Radio Free Asia, a U.S.-funded news outlet delivering uncensored information to audiences in China, North Korea, and elsewhere across Asia, will be hollowed out following a probe by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
In a March 14 executive order, Trump ordered the “elimination” of the United States Agency for Global Media to the “maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
The impending closure is a hit to Washington’s ‘soft power’ — the ability to win hearts and minds without resorting to ‘hard power,’ or force — and will deprive readers and listeners of valuable, on-the-ground reporting.
Every week, an estimated 60 million people tune into RFA, which transmits news in nine languages in “countries that have little to no free press, often providing the only source of uncensored, non-propaganda news.”
The outlet’s president said RFA would challenge Trump’s order, stating that “the termination of RFA’s grant is a reward to dictators and despots.” At least one Republican lawmaker agreed, stating that “gutting Radio Free Asia ... cedes leverage to the Chinese Communist Party, North Korea, and other regimes.”
