State newspaper gloated that the network has "now been discarded by its own government like a dirty rag".

Summary

China’s state media praised Trump’s decision to cut funding for Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), calling them “propaganda” outlets.

The move put 1,300 VOA staff on leave and drew criticism from press freedom advocates, who warn it benefits authoritarian regimes.

VOA and RFA have long reported on human rights abuses in China, North Korea, and other restricted regions.

RFA’s CEO condemned the cuts as a “reward to dictators,” while the Czech Republic has asked the EU for support to keep Radio Free Europe running.

    • Ferrous@lemmy.mlEnglish
      8·
      20 hours ago

      Previously, the CIA themselves.

      “The Committee for a Free Asia’ in 1951, sanctioned by the National Security Council and with the knowledge of Congressional Oversight Committees, supported by covert indirect CIA funding, the Committee had been created to help find ways to contain and expand private U.S. contact and communication with people of Asia following the establishment of Communist regimes in China and North Korea. The emphasis was on a private instrumentality that would be privately governed and have the freedom and flexibility to do things the government would like to see done but which it chose not to do or could not do directly.”

      "The question has been asked: ‘Why a Radio Free Asia?’ It is proposed to answer that question in terms of our objectives in the Far East and the effectiveness of radio in accomplishing them … Apart from its covert propaganda usefulness to the United States, RFA proposes to speak to Asia in the vernacular of Asia and about the things with which Asians are most concerned. It proposes to assist and encourage Asians in fighting Communism and establishing or recovering their dependence by spreading the truth in Asia about Asians.

      https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/cia-and-committee-free-asia-under-project-dtpillar