Son, director of RFA Vietnamese, said in his video.
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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been one of RFA’s most prominent topics, with the outlet doing much to expose Beijing’s heavy handed efforts to control the narrative.
“Without it [information], there can be no freedom of thought,” RFA Mandarin’s Kitty Wang said. “Through my work at RFA, I hope to bring them light.”
Some of RFA’s reporting contributed to tangible impacts, including the U.S. officially recognizing the atrocities against the ethnic Uyghur population in China as genocide.
“As a result of our groundbreaking reports, the first Trump administration determined that China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uyghur people,” Alim Seytoff, director of RFA Uyghur Service, said.
RFA has also helped connect Tibetans living under China’s rule to the outside world, as a RFA Tibetan journalist, whose identity is left anonymous for safety, shared.
“RFA sheds light on the darkest corner of Tibet,” he said, “And serves as a window for Tibetans inside the region to see the world outside.”
The ongoing civil war in Myanmar is another viral subject for RFA, with many of its journalists braving the danger to cover the violence committed by the military junta.
“While our voice has been diminished, our fight for human rights, press freedom, and a just future for Myanmar continues,” RFA Burmese’s Khet Mar shared.
Fellow Burmese journalist Aye Aye Mon dared to enter the field, interviewing soldiers and hiding in a bunker as a junta plane circled above her.
“It’s an honor to provide a voice for those who need it most,” she said.
RFA English podcaster Eugene Whong, whose voice fueled many of RFA’s videos, shared how the video-recorded death of Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing, the first peaceful protestor killed in the 2021 Myanmar coup, informed his understanding on the matter.
“I realized that at that moment these were not just words that I was reading into a microphone,” Whong said. “It’s an actual account of events that happened to real people.”
RFA also maintained branches in multiple countries, allowing its expanded team of journalists to reach people across the continent. These reporters collectively expressed their commitment to the crucial work of exposing these issues to the larger world.
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No safe task
However, reporting for RFA is not a simple task, with members of RFA even becoming part of the story. Members were targeted; some even having family members affected at home.
“China arrested and sentenced at least 50 of our colleagues’ relatives and loved ones in an attempt to stop us from what we are doing,” RFA Uyghur’s Mamatjan Juma said.
The anonymous Tibetan journalist also revealed that his family is being monitored at all times. Yet, he is still committed to keep exposing the CCP’s lies.
Another anonymous journalist for RFA Cantonese shared that he had to hide his identity for fear of retaliation under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, which forced him to flee the city.
“If I stay in Hong Kong and bow to the government, we have to sacrifice our principles as independent journalists,” he said.
Tashi Wangchuk of RFA’s Tibetan Service revealed that he also received threats from the CCP for his coverage on Tibetan issues. However, he vows to keep bringing the truth, despite growing intimidation.
RFA journalists still hold onto their commitment to sharing stories and lending the world its eyes and ears to the problems lying in Asia.
RFA’s pause
Starting Oct. 31, RFA halted its news coverage in response to the Trump administration’s cuts to its funding previously provided by U.S. Congress. RFA’s CEO Bay Fang said in a statement that the platform would “responsibly shrink its already reduced footprint” to better save resources and prepare for possible revival of its operations, should it be funded again.
This “reduced footprint” refers to RFA’s current state, where it had been forced to write fewer stories online to save costs.
According to the Trump administration, operations like RFA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America (VoA) are “poorly run and a waste of government resources,” the Guardian wrote.
RFA’s closure came after Trump’s visit with Chinese president Xi Jinping in South Korea on Oct. 30.
Sophie Richardson, co-executive director of the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, called RFA’s shutdown as “a gift to dictators like Xi Jinping.”
