Dozens of US lawmakers on March 25 called on President Donald Trump to reverse his executive order closing the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), arguing that the move would have a detrimental impact on its broadcasters, including Radio Free Europe (RFE), and would only help adversaries of the United States (US) such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
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A letter to Trump signed by more than 40 members of Congress said closing USAGM would also damage the US's credibility and global standing around the world.
"More directly, it will leave millions of people in closed and restrictive environments, from Havana to Caracas to Minsk and Tehran, with less opportunity to access information about the world around them," the letter states. "We strongly urge you to review this Executive Order and ensure the continuation of the critical work of USAGM and its broadcast networks."
Representative Bill Keating (D-Massachusetts), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, said that RFE/RL, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and other media outlets monitored by USAGM "serve as vital soft power tools" that provide people in closed societies with access to information and credibility.
"Their work is so powerful that regimes in Iran, Russia and China have denounced it as a national security threat," Keating said in a press release calling Trump's March 14 executive order "reckless" and saying it "emboldens America's adversaries who are threatened by credible media."
The letter states that USAGM networks and grantees together play a historic and crucial role in providing honest, comprehensive news for countries that lack a free or open media environment.
"Shutting down RFE/RL will allow governments in Russia, Belarus, Iran, and Central Asia to spread their messages of regime propaganda without fear of the accountability that comes with RFE/RL's award-winning reporting," the letter states.
The letter was sent on the same day that a US judge issued an order in favor of RFE/RL in a lawsuit against USAGM, seeking to overturn a decision to end funding for RFE/RL approved by Congress.
Judge Royce Lambert said the agency had likely acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" in cutting RFE/RL's grant and that the actions would cause "irreparable harm" to the broadcaster if carried out. Lambert said an interim injunction was needed to stop RFE/RL's closure, which he said was likely to win the case in court.
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya also spoke about the threat to RFE/RL on March 25.
"Free media is our link between the truth, between people in exile and people at home," she said in a speech to the Lithuanian parliament. "If these media die, they will be replaced by propaganda media."
RFE/RL has an office in Lithuania from which it covers neighboring Belarus. The office is staffed by Belarusian journalists who went into exile in 2020 after a disputed election in which Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner. The opposition and many Western governments and organizations believe the election was rigged and that Tikhanovskaya was the real winner.
Tikhanovskaya entered the race after her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, was arrested to prevent him from registering as a candidate. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
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