Radio Free Asia news production and broadcasts cease as funding ends

Radio Free Asia (RFA) announced that it had ceased all news production on Friday due to “uncertain funding” after 30 years of broadcasting. RFA scaled back its language services in Burmese, Tibetan, Uyghur, and English in May after nearly 90 percent of its U.S.-based staff were laid off following a major funding cut in March. 

“[The end of RFA funding] forced the suspension of all remaining news content production – for the first time in its 29 years of existence,” Bay Fang, the RFA President and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement on Oct. 29. 

RFA began closing overseas bureaus, laying off staff, and paying severance to journalists—many of whom have been on unpaid leave since the U.S. President Donald Trump’s March 14 executive order to terminate government funding for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the body that oversees RFA, as well as the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

“RFA was once a prestigious and respected news organization. I feel deeply saddened, both as a long-time follower and as a former staff member,” a former Burmese language journalist at RFA told DVB on condition of anonymity. 

The journalist added that only about 30 out of the 100 permanent staff in the RFA Burmese language service received compensation, while contract workers—those hired on short-term agreements, often renewed every few months or annually—and freelancers received no compensation.