Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia
Budget
$48.4 million in FY 2014
Budget
$48.4 million in FY 2014
Employees
240 Employees
Employees
240 Employees
Languages
9
Languages
9
Mobile Apps
available in 12 versions Apple iOS and Android
Mobile Apps
available in 12 versions Apple iOS and Android
RFA’s Khmer Service closely covered labor disputes as tens of thousands of garment workers began striking in late 2013 and throughout 2014 for higher wages and safer working conditions. The police violently quelled several of the workers’ demonstrations. RFA has reported on the unions representing the workers calls for better labor conditions and fair hearings in the country’s courts.
The Uyghur Service reported on attacks and security crackdowns in China’s northwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region amid tensions between the mostly Muslim ethnic Uyghurs and Han Chinese residents. Coverage included the sentencing to life in prison of economics professor Ilham Tohti for separatism charges.
RFA’s Tibetan Service covered Chinese authorities’ bid to tighten controls on the Tibetan Buddhist monastic community by constructing a police station and detention center near a Buddhist monastery in Sichuan, jailing monks who called for the return of the Dalai Lama, and expelling hundreds unregistered nuns at a convent close to the Nepalese border. The service also reported on the continuing self-immolation protests against Beijing’s rule.
RFA’s Mandarin Service reported on the crackdown on unofficial churches in China’s Henan and Zheijiang provinces where authorities have detained congregants, charged pastors and torn down crosses following raids on houses of Christian worship.
In addition, the Cantonese Service has covered the increasingly restrictive press environment in Hong Kong, including the arrests, assaults, and harassment of journalists.
RFA and VOA were on the scene to document the rapid developments in the demonstrations that became known as the Umbrella Movement in which Hong Kong residents called for universal suffrage.
Through sources inside the country and on the Chinese border, RFA reported on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s crackdown on high-ranking officials, demotions of military personnel, reopening of prison camps, and political persecution of those considered loyal to potential rivals. In 2014, the government banned the ownership of Chinese mobile devices, further cutting the flow of outside information into the country.
In December, RFA, in collaboration with BBG’s Office of Digital and Design Innovation, produced a multimedia e-book and companion website profiling the lives, work, and sacrifice of women living under authoritarian rule.
It’s Not OK is a collection of portraits of remarkable women and their fight for human rights in China, North Korea and Southeast Asia.
Declines in press freedom were seen across the broadcast region. RFA closely covered criminal lawsuits against newspapers, the jailing of editors and reporters, and the killing of a journalist being held by the military in Burma (Myanmar). Reporting on the ongoing crackdown on bloggers and the government-imposed restrictions in Vietnam, RFA documented the harassment, arrests, trials, and sentencing of netizens who expressed views deemed politically sensitive. To date, 27 bloggers are jailed there, according to media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders, making Vietnam the world’s second biggest jailer of netizens.
In May, RFA co-sponsored the visit of six prominent Vietnamese bloggers who briefed members of the U.S. House of Representatives about Vietnam’s online environment, attended meetings with technologists and human rights advocates, and participated in a panel discussion at RFA in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day.
Broadcasting in 6 Countries
Broadcasting in 6 Countries
