Czech appeal to help European Union with radio -free Europe after Trump Cut
The Czech Republic is emphasizing for the support of the European Union to maintain Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after the Trump administration cut funding for global broadcasters.
External Affairs Minister John Lipvsky said that RFE/RL located in Prague, “is one of some reliable sources in dictatorship like Iran, Belarus and Afghanistan”.
In Eastern Europe, the outlet funded by the US government reached millions of listeners during the Cold War, helping to spread democratic values, while communist officials tightly control the local media.
Elon Musk, in -charge of cost cuts under Donald Trump, dismissed RFE/RL as “the crazy people left crazy, speaking to themselves and dismissed the $ 1b/year as American taxpayer’s money” while talking to themselves.
But RFE/RL Chairman and CEO Stephen Capus said that the grant agreement of the broadcaster would be “a major gift for the enemies of the US”.
He said, “Iranian Ayatollah in Moscow and Minsk, Chinese communist leaders and Autocrats will celebrate the death of RFE/RL after 75 years,” he said.
The concern of Mr. Capus was echoed by the independent committee to protect journalists (CPJs), complaining that thousands of journalists would be hit by American funding cuts – and some of the sensor countries were already “serious threats”.
RFE/RL says it reaches the weekly audience of about 50 million people in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan and the Republic of East-Soviyat in Central Asia and Caucasus.
Lipvsky of the Czech Republic said he would discuss with the Foreign Ministers of the European Union “at least how to maintain his broadcast”.
RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia and Voice of America (VOA) have rely on the funding from the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) for decades.
President Trump signed an executive order on Friday, when Musk batted on the X, “closed them”.
The move with media policies of authorities in Russia, China and Iran is a contradiction, which has put money in its state broadcasters to combat the influence of Western liberalism worldwide.
According to the AFP news agency report, most of the full-time employees of VOA have been placed on administrative holidays and broadcasters contractors, dominating non-English language services, has been closed.
