RFA announces over 90% staff lay off, including at its Tibetan service

1 year ago

(TibetanReview.net, May03’25) – Radio Free Asia (RFA) has said May 2 that it will lay off almost all of its staff and close production in several languages, including the Tibetan service, after President Donald Trump cut off funding, effective May 9.

RFA — created by the United States with a mission to deliver news in countries without free media — has said it will terminate 280 staff members in Washington, accounting for more than 90% of its US-based workforce, as well as 20 positions overseas.

Also ceasing operations will be RFA English service and Asia Fact Check Lab, a special unit focused on picking apart false narratives seeded by the Chinese Communist Party. These moves are drastic but necessary, RFA President and CEO Bay Fang has said, given the delays in receiving funds from the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), despite a court order last week.

“We are in an unco...

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