WASHINGTON- Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement as Radio Free Asia (RFA), Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) face funding issues that will necessitate major layoffs as soon as this week, impacting hundreds of employees.
“The Trump Administration’s decision to unlawfully stop funding USAGM networks—which include Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks—will halt the provision of unbiased information to countries with no press freedom. When America retreats from the world and the global information space, Chinese propaganda will fill the void, threatening our core national security interests. There is a reason that authoritarians including Xi Jinping in China, Ayatollah Khamenei in Iran and Aleksandr Lukashenka in Belarus oppose these networks’ operations and jail their journalists or their journalists’ loved ones.
“The funding cutoff is both illegal and an own goal that kneecaps American leadership in the world. These networks are running out of money and some may be forced to lay off journalists by the end of the week. As Trump administration officials threaten to send hundreds of journalists and their families into unemployment, they have not even had the decency to meet with the network heads forced with making impossible decisions that impact real people.
“As RFA and MBN appear unable to make payroll this month, with RFE/RL only weeks behind, I call on Senior Advisor Kari Lake to sit down with network heads no later than Thursday. If these grantees do not receive their Congressionally-appropriated funds in short order, by the time USAGM communicates their intent, networks will have already shuttered their doors. In addition, while USAGM said it had rescinded the termination of the RFE/RL grant, no funds are flowing. I urge Ms. Lake to immediately restore the RFE/RL grant, as well as the MBN and RFA grants.”
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