Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

File:Newsroom Radio Free Europe.jpg

Radio Free Europe was created and grew in its early years through the efforts of the National Committee for a Free Europe (NCFE), an anti-communist CIA front organization that was formed by Allen Dulles in New York City in 1949.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=12}}Weiner, Tim: "Legacy of Ashes", p. 36. Doubleday, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0307389008}} RFE/RL received funds covertly from the CIA until 1972.Prados, John: Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA (Ivan R. Dee, 2012). {{ISBN|9781566635745}}{{Cite journal |last=Meyer |first=Cord |date=2000 |title=The CIA and Radio Free Europe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43134017 |journal=Georgetown Journal of International Affairs |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=127–130 |jstor=43134017 |issn=1526-0054}} During RFE's earliest years of existence, the CIA and U.S. Department of State issued broad policy directives, and a system evolved where broadcast policy was determined through negotiation between them and RFE staff.{{Cite web|last=Hudson|first=John|title=U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News to Americans|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-ban-spreads-government-made-news-to-americans/|access-date=2021-05-27|website=Foreign Policy|date=14 July 2013 |language=en-US}}

Radio Free Europe received widespread public support from Eisenhower's "Crusade for Freedom" campaign.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=24}} In 1950, over 16 million Americans signed Eisenhower's "Freedom Scrolls" on a publicity trip to more than 20 U.S. cities and contributed $1,317,000 to the expansion of RFE.{{harvnb|Cummings|2008|p=169}}

Writer Sig Mickelson said that the NCFE's mission was to support refugees and provide them with a useful outlet for their opinions and creativity while increasing exposure to the modern world.{{harvnb|Mickelson|1983|p=18}} The NCFE divided its program into three parts: exile relations, radio, and American contacts.

The United States funded a long list of projects to counter the "Communist appeal" among intellectuals in Europe and the developing world.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=10}} RFE was developed out of a belief that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political rather than military means.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=7}} American policymakers such as George Kennan and John Foster Dulles acknowledged that the Cold War was essentially a war of ideas. The implementation of surrogate radio stations was a key part of the greater psychological war effort.

RFE was modeled after Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) a U.S. government-sponsored radio service initially intended for Germans living in the American sector of Berlin. According to Arch Puddington, a former bureau manager for RFE/RL, it was also widely listened to by East Germans.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=14}} Staffed almost entirely by Germans with minimal U.S. supervision, the station provided free media to German listeners.

File:RFE RL building construction.jpg

In January 1950, the NCFE obtained a transmitter base at Lampertheim, West Germany, and on July 4 of the same year RFE completed its first broadcast aimed at Czechoslovakia.{{harvnb|Mickelson|1983|p=30}} In late 1950, RFE began to assemble a full-fledged foreign broadcast staff, becoming more than a "mouthpiece for exiles".{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=37}} Teams of journalists were hired for each language service, and an elaborate system of intelligence gathering provided up-to-date broadcast material. Most of this material came from a network of well-connected émigrés and interviews with travelers and defectors. RFE did not use paid agents inside the Iron Curtain and based its bureaus in regions popular with exiles.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=39}} RFE also extensively monitored Communist bloc publications and radio services, creating a body of information that would later serve as a resource for organizations across the world.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=40}}

In addition to its regular broadcasts, RFE spread broadcasts through a series of operations that distributed leaflets via meteorological balloons; one such operation, Prospero, sent messages to Czechoslovakia.[http://www.rferl.org/content/off_mic_using_balloons_to_breach_iron_curtain/1844564.html Using Balloons to Breach The Iron Curtain], Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (August 22, 2016). From October 1951 to November 1956, the skies of Central Europe were filled with more than 350,000 balloons carrying over 300 million leaflets, posters, books, and other printed matter. The nature of the leaflets varied, and according to Arch Puddington included messages of support and encouragement "to citizens suffering under communist oppression", "satirical criticisms of communist regimes and leaders", information about dissident movements and human rights campaigns, and messages expressing the solidarity of the American people with the residents of Eastern European nations. Puddington stated that "the project served as a publicity tool to solidify RFE's reputation as an unbiased broadcaster".{{clarify|date=October 2021}}{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=62}}

File:Radio Liberty Pals.jpg

Whereas Radio Free Europe broadcast to Soviet satellite countries, Radio Liberty broadcast to the Soviet Union.{{harvnb|Johnson|2010|p=43}} Radio Liberty was formed by American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (Amcomlib) in 1951.{{harvnb|Johnson|2010|pp=37, 43}} Originally named Radio Liberation from Bolshevism, the station was renamed in 1956 to Radio Liberation in 1956, and received its present name, Radio Liberty, after a policy statement emphasizing "liberalization" rather than "liberation".{{harvnb|Cummings|2008|p=170}}{{cite web|last=Cummings|first=Richard H.|date=December 14, 2021|title=Soviet Cold War Operations against RFE/RL Ukrainian Service|access-date=July 30, 2024|url=https://archive.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/soviet-cold-war-operations-against-rfe-rl-ukrainian-service.html|publisher=Kyiv Post}}

Radio Liberty began broadcasting from Lampertheim on March 1, 1953, gaining a substantial audience when it covered the death of Joseph Stalin four days later. In order to better serve a greater geographic area, RFE supplemented its shortwave transmissions from Lampertheim with broadcasts from a transmitter base at Glória, Portugal in 1951.{{harvnb|Mickelson|1983|p=48}} It also had a base at Oberwiesenfeld Airport on the outskirts of Munich,{{harvnb|Johnson|2010|p=37}} employing several former Nazi agents who had been involved in the Ostministerium under Gerhard von Mende during World War II.{{harvnb|Johnson|2010|pp=49–64}} In 1955, Radio Liberty began broadcasting programs to Russia's eastern provinces from shortwave transmitters located on Taiwan.{{harvnb|Mickelson|1983|p=110}} In 1959, Radio Liberty commenced broadcasts from a base at Platja de Pals, Spain.{{harvnb|Mickelson|1983|p=80}}

Radio Liberty expanded its audience by broadcasting programs in languages other than Russian. By March 1954, Radio Liberty was broadcasting six to seven hours daily in eleven languages.{{harvnb|Mickelson|1983|p=241}} By December 1954, Radio Liberty was broadcasting in 17 languages including Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek, Tatar, Bashkir, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, and other languages of the Caucasus and Central Asia.

File:Biblis RFE RL 01.jpg, Germany, 2007]]

According to certain European politicians such as Petr Nečas, RFE played a significant role in the collapse of communism and the development of democracy in Eastern Europe.{{Cite web|last=Nečas|first=Petr|author-link=Petr Nečas|date=5 May 2011|title=RFE demolished the information wall of the communist regime|url=https://www.vlada.cz/en/media-centrum/aktualne/rfe-demolished-the-information-wall-of-the-communist-regime-83925/tmplid-676/|access-date=2020-12-07|website=vlada.cz|publisher=Government of the Czech Republic}}{{Cite web|date=16 May 2011|title=Sixty years of RFE: 'Best propaganda is the truth'|url=http://ceskapozice.lidovky.cz/tema/sixty-years-of-rfe-best-propaganda-is-the-truth.A110516_085955_pozice_14728|access-date=7 December 2020|website=Lidové noviny}}{{Cite journal|last=Kasprzak|first=Michal|date=2004|title=Radio Free Europe and the Catholic Church in Poland During the 1950s and 1960s|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40860045|journal=Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes|volume=46|issue=3/4|pages=315–341|doi=10.1080/00085006.2004.11092362|jstor=40860045|s2cid=192186418|issn=0008-5006}} Unlike government-censored programs, RFE publicized anti-Soviet protests and nationalist movements. Its audience increased substantially following the failed Berlin riots of 1953 and the highly publicized defection of Józef Światło.{{harvnb|Mickelson|1983|p=87}} Arch Puddington argues that its Hungarian service's coverage of Poland's Poznań riots in 1956 served as an inspiration for the Hungarian revolution that year.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=94}}

During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, RFE broadcasts encouraged rebels to fight and suggested that Western support was imminent.{{efn|The RFE broadcast's ('notorious', according to Rawnley) role in the crisis was established by a United Nations Committee looking into the crisis in 1957 already.{{sfn|Rawnsley|1996}}}}{{cite web|last1=Griffith|first1=William|title=Policy Review of Voice for Free Hungary Programming, October 23 – November 23, 1956|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB76/ |date=4 November 2002 |website=National Security Archive|access-date=20 April 2015}} These RFE broadcasts violated Eisenhower's policy, which had determined that the United States would not provide military support for the Revolution.{{cite web|last1=Byrne|first1=Malcolm|title=The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A History in Documents|url=http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB76/|website=National Security Archive|access-date=20 April 2015}} According to Arch Puddington, a former bureau manager for RFL/RL, a number of changes were implemented at RFE in the wake of this scandal, including the establishment of the Broadcast Analysis Division to ensure that broadcasts were accurate and professional while maintaining the journalists' autonomy.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=117}}

RFE was seen as a serious threat by Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu. From the mid-1970s to his overthrow and execution in December 1989, Ceaușescu waged a vengeful war against the RFE/RL under the program "Ether". Ether operations included physical attacks on Romanian journalists working for RFE/RL, including the controversial circumstances surrounding the deaths of three directors of RFE/RL's Romanian Service.{{harvnb|Cummings|2008|p=173}}

On February 21, 1981, RFE/RL's headquarters in Munich was struck by a massive bomb, causing $2 million in damage.{{cite news|last1=Cummings|first1=Richard|title=Special Feature: The 1981 Bombing of RFE/RL|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1080043.html|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=9 April 2008 |access-date=17 April 2015 |ref=none}} Several employees were injured, but there were no fatalities. Stasi files opened after 1989 indicated that the bombing was carried out by a group under the direction of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (known as "Carlos the Jackal"), and paid for by Nicolae Ceaușescu, president of Romania.{{cite web|url=http://hoorferl.stanford.edu/RFE/exhibits_show.php?id=7|title="Voices of Hope" Hoover Institution exhibit on RFE/RL |work=hoorferl.stanford.edu |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018001510/http://hoorferl.stanford.edu/RFE/exhibits_show.php?id=7|archive-date=2013-10-18}}

But, according to the former head of the KGB Counterintelligence Department K, general Oleg Kalugin, the bombing operation was planned over two years by Department K, with the active involvement of a KGB mole inside the radio station, Oleg Tumanov. This revelation directly implicates KGB colonel Oleg Nechiporenko, who recruited Tumanov in the early 1960s and was his Moscow curator.{{cite web |url=http://ohranka.com/2013/08/%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B3-%D1%82%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0-%D0%BA%D0%B3%D0%B1-%D1%87%D0%B0/ |trans-title=Oleg Tumanov, "KGB AGENT CONFESSIONS", PART III - end |title=Олег Туманов, "ПРИЗНАНИЯ АГЕНТА КГБ", ЧАСТЬ III – окончание}}Oleg Kalugin – Spymaster. My Thirty-two Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West. Basic Books, Philadelphia, 2009 pp. 224–25 Nechiporenko has never denied his involvement. In an interview with Radio Liberty in 2003, he justified the bombing on the grounds that RFE/RL was an American propaganda tool against the Soviet Union.{{cite web|url=http://archive.svoboda.org/programs/TD/2003/TD.021603.asp |title=Радио Свобода: Программы: История и современность: Разница во времени |trans-title=Radio Liberty: Programs: History and Modernity: Time Difference |website=archive.svoboda.org}} Tumanov was exfiltrated back to the USSR in 1986.{{cite web|url=https://coldwarradios.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/russian-teddy-bear-was-kgb-mole-oleg.html|title=The Russian Teddy Bear was a KGB Mole: The Oleg Tumanov Story|website=coldwarradios.blogspot.co.uk|access-date=2016-10-06|archive-date=2016-08-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817130408/https://coldwarradios.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/russian-teddy-bear-was-kgb-mole-oleg.html|url-status=dead}} Nechiporenko contacts with Carlos in the 1970s were confirmed by Nechiporenko himself in an article published by Segodnya in 2000Андрей Солдатов – По Чечне шпионы ходят хмуро... Мировые разведцентры изучают Россию через северокавказский бинокль. Сегодня, 24 февраля 2000 (tr. "Andrey Soldatov - Spies are walking around Chechnya glumly... World intelligence centers are studying Russia through North Caucasian binoculars. Today, February 24, 2000") and by an article in Izvestia in 2001.Евгений Крутиков – Шпиономания. В Тель-Авиве предостерегают Россию от пакистанской разведки. Известия, 9 июля 2001 (tr. "Evgeny Krutikov - Spy mania. Tel Aviv warns Russia against Pakistani intelligence. Izvestia, July 9, 2001")

For the first two days following the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986, the official Eastern Bloc media did not report any news about the disaster, nor any full account for another four months. According to the Hoover Institute, the people of the Soviet Union "became frustrated with inconsistent and contradictory reports", and 36% of them turned to Western radio to provide accurate and pertinent information.{{cite book|last1=Parta|first1=R. Eugene|title=Discoverying the Hidden Listener|date=2007|publisher=Hoover Institute Press Publication|isbn=978-0817947323|page=57}} Listenership at RFE/RL "shot up dramatically" as a "great many hours" of broadcast time were devoted to the dissemination of life-saving news and information following the disaster.{{cite book|last1=Sosin|first1=Gene|title=Sparks of Liberty: An Insiders Memoir of Radio Liberty|date=2010|publisher=Penn State Press|page=195}} Broadcast topics included "precautions for exposure to radioactive fallout" and reporting on the plight of the Estonians who were tasked with providing the clean-up operations in Ukraine.

Communist governments also sent agents to infiltrate RFE's headquarters. Although some remained on staff for extended periods of time, government authorities discouraged their agents from interfering with broadcast activity, fearing that this could arouse suspicions and detract from their original purpose of gathering information on the radio station's activities. From 1965 to 1971, an agent of the SB (Służba Bezpieczeństwa, Communist Poland's security service) successfully infiltrated the station with an operative, Captain Andrzej Czechowicz. According to former Voice of America Polish service director Ted Lipien:

"Czechowicz is perhaps the most well known communist-era Polish spy who was still an active agent while working at RFE in the late 1960s. Technically, he was not a journalist. As a historian by training, he worked in the RFE's media analysis service in Munich. After more than five years, Czechowicz returned to Poland in 1971 and participated in programs aimed at embarrassing Radio Free Europe and the United States government."Lipien, Ted (23 June 2007), "[http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=10038 Old spy scandals still haunting US broadcasters?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610131523/http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=10038 |date=2011-06-10 }}", Spero News.

According to Richard Cummings, former Security Chief of Radio Free Europe, other espionage incidents included a failed attempt by a Czechoslovak Intelligence Service (StB) agent in 1959 to poison the salt shakers in the organization's cafeteria.{{cite web|url=http://www.globeatlantic.org/index.php?option=com_newsfeeds&catid=18&Itemid=49|title=Cummings, Richard, "The Best Spy Stories of the Cold War"|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090313045921/http://www.globeatlantic.org/index.php?option=com_newsfeeds&catid=18&Itemid=49|archive-date=2009-03-13}}

In late 1960, an upheaval in the Czechoslovak service led to a number of dramatic changes in the organization's structure. RFE's New York headquarters could no longer effectively manage their Munich subsidiary. As a result major management responsibilities were transferred to Munich, making RFE a European-based organization.{{harvnb|Mickelson|1983|p=115}}

According to Puddington, Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa and Russian reformer Grigory Yavlinsky would later recall secretly listening to the broadcasts despite the heavy jamming.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=310}}

The Soviet government turned its efforts towards blocking reception of Western programs. To limit access to foreign broadcasts, the Central Committee decreed that factories should remove all components allowing short-wave reception from USSR-made radio receivers. However, consumers easily learned that the necessary spare parts were available on the black market, and electronics engineers opposing the idea would gladly convert radios back to being able to receive short-wave transmissions.{{harvnb|Mikkonen|2010|p=781}}

The most extensive form of reception obstruction was radio jamming.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=214}} This was controlled by the KGB, which in turn reported to the Central Committee. Jamming was an expensive and arduous procedure, and its efficacy is still debated. In 1958, the Central Committee mentioned that the sum spent on jamming was greater than the sum spent on domestic and international broadcasting combined.{{harvnb|Mikkonen|2010|p=786}} The Central Committee has admitted that circumventing jamming was both possible and practised in the Soviet Union. Due to limited resources, authorities prioritized jamming based on the location, language, time, and theme of Western transmissions.{{harvnb|Mikkonen|2010|p=783}} Highly political programs in Russian, broadcast at prime time to urban centers, were perceived as the most dangerous. Seen as less politically threatening, Western music such as jazz was often transmitted unjammed.{{harvnb|Mikkonen|2010|p=784}}

During and after the Cuban Missile Crisis in late 1962, jamming was intensified. The Cuban Missile Crisis, however, was followed by a five-year period when the jamming of most foreign broadcasters ceased, only to intensify again with the Prague Spring in 1968. It ceased again in 1973, when Henry Kissinger became the U.S. Secretary of State. The end to jamming came abruptly on 21 November 1988 when Soviet and Eastern European jamming of virtually all foreign broadcasts, including RFE/RL services, ceased at 21:00 CET.{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=A. Ross |last2=Parta |first2=R. Eugene |title=Cold War Broadcasting |date=2010 |publisher=Central European University Press |location=Budapest |isbn=9789639776807 |pages=51–64}}

During the Cold War, RFE was often criticized in the United States as not being sufficiently anti-communist. Although its non-governmental status spared it from full scale McCarthyist investigations, several RFE journalists, including the director of the Czech service, Ferdinand Peroutka, were accused of being soft on Communism.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=83}} Fulton Lewis, a U.S. radio commentator and fervent anti-communist, was one of RFE's sharpest critics throughout the 1950s. His critical broadcasts inspired other journalists to investigate the inner workings of the organization, including its connection to the CIA. When its CIA ties were exposed in the 1960s, direct funding responsibility shifted to Congress.[https://books.google.com/books?id=1-JjwDPcOLQC Historical dictionary of American propaganda], Martin J. Manning, Herbert Romerstein. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. {{ISBN|0-313-29605-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-313-29605-5}}. p. 51

RFE/RL received funds from the CIA until 1972.{{cite web | title=Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty | website=Wilson Center | date=7 September 2021 | url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/radio-free-europe-and-radio-liberty | access-date=15 October 2021 | author=A. Ross Johnson }}{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=196}} The CIA's relationship with the radio stations began to break down in 1967, when Ramparts magazine published an exposé claiming that the CIA was channeling funds to civilian organizations. Further investigation into the CIA's funding activities revealed its connection to both RFE and RL, sparking significant media outrage.{{harvnb|Mickelson|1983|p=126}}.

In 1971, the radio stations came under public spotlight once more when U.S. Senator Clifford Case introduced Senate Bill 18, which would have removed funding for RFE and RL from the CIA's budget, appropriated $30 million to pay for fiscal year 1972 activities, and required the State Department to temporarily oversee the radio stations.

In May 1972, President Richard Nixon appointed a special commission to deliberate RFE/RL's future.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=209}} The commission proposed that funding come directly from the United States Congress and that a new organization, the Board for International Broadcasting (BIB) would simultaneously link the stations and the federal government, and serve as an editorial buffer between them.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=210}}

According to Arch Puddington, a former bureau manager for RFE/RL, though both radio stations initially received most of their funding from the CIA, RFE maintained a strong sense of autonomy; Puddington says that under Cord Meyer, the CIA officer in charge of overseeing broadcast services from 1954 to 1971, the CIA took a position of minimal government interference in radio affairs and programming.

In 1974, they came under the control of an organization called the Board for International Broadcasting (BIB). The BIB was designed to receive appropriations from Congress, give them to radio managements, and oversee the appropriation of funds.{{harvnb|Mickelson|1983|p=153}} On 1 October 1976, the two radio stations merged to form Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and added the three Baltic language services to their repertoire.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Funding for RFE/RL increased during the Reagan administration. President Ronald Reagan, a fervent anticommunist, urged the stations to be more critical of the communist regimes. This presented a challenge to RFE/RL's broadcast strategy, which had been very cautious since the controversy over its alleged role in the Hungarian Revolution.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=254}}

During the Mikhail Gorbachev era in the Soviet Union under Glasnost, RFE/RL benefited significantly from the Soviet Union's new openness. Gorbachev stopped the practice of jamming the broadcasts. In addition, dissident politicians and officials could be freely interviewed by RFE/RL for the first time without fearing persecution or imprisonment.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=287}} By 1990, Radio Liberty had become the most listened-to Western radio station broadcasting to the Soviet Union.{{harvnb|Sosin|1999|p=209}}

Its coverage of the 1991 August coup enriched sparse domestic coverage of the event and drew in a wide audience.{{harvnb|Sosin|1999|p=216}} The broadcasts allowed Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to stay in touch with the Russian people during this turbulent period. Boris Yeltsin later expressed his gratitude through a presidential decree allowing Radio Liberty to open a permanent bureau in Moscow.{{harvnb|Sosin|1999|p=219}}

Following the November 17 demonstrations in 1989 and brutal crackdown by Czechoslovak riot police, {{Not translated|Drahomíra Dražská|lt=|cs|Drahomíra Dražská|WD=}}, a porter at a dormitory in Prague, reported that a student, Martin Šmíd, had been killed during the clashes.{{Cite web|last=Kenety|first=Brian|date=16 November 2019|title=1989: the Velvet Revolution in context (or how 'November' began in 'January')|url=https://english.radio.cz/1989-velvet-revolution-context-or-how-november-began-january-8115387|access-date=7 December 2020|publisher=Radio Prague}} The Charter 77 activist Petr Uhl believed this account and passed it along to major news organizations, who broadcast it.{{Cite book|last=Sebestyen|first=Victor|title=Revolution 1989: The Fall Of The Soviet Empire|publisher=Orion Publishing Group|year=2009|isbn=9780297857884|pages=370–371|author-link=Victor Sebestyen}} After Reuters and the Voice of America (VOA) reported the story, RFE/RL decided to run it too.{{cite web|date=16 November 2009|title=Unraveling the Šmid death story|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/off_mic_smid_death_story/1879520.html|access-date=7 December 2020|website=RFE/RL}} However, the report later turned out to be false. The story is credited by many sources with inspiring Czechoslovak citizens to join the subsequent (larger) demonstrations which eventually brought down the communist government.{{Cite book|last=Nelson|first=Michael|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45731476|title=War of the black heavens : the battles of Western broadcasting in the Cold War|publisher=Syracuse University Press|year=1997|isbn=0-585-29377-5|edition=1st|location=Syracuse, N.Y.|pages=184–186|oclc=45731476}}{{Cite web|last=Šiška|first=Miroslav|date=18 November 2018|title=Mrtvý Šmíd z Národní třídy. Stěžejní událost, která se nestala|trans-title=Dead Šmíd from Národní třída. A major event that did not happen|url=https://www.novinky.cz/historie/17-listopad/clanek/mrtvy-smid-z-narodni-tridy-stezejni-udalost-ktera-se-nestala-40256470|access-date=7 December 2020|website=Novinky.cz}}{{Cite news|last=Ash|first=Timothy Garton|date=5 November 2009|title=1989!|work=The New York Review of Books|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/11/05/1989/|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|access-date=7 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115092357/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/11/05/1989/|archive-date=15 January 2016|issn=0028-7504}} Czech journalist Petr Brod, was stationed in Prague as RFE/RL’s first permanent correspondent in post-revolutionary Czechoslovakia, witnessing firsthand the fall of the communist regime during the Velvet Revolution.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-05 |title=Petr Brod: It could be dangerous to speak German in 1950s Czechoslovakia |url=https://english.radio.cz/petr-brod-it-could-be-dangerous-speak-german-1950s-czechoslovakia-8841967 |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Radio Prague International |language=en}}

In 1995, RFE/RL moved its headquarters from Munich to Prague, to the building of the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly. It had been vacant since the 1992 dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The Clinton Administration reduced funding significantly and placed the service under the United States Information Agency's oversight.{{harvnb|Puddington|2003|p=30}}

File:Vinohradská str, Prague Vinohrady.jpg building of the abolished Czechoslovakia in Prague New Town. For many years after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 in the US, the building was protected by security concrete barriers. These reduced the capacity of the most frequented roads in Prague center.]]

RFE/RL ended broadcasts to Hungary in 1993 and stopped broadcasts to Poland in 1997. On January 31, 1994, RFE/RL launched broadcasts to the former Yugoslavia in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian languages.{{Cite web|last=Shute|first=Claudia|date=12 February 2019|title=RFE/RL's Vidishiqi Recalls 25 Years, One Mission In The Balkans|url=https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/arbana-vidishiqi/29766164.html|access-date=7 December 2020|website=RFE/RL}} In the late 1990s RFE/RL launched broadcast to Kosovo in Albanian and to North Macedonia in Macedonian. Broadcast to the Czech Republic proceeded for three more years under the agreement with Czech Radio. In 2004 RFE/RL stopped broadcasting to Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Romania, and Slovakia.{{cn|date=August 2023}}

RFE/RL Chief Jeffrey Gedmin said in 2008 that the agency's mission is to serve as a surrogate free press in countries where such press is banned by the government or not fully established. It maintains 20 local bureaus. Governments that are subjected to critical reporting often attempt to obstruct the station's activities through a range of tactics, including extensive jamming, shutting down local re-broadcasting affiliates, or finding legal excuses to close down offices.{{Cite web|last=Geran Pilon|first=Juliana|date=December 12, 2008|title=An Interview with RFE/RL Chief Jeffrey Gedmin|url=https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/3039/an-interview-with-rfe-rl-chief-jeffrey-gedmin|access-date=2020-09-15|website=www.worldpoliticsreview.com}}

RFE/RL says that its journalists and freelancers often risk their lives to broadcast information, and their safety has always been a major issue. Reporters have frequently been threatened and persecuted.{{cite web |work=RFE/RL |url=https://pressroom.rferl.org/journalists-in-trouble |access-date=1 October 2023 |title=Journalists in trouble }} RFE/RL also faces a number of central security concerns, including cyberterrorist attacks{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120942466671951083 |title=Cyberjamming |access-date=1 October 2023 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=April 29, 2008 }} and general terrorist threats.[http://www.thepraguepost.com/P02/pp.php/?id=34466&a=3 The Prague Post], interview with RFE/RL President Thomas Dine, January 9, 2002 After the September 11 attacks, American and Czech authorities agreed to move RFE/RL's Prague headquarters away from the city center in order to make it less vulnerable to terrorist attack.{{cite web |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-eu-czech-radio-free-europe-051209-2009may12-story.html |work=San Diego Union Tribune |title=Radio Free Europe opens new headquarters in Prague |date=12 May 2009 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=1 October 2023 }} On February 19, 2009, RFE/RL began broadcasting from its new headquarters east of the city center.{{cite press release |url=https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/First_Broadcast_From_New_RFERL_Headquarters_/1378790.html |work=RFE/RL |title=First Broadcast From New RFE/RL Headquarters |date=February 4, 2009 }}

File:RFA reporter Helmand.jpg, Afghanistan.]]

RFE/RL says that it continues to struggle with authoritarian regimes for permission to broadcast freely within their countries. On January 1, 2009, Azerbaijan imposed a ban on all foreign media in the country, including RFE/RL.{{cite news |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/Azerbaijan_Bans_RFERL_Other_Foreign_Radio/1364986.html |date=30 December 2008 |title=Azerbaijan Bans RFE/RL, VOA, BBC Broadcasts |newspaper=Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |last1=Sindelar |first1=Daisy }} Kyrgyzstan suspended broadcasts of Radio Azattyk, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz language service, because it had asked that the government be able to pre-approve its programming. Other states such as Belarus, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan prohibit re-broadcasting to local stations, making programming difficult for average listeners to access.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

In 1998, RFE/RL began broadcasting to Iraq.{{cite news |title=Czech Intelligence Reveals Iraqi Plot To Attack RFE/RL |date=30 November 2009 |access-date=24 November 2015 |publisher=RFE/RL |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/Czech_Intelligence_Reveals_Iraqi_Plot_To_Attack_RFERL/1891512.html}} Iraqi president Saddam Hussein ordered Iraqi Intelligence Service, to "violently disrupt the Iraqi broadcasting of Radio Free Europe". IIS planned to attack the headquarters with an RPG-7 from a window across the street. Czech Security Information Service (BIS) foiled the plot.

In 2008, Afghan president Hamid Karzai urged his government to provide assistance to a rape victim after listening to her story on Radio Azadi, RFE/RL's Afghan service.Kathleen Parker "Mightier than the Sword". [https://web.archive.org/web/20190412121655/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/11/20/AR2008112002541.html The Washington Post], November 21, 2008 According to REF/RL in 2009, Radio Azadi was the most popular radio station in Afghanistan, and Afghan listeners mailed hundreds of hand-written letters to the station each month.{{Cite web|url=https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/poetry_from_paktia_to_prague/1811546.html|title=Poetry from Paktia to Prague|date=31 August 2009 |publisher=RFE/RL}}

In September 2009, RFE/RL announced that it would begin new Pashto-language broadcasting to the Afghanistan–Pakistan border region.{{Cite web|url=https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/Holbrooke_Reception/1826309.html|title=FLASHBACK (Sep. 18, 2009) Holbrooke at RFE Event: 'Deal with Taliban Propaganda Head-On'|date=18 September 2009 |publisher=RFE/RL}}

The following month RFE/RL introduced a daily, one-hour Russian-language broadcast, broadcasting to the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The program, called Ekho Kavkaza (Echo of the Caucasus), focused on local and international news and current affairs, organized in coordination with RFE/RL's Georgian Service.{{Cite web|url=https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/New_program_to_south_ossetia_press_release/1846174.html|title=RFE/RL Launching Russian-Language Show to South Ossetia & Abkhazia|date=7 October 2009 |publisher=RFE/RL}}

On January 15, 2010, RFE/RL began broadcasting to the Pashtun tribal areas of Pakistan in Pashto. The service, known as Radio Mashaal ("Torch"), was created in an attempt to counter the growing number of local Islamic extremist radio stations broadcasting in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.{{Cite web|date=14 January 2010|title=RFE/RL Launches Radio Station in Pakistan's Pashtun Heartland|url=https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/Press_Room_Press_Release_Radio_Mashaal_Launch_/1929887.html|access-date=7 December 2020|publisher=RFE/RL}} Radio Mashaal says that it broadcasts local and international news with in-depth reports on terrorism, politics, women's issues, and health care (with an emphasis on preventive medicine). The station broadcasts roundtable discussions and interviews with tribal leaders and local policymakers, in addition to regular call-in programs.{{cite news |title=RFE/RL Launches Radio Station in Pakistan's Pashtun Heartland |date=15 January 2010 |access-date=15 January 2010 |publisher=RFE/RL |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/Press_Room_Press_Release_Radio_Mashaal_Launch_/1929887.html}}

On October 14, 2014, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and the Voice of America (VOA) launched a new Russian-language TV news program, Current Time, "to provide audiences in countries bordering Russia with a balanced alternative to the disinformation produced by Russian media outlets that is driving instability in the region"."[https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/release-new-tv-show-brings-facts-not-lies-to-russian-speakers/26631532.html New TV Show Brings 'Facts, not Lies', to Russian Speakers]". 14 October 2014, RFE/RL Over the next two years, Current Time – led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA – expanded to become a 24/7 digital and TV stream for Russian-speaking audiences worldwide."[https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/28285182.html Current Time Network Launches Real News, For Real People, In Real Time]", 7 February 2017, RFE/RL{{Cite web|url=https://www.currenttime.tv/|title=Настоящее Время – новости и репортажи из России, Украины, стран Азии|website=Настоящее Время}}

Around 2017, Voice of America and RFE/RL launched Polygraph.info, and the Russian-language factograph.info, as fact-checking sites.{{cite web|title=About Polygraph.info|url=https://www.polygraph.info/p/5981.html|website=Polygraph.info|access-date=27 March 2018|language=en}}{{cite news|title='We got our f**** a***s beat, Yankees made their point': Russian mercenaries in Syria lament U.S. strikes|url=http://www.newsweek.com/total-f-russian-mercenaries-syria-lament-us-strike-killed-dozens-818073|access-date=27 March 2018|work=Newsweek|date=23 February 2018|language=en}}

On July 19, 2018, RFE/RL announced it will be returning its news services to Bulgaria and Romania by the end of 2018 amid growing concern about a reversal in democratic gains and attacks on the rule of law and the judiciary in Bulgaria and in Romania.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/rfe-rl-to-launch-news-services-in-romania-bulgaria/29376248.html|title=RFE/RL To Launch News Services In Romania, Bulgaria|last=Tomiuc|first=Eugen|date=2018-07-19|website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|language=en|access-date=2018-07-20}}

The Romanian news service re-launched on January 14, 2019,"[https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/romania-wakes-up-to-rferl/29708938.html Romania Wakes Up To RFE/RL]". 14 January 2019, RFE/RL and the Bulgarian service re-launched on January 21, 2019."[https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/rferl-returns-to-bulgaria/29722317.html RFE/RL Returns To Bulgaria]". 21 January 2019, RFE/RL

On 8 September 2020 the Hungarian service was also relaunched.{{Cite web|date=8 September 2020|title=RFE/RL Relaunches Operations In Hungary Amid Drop In Media Freedom|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/rfe-rl-relaunches-operations-in-hungary-amid-drop-in-media-freedom/30826537.html|access-date=13 September 2020|website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|language=en}}

In a response to the United States Department of Justice requesting RT to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Russia's Justice Ministry also requested RFE/RL and Voice of America to register as foreign agents under the law ФЗ N 121-ФЗ / 20.07.2012 in December 2017.{{cite news|last1=Stahl|first1=Lesley|title=RT's editor-in-chief on election meddling, being labeled Russian propaganda|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rt-editor-in-chief-on-election-meddling-russian-propaganda-label/|access-date=14 January 2018|agency=CBS News}}{{cite news |last1=Osborn |first1=Andrew |title=Russia designates Radio Free Europe and Voice of America as 'foreign agents'|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-media-restrictions/russia-designates-radio-free-europe-and-voice-of-america-as-foreign-agents-idUSKBN1DZ0MP |date=4 December 2017 |access-date=14 January 2018|work=Reuters}}

In the aftermath of Belarusian presidential elections of 2020, Radio Liberty and independent media resources experienced significant pressure from the government and law enforcement.{{Cite web|first=Annie|last=Phillip|url=https://nieman.harvard.edu/articles/amidst-political-turmoil-in-belarus-a-revival-of-trust-in-independent-journalism/|title=Amidst Political Turmoil in Belarus, a Revival of Trust in Independent Journalism|website=Nieman Foundation|date=November 23, 2020|series=Nieman Reports Winter 2021|accessdate=27 May 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://cpj.org/2021/07/rfe-rl-office-raided-journalists-detained-as-belarus-crackdown-continues/|title=RFE/RL office raided, journalists detained as Belarus crackdown continues|first=Erik|last=Crouch|date=July 16, 2021|accessdate=27 May 2023}}{{Cite web|author=Bogdana Alexandrowskaja|date=26 November 2020|url=https://www.dw.com/en/journalism-in-belarus-like-walking-through-a-minefield/a-55742319|title=Journalism in Belarus: 'Like walking through a minefield'|agency=Deutsche Welle|website=dw.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/29/belarus-crackdown-independent-journalism|title=Belarus: Crackdown on Independent Journalism|date=29 March 2021|publisher=Human Rights Watch|accessdate=27 May 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/belarus/freedom-net/2022|title=Belarus: Freedom on the Net 2022 Country Report|website=Freedom House|accessdate=27 May 2023}}{{Cite web|author= Tanya Lokot|date=5 November 2021|url=https://globalvoices.org/2021/11/05/belarus-authorities-block-access-to-more-independent-media-added-to-extremist-list/|title=Belarus authorities block access to more independent media added to extremist list|accessdate=27 May 2023|series=Advox|publisher=Global Voices}} Journalists’ accreditations were cancelled by the authorities on October 2, 2020.{{cite web

|language = en

|url = https://www.usagm.gov/2020/10/09/tajikistan-kyrgyzstan-belarus-russia-official-pressure-rising-against-rfe-rl/

|title =Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Russia: Official pressure rising against RFE/RL

|publisher = US Agency for Global Media

|date =2020-10-09

|accessdate = 2021-08-24

}} On July 16, 2021, the office in Minsk and homes of the journalists were raided by the police.{{cite web

|language = en

|url = https://www.euronews.com/2021/07/16/belarus-expands-opposition-crackdown-with-raids-on-independent-media

|title = Belarus expands opposition crackdown with raids on independent media

|publisher = Euronews

|date = 2021-07-16

|accessdate = 2021-08-24

}}{{cite web

|language = en

|url = https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/07/16/belarus-jails-students-and-raids-media-in-crackdown-a74536

|title = Belarus Jails Students and Raids Media in Crackdown

|publisher = The Moscow Times

|date = 2021-07-16

|accessdate = 2021-08-24

}}{{cite web

|language = en

|url = https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/belarus-police-raid-homes-offices-journalists-rights-activists-2021-07-16/

|title = Belarus conducts new raids on journalists and rights activists

|publisher = Reuters

|date = 2021-07-16

|accessdate = 2021-08-24

}}

In Russia, the government designated the station's website as a "foreign agent" on May 14, 2021. RL's bank accounts were frozen.{{cite web

|language = en

|url = https://www.dw.com/en/russia-freezes-bank-accounts-of-us-broadcaster-rfe-rl/a-57536932

|title = Russia freezes bank accounts of US broadcaster RFE/RL

|publisher = Deutsche Welle

|date = 2021-05-14

|accessdate = 2021-08-25

}} By that time, Roskomnadzor, the Russian mass media regulator, had initiated 520 cases against the broadcaster, with total fines for the RL's refusal to mark its content with the "foreign agent" label estimated at $2.4m.{{cite web

|language = en

|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/05/kremlin-bears-down-on-moscow-bureau-of-us-funded-radio-station-rfe-rl

|title = Kremlin bears down on Moscow bureau of US-funded radio station

|work = The Guardian

|date = 2021-05-05

|accessdate = 2021-08-25

}} On May 19, 2021, RL filed a legal case at the European Court of Human Rights, accusing the Russian government of violating freedom of expression and freedom of the media.{{cite web |language=en |first=Tom |last=Balmforth |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/radio-free-europe-sues-russia-european-court-over-foreign-agent-action-2021-05-19/|title= Radio Free Europe sues Russia at European court over 'foreign agent' action |publisher=Reuters |date=2021-05-19 |accessdate=2021-08-25}}

In March 2023, a criminal case was opened against Moscow resident Yury Kokhovets, a participant in the RFE/RL's street poll.{{cite news |title=Russian police upgrade charges against Moscow resident in 'fake news' case over comment for Radio Liberty |url=https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/04/30/russian-police-upgrade-charges-against-moscow-resident-in-fake-news-case-over-comment-for-radio-liberty-en-news |work=Novaya Gazeta |date=30 April 2023}} He faced up to 10 years in prison under Russia's 2022 war censorship laws.{{cite news |title='I stand by my opinion': Russian on trial for critical Ukraine interview |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230830-i-stand-by-my-opinion-russian-on-trial-for-critical-ukraine-interview |work=France 24 |date=30 August 2023}}

In 2022, Radio Free Europe was awarded an Online Journalism Award for coverage of Russia's War on Ukraine.{{Cite web |title=2022 Online Journalism Awards Winners |url=https://awards.journalists.org/entries/russias-war-on-ukraine/ |access-date=10 March 2024 |website=Online Journalism Awards |language=en-US}}

In 2023, a court in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, accepted a request from the Culture Ministry to ban the operations of RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service.{{cite news |title=Bishkek Court Approves Ministry Request To Shut Down RFE/RL's Operations In Kyrgyzstan |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/kyrgyzstan-rferl-shut-down/32381981.html |access-date=27 April 2023 |publisher=Radio Free Europe |date=29 April 2023}}

In September 2023, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani service, Radio Azadliq, was revealed to have a leadership with links to Azerbaijan’s ruling authorities, which censored content critical of the Azerbaijani government and instead published content that promoted the government's agendas.{{cite web |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/rfe-rl-radio-free-europe-liberty-azadliq-azerbaijan-investigation/ |title=Former Radio Free Europe staff demand probe over 'pro-Azerbaijan content' |last1=Adilgizi |first1=Lamiya |last2=Rowley |first2=Tom |date=8 September 2023 |website=openDemocracy |access-date=8 September 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230908032616/https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/rfe-rl-radio-free-europe-liberty-azadliq-azerbaijan-investigation/ |archive-date=8 September 2023}}

In February 2024, RFE was listed as an 'undesirable organization' by Russia, effectively making it illegal in the country.{{cite news |title=Radio Free Europe named 'undesirable organisation' by Russian government |url=https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/02/20/radio-free-europe-named-undesirable-organisation-by-russian-government-en-news |access-date=20 February 2024 |work=Novaya Gazeta Europe |date=20 February 2024}}

In February 2025 the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) proposed that RFE/RL and Voice of America be considered for closure as a cost saving measure for the U.S. government.{{cite news |last1=Pravda |first1=Ukrainska |author-link1= |date=February 9, 2025 |title=Elon Musk calls for Radio Free Europe and Voice of America to be shut down |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-calls-shutting-down-171116744.html |url-access= |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=March 7, 2025 |work= |publisher=Yahoo! Finance |location= |publication-place= |publication-date=February 9, 2025 |arxiv= |asin= |asin-tld= |bibcode= |doi= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |quote=American billionaire Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has called for the US-funded radio stations Radio Free Europe and Voice of America to be shut down. |trans-quote= |bibcode-access= |doi-access= |hdl-access= |jstor-access= |ol-access= |osti-access= |script-work= |trans-work= |biorxiv= |citeseerx= |eissn= |hdl= |ismn= |medrxiv= |pmc-embargo-date= |sbn= |s2cid= |s2cid-access= |archive-format= |quote-page= |quote-pages= |script-quote=}}

The latest proposal comes after previous suggestions by other government officials to shutter the agency.{{cite news |last1=Robinson |first1=Dan |author-link1= |date=February 11, 2016 |title=Shut Down the Voice of America? |script-title= |trans-title= |url=https://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/shut-down-voice-america |url-access= |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=March 7, 2025 |publisher=USC Center on Public Diplomacy |publication-place= |publication-date=February 11, 2016 |via= |arxiv= |asin= |asin-tld= |bibcode= |doi= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |quote= |trans-quote= |bibcode-access= |doi-access= |hdl-access= |jstor-access= |ol-access= |osti-access= |trans-work= |biorxiv= |citeseerx= |eissn= |hdl= |ismn= |medrxiv= |pmc-embargo-date= |sbn= |s2cid= |s2cid-access= |archive-format= |quote-page= |quote-pages= |script-quote=}}{{cite news |last1=Belida |first1=Alex |author-link1= |name-list-style= |date=February 11, 2017 |title=The Fate of VOA in the Balance |script-title= |trans-title= |url=https://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/fate-voa-balance |url-access= |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=March 7, 2025 |publisher=USC Center on Public Diplomacy |edition= |publication-place= |publication-date=February 11, 2017 |via= |arxiv= |asin= |asin-tld= |bibcode= |doi= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |quote= |trans-quote= |bibcode-access= |doi-access= |hdl-access= |jstor-access= |ol-access= |osti-access= |title-link= |trans-work= |biorxiv= |citeseerx= |eissn= |hdl= |ismn= |medrxiv= |pmc-embargo-date= |sbn= |s2cid= |s2cid-access= |archive-format= |quote-page= |quote-pages= |script-quote=}}{{Clarification needed|date=March 2025}}

On 14 March, Trump signed an executive order to eliminate USAGM, among other agencies, "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law."{{cite news |last1=Bianco |first1=Ali |date=15 March 2025 |title=Trump's next agency cuts include US-backed global media, library and museum grants |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/15/donald-trump-agency-cuts-00232119 |access-date=15 March 2025 |work=POLITICO |language=en}} An anonymous source told Politico that DOGE imposed a 30-day total freeze on funding to RFE/RL and other USAGM outlets, with the intention of making that permanent.{{Cite web |last=Kine |first=Phelim |date=2025-03-14 |title=Radio Free Asia set to furlough most US-based staff due to government funding freeze |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/14/radio-free-asia-funding-freeze-layoffs-00231780 |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=Politico |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2025-03-13 |title=DOGE targets Radio Free Asia |url=https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/china-watcher/doge-targets-radio-free-asia/ |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=POLITICO |language=en-GB}} On March 15, 2025, the United States Agency for Global Media terminated grants to RFE/RL and Radio Free Asia following a directive from the Trump administration. Reporters and other employees at broadcasters including RFE/RL received an email over the weekend stating that they would no longer be allowed access to their offices and would have to surrender press credentials, work phones, and other equipment.{{Cite web |date=2025-03-15 |title=Trump freezes VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250315-trump-freezes-voa-radio-free-asia-radio-free-europe |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=France 24 |language=en}} In response, Steve Capus, president of RFE/RL, said that "The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies."[https://about.rferl.org/article/rfe-rl-president-defunding-would-be-massive-gift-to-americas-enemies/ RFE/RL President: Defunding Would be “Massive Gift to America’s Enemies”] (15 March 2025){{Cite web |last=Stelter |first=Brian |date=2025-03-16 |title='Massive gift to America's enemies': Activists decry cuts to government-funded networks {{!}} CNN Business |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/16/media/massive-gift-to-americas-enemies-activists-decry-cuts-to-government-funded-networks/index.html |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=CNN |language=en}} On March 18, RFE/RL sued USAGM and two USAGM officials to block the grant termination.

On March 22, 2025, The Czech government pledged to support Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) following funding cuts by the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump.{{Cite news |last=Minder |first=Raphael |date=2025-03-22 |title=Czech Republic to rescue Radio Free Europe after Donald Trump funding cuts |url=https://www.ft.com/content/10a30487-95fc-4a3b-8902-d47a64e86916 |access-date=2025-03-23 |work=Financial Times}}

{{Expand section|date=September 2020}}

The program was a musical review by Dmitri Savitski{{Cite web|last=Yakovlev|first=Denis|date=22 April 2006|title=Дмитрий Савицкий: "Я был антисоветчиком с младых ногтей"|trans-title=Dmitri Savitski: "I was an anti-Soviet from a young age"|url=http://www.knigoboz.ru/news/news3193.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060422010917/http://www.knigoboz.ru/news/news3193.html|archive-date=22 April 2006|access-date=2019-09-23|website=knigoboz.ru}} from 1989 to 2004. The theme song of the program was "So Tired" by Bobby Timmons. The program was cancelled on April 10, 2004 due to "the change of Liberty's format".{{Cite web|url=http://freemediaonline.org/freemediaonlineblog/2009/05/19/radio-free-europeradio-liberty-has-lost-its-uniqueness-warns-former-director-of-radio-libertys-russian-service/|title=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Has Lost Its Uniqueness Warns Former Director of Radio Liberty's Russian Service {{!}} Free Media Online|last=says|first=Piotr|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-23}}

• Alhurra
• Constantine Kromiadi
• Operation Mockingbird and white propaganda
• Radio Free Asia
• Radio y Televisión Martí
• Women, Life, Freedom

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal | last = Cummings | first = Richard | title = The Ether War: Hostile Intelligence Activities Directed Against Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and the Émigré Community in Munich during the Cold War | journal = Journal of Transatlantic Studies |volume= 6 |issue=2 | pages = 168–182 | year = 2008 | doi = 10.1080/14794010802184374 | s2cid = 143544822 }}
• Holt, Robert T. Radio Free Europe (U of Minnesota Press, 1958)
• {{cite book | last = Johnson | first = Ian | title = A Mosque in Munich | url = https://archive.org/details/mosqueinmunichna0000john | url-access = registration | year = 2010 | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | isbn = 9780151014187 }}
• Johnson, A. Ross, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty: The CIA Years and Beyond. (Woodrow Wilson Center Press, Stanford University Press, 2010)
• Johnson, A. Ross and R. Eugene Parta (eds.), Cold War Broadcasting: Impact on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. (Budapest: Central European University Press, 2010)
• Machcewicz, Paweł. Poland's War on Radio Free Europe, 1950–1989 (Trans. by Maya Latynski. Cold War International History Project Series) (Stanford University Press, 2015). 456 pp. [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=43341 online review]
• {{cite book | last=Rawnsley | first=Gary D. | author-link=Gary D. Rawnsley | title=Radio Diplomacy and Propaganda | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK | publication-place=London | date=1996 | isbn=978-1-349-24501-7 | doi=10.1007/978-1-349-24499-7}}
• {{cite book | last = Mickelson | first = Sig | title = America's Other Voice: the Story of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty | url = https://archive.org/details/americasothervoi00mick | url-access = registration | location = New York, NY | publisher = Praeger Publishers | year = 1983 | isbn = 9780030632242 }}
• {{cite journal | last = Mikkonen| first = Simo | title = Stealing the Monopoly of Knowledge?: Soviet Reactions to U.S. Cold War Broadcasting | journal = Kritika: Explorations in Russian & Eurasian History |volume=11 |issue=4 | date = Fall 2010 |pages=771–805 |doi=10.1353/kri.2010.0012 | s2cid = 159839411 | url = http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201804202266 }}
• Pomar, Mark G. Cold War Radio: The Russian Broadcasts of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (University of Nebraska Press, 2022) [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=58687 online scholarly book review]

• {{cite book | last = Puddington | first = Arch | title = Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty | location = Lexington | publisher = University Press of Kentucky | year = 2003 }}
• {{cite book | last = Sosin | first = Gene | title = Sparks of Liberty: An Insider's Memoir of Radio Liberty | location = University Park | publisher = Pennsylvania State University Press | year = 1999 }}
• Urban, George R. (1997). Radio Free Europe and the pursuit of democracy: My War Within the Cold War. Yale University Press. Urban was the director of RFE in the 1980s.

In other languages

• {{cite book | author-link = Ioana Măgură Bernard (writer) | last = Măgură Bernard | first = Ioana| title = Directorul postului nostru de radio| year = 2007| publisher = Curtea Veche | isbn = 978-973-669-442-4 }}
• {{cite book | author-link = József Molnár (writer) | last = Molnár | first = József | title = A Szabad Európa Rádió a forradalom napjaiban – Autobiography | year = 2006 | publisher = Püski | isbn = 963-9592-10-2 }}
• {{cite book | author-link = Liviu Tofan (writer) | last = Tofan| first = Liviu| title = Ne-au ținut în viață – Radio Europa Liberă, 1970-1990 | year = 2021| publisher = Editura Omnium| isbn = 978-606-95197-5-2 }}
• {{cite book | author-link = Liviu Tofan (writer) | last = Tofan| first = Liviu| title = Antologia Radio Europa Liberă – 101 contribuții (1956-1990) | year = 2021| publisher = Editura Omnium| isbn = 978-606-95197-1-4 }}

{{Commons category}}

{{Library resources box}}

• {{Official website}}
• {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|521068522}}
• {{Cite news |title=Farda English - Life Inside Iran - Iran protests|url=https://www.rferl.org/Farda-English |access-date=2022-11-09 |publisher=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |language=en}}
• [http://www.hoover.org/library-archives/collections/radio-free-europeradio-liberty-records RFE/RL Broadcast and Corporate Records] compiled by the Hoover Institution
• [https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/104/radio-free-europe-and-radio-liberty RFE/RL collection of declassified documents] compiled by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and made publicly available through the Wilson Center Digital Archive
• {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.648946|name=1956 Crusade for Freedom |description=(1956)}}
• {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.1956144|name=Radio Free Europe |description=(1960)}}
• {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.archives.arc.1718448|name=Eagle Cage |description=(1960)}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20191111124011/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/search/site/Radio%2520Liberty CIA archives]

{{Broadcasting Board of Governors}}

{{Cold War}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty}}

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