The Czech Republic is urging the EU to provide support for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after the Trump administration decided to cut funding for the global broadcaster. According to Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, RFE/RL is one of the most credible sources of information in countries like Iran, Belarus, and Afghanistan. During the Cold War, the US-funded RFE/RL played a crucial role in spreading democratic values in Eastern Europe, at a time when local media was heavily controlled by communist authorities. However, Elon Musk, who is in charge of cutting costs under Donald Trump, dismissed RFE/RL as “radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money”. RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus warned that canceling the broadcaster’s funding would be a huge gift to America’s enemies, including the Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk. The independent Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed similar concerns, stating that thousands of journalists would be affected by the funding cut and that some who work in censored countries are already in grave danger. RFE/RL reaches approximately 50 million people each week in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, and former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Lipavsky of the Czech Republic plans to discuss with other EU foreign ministers ways to at least partially maintain broadcasting. RFE/RL, along with Radio Free Asia and Voice of America (VOA), has relied on funding from the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) for several decades. President Trump recently signed an executive order to cut their funding, following Musk’s criticism on X, where he called for them to be shut down. The funding cut for VOA has resulted in most of its full-time staff being put on administrative leave and non-English language contractors being laid off. This move stands in contrast to the media policies of authorities in Russia, China, and Iran, who have been investing heavily in their state broadcasters to counter Western liberalism.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2d5gpnv6mo