Trump’s Funding Freeze On VoA, Other Media Portals Risks Helping Adversaries, EU Warns

<p>The European Union has sounded a warning about United States President Donald Trump&rsquo;s decision to slash government funding to media organisations such as Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Voice of America (VOA), saying that it could &ldquo;benefit common adversaries&rdquo;.</p>
<p>According to an AFP report, the Trump administration began laying off staff at Voice of America and Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) over the weekend following a funding freeze.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We see these media outlets really as beacons of truth, of democracy, and of hope for millions of people around the world,&rdquo; said European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho, report AFP.</p>
<h3><strong>Freedom Of Press Critical For Democracy</strong></h3>
<p>Pinho highlighted that this move endangers freedom of the press which &ldquo;is critical for democracy&rdquo;. &ldquo;This decision risks benefitting our common adversaries,” she said, without naming any countries.</p>
<p>In a post on X, the Czech Republic’s foreign minister said he would raise this issue with the Council of Europe on Monday.</p>
<p>”Radio Free Europe is one of the few credible sources in dictatorships like Iran, Belarus, and Afghanistan. Tomorrow at the Council of Foreign Ministers, I will discuss with my colleagues how to at least partially maintain its broadcasting,” Jan Lipavsky said.</p>
<h3><strong>Founded To Counter Soviet Propaganda</strong></h3>
<p>RFE/RL was founded by the US during the Cold War to counter Soviet propaganda. These were banned across the communist bloc, where regimes regularly jammed its signal. The US-funded media now focuses on nations like Russia, China, Iran, and Belarus.</p>
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<h3><strong>EU Would Not Automatically Fill Void US Leaves</strong></h3>
<p>EU foreign ministers discussed the funding freeze and possible solutions in Brussels on Monday.</p>
<p>During the discussion, the bloc&rsquo;s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU would not automatically fill the void the US is leaving. She told reporters that there are a lot of organisations that are coming with the same request.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But there was really a push from the foreign ministers to discuss this and find the way, so this is the tasking to our side to see what can we do,&rdquo; she added.</p>
<p>Lipavsky, whose country has hosted RFE/RL since its relocation from Munich in 1995, stated after the talks that Europe should take responsibility for the radio. He raised the question to see whether the partners will see value in keeping RFE/RL running. &ldquo;We certainly do, and if we see value in it, then it makes sense to consider ways to secure its future, including the possibility of buying it,&rdquo; he told AFP. Earlier, he said that running RFE/RL would reach up to $120 million per year.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski suggested that the EU could increase the budget of the European Endowment for Democracy &ndash; an NGO to promote democracy in neighbouring regions, to help fund the radio.</p>
<p>This follows after Trump eviscerated the United States&rsquo; aid agency and its education department.</p>
<p>RFE/RL journalists kept working on Monday with stories appearing on its website. RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement over the weekend that the cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty&rsquo;s grant agreement “would be a massive gift to America’s enemies”.</p>
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