Dozens of US lawmakers on March 25 urged President Donald Trump to reverse his executive order to shutter the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), arguing that the move would have a damaging impact on its broadcasters, including RFE/RL, and would only help US adversaries such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.
A letter to Trump signed by more than 40 members of Congress said shuttering USAGM would also hurt US 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 to Tehran, less able to access information about the world around them,” the letter said. “We strongly urge you to reconsider this Executive Order and ensure the critical work of USAGM and its broadcasting networks continues.”
Representative Bill Keating (Democrat-Massachusetts), ranking member of the House Foreign affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Europe, said RFE/RL, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and other media outlets that are overseen by the USAGM “serve as a vital soft power tools” that enable people in closed societies to gain access to credible and objective information.
“Their work is so powerful that regimes in Iran, Russia, and China have condemned it as a threat to national security,” Keating said in a news release in which he referred to Trump’s executive order from March 14 as “reckless” and said it “emboldens US adversaries who are threatened by credible media.”
The letter said USAGM networks and grantees collectively serve a historic and pivotal role in providing honest, comprehensive news coverage to countries that lack a free or open media environment.
“Shuttering RFE/RL will enable governments in Russia, Belarus, Iran, and Central Asia to spread their own messages of regime propaganda without the fear of being held accountable by RFE/RL’s award-winning reporting,” the letter said.
SEE ALSO: Court Orders USAGM To Halt Moves To Close Radio Free EuropeThe letter was sent the same day that a US judge issued an order in favor of RFE/RL in a lawsuit against USAGM seeking a reversal of the termination of RFE/RL’s congressionally appropriated funding.
US District Judge Royce Lamberth said the agency likely acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in terminating RFE/RL’s grant and that the actions would cause the broadcaster "irreparable harm" if carried out.
Lamberth said a temporary restraining order is needed to halt the closure of RFE/RL, which had shown it is likely to win its case in a court hearing.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya on March 25 also spoke about the threat to RFE/RL.
"Free media are our link between the truth, between the people in exile and the people in the country," she said in a speech in the Lithuanian parliament. "If these media die, they will be replaced by propaganda media."
RFE/RL has had 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 Alyaksandr Lukashenko was declared the winner. The opposition and many Western governments and organizations believe the poll was rigged and that Tsikhanouskaya was the real winner.
Tsikhanouskaya stepped in as a candidate after her husband, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, was detained to prevent him from registering as a candidate. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.