A number of U.S. congressmen, human rights advocates, and scholars have expressed opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent cuts to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), particularly the termination of federal funding for independent media such as Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi issued a statement on Tuesday criticizing the cancellation of RFA funding, emphasizing that Congress created the USAGM on a broad bipartisan basis because it is a key tool for promoting democratic values and human rights. Krishnamoorthi, who serves as a ranking member of the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, said the RFA and other USAGM projects are crucial to countering CCP narratives and providing uncensored reporting to the Chinese people.
Additionally, senior fellow and Director of the Hudson Institute’s China Center Miles Yu wrote in The Washington Times that he believes China would quickly fill the void left behind by the loss of media sources like RFA and the world would become increasingly dominated by authoritarian regimes.
According to Associate China Director at Human Rights Watch Maya Wang, the Chinese government has only intensified its manipulation of the information ecosystem throughout the past decade. She said RFA’s multilingual broadcasts are important to ensure balanced news coverage can enter and leave China.
RFA was founded in 1994 by the late Jesse Helms, who was a Republican Senator for North Carolina, with the support of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. It provides news in nine languages online and via shortwave radio.