Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Coordinates: 50°4′44″N 14°28′43″E / 50.07889°N 14.47861°E / 50.07889; 14.47861
From USApedia
"Radio Free Europe" and "Radio Liberty" redirect here. For the R.E.M. song, see Radio Free Europe (song). For the UCKG UK radio station, see Liberty Radio.
Not to be confused with Radio Freedom.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
AbbreviationRFE/RL
Formation1949 (Radio Free Europe), 1953 (Radio Liberty), 1976 (merger)
Type501(c)3 organization[1][2]
52-1068522
PurposeBroadcast Media
HeadquartersPrague Broadcast Center
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Location
Official language
English
Programs are also available in Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Bosnian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Chechen, Crimean Tatar, Dari, Georgian, Hungarian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Pashto, Persian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Tajik, Tatar, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Uzbek
In the past also Polish, Czech, Slovak, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and various other languages; see this list
OwnerU.S. Agency for Global Media
President
Stephen Capus[3]
Vice President and Head of News
Nicola Careem[4]
General Counsel/Secretary
Benjamin Herman[4]
Budget (Fiscal year 2021)
$124,300,000[5]
Staff>1700[5]
Website

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is an American government-funded international media organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analyses to Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. RFE/RL is a private 501(c)(3) corporation and is supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an independent government agency overseeing all international broadcasting services that receive American government support. Nicola Careem is the organization's editor-in-chief.

Presented in 27 languages to 23 countries,[7] RFE/RL has been headquartered in the Czech city of Prague since 1995 and has 21 local bureaus with over 500 core staff and 1,300 stringers and freelancers in countries throughout their broadcast region. Additionally, there are 680 employees at the organization's headquarters and corporate office in Washington, D.C.

During the Cold War, RFE was primarily aimed at broadcasting to Soviet satellite states, including the Baltic states, and RL targeted the Soviet Union itself. RFE was founded by the National Committee for a Free Europe as an anti-communist propaganda[8] source in 1949, while RL was founded two years later. They received funds covertly from the CIA until 1972.[9][10] The two organizations merged in 1976. Communist governments frequently sent agents to infiltrate RFE's headquarters, and the Soviet Union's KGB regularly jammed the organization's radio signals. Between 1949 and 1995, RFE/RL was headquartered at Englischer Garten in the German city of Munich. Another broadcast site was operated at the Portuguese village of Glória do Ribatejo from 1951 to 1996. Since the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the organization's European operations have been reduced.

Early history

Radio Free Europe

File:Newsroom Radio Free Europe.jpg
Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty Newsroom in Munich, 1994

Radio Free Europe was created and grew in its early years through the efforts of the National Committee for a Free Europe (NCFE), an anti-communist CIA front organization that was formed by Allen Dulles in New York City in 1949.[11][12] RFE/RL received funds covertly from the CIA until 1972.[9][10] During RFE's earliest years of existence, the CIA and U.S. Department of State issued broad policy directives, and a system evolved where broadcast policy was determined through negotiation between them and RFE staff.[13]

Radio Free Europe received widespread public support from Eisenhower's "Crusade for Freedom" campaign.[14] In 1950, over 16 million Americans signed Eisenhower's "Freedom Scrolls" on a publicity trip to more than 20 U.S. cities and contributed $1,317,000 to the expansion of RFE.[15]

Writer Sig Mickelson said that the NCFE's mission was to support refugees and provide them with a useful outlet for their opinions and creativity while increasing exposure to the modern world.[16] The NCFE divided its program into three parts: exile relations, radio, and American contacts.[11]

The United States funded a long list of projects to counter the "Communist appeal" among intellectuals in Europe and the developing world.[17] RFE was developed out of a belief that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political rather than military means.[18] American policymakers such as George Kennan and John Foster Dulles acknowledged that the Cold War was essentially a war of ideas. The implementation of surrogate radio stations was a key part of the greater psychological war effort.[15]

RFE was modeled after Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) a U.S. government-sponsored radio service initially intended for Germans living in the American sector of Berlin. According to Arch Puddington, a former bureau manager for RFE/RL, it was also widely listened to by East Germans.[19] Staffed almost entirely by Germans with minimal U.S. supervision, the station provided free media to German listeners.

File:RFE RL building construction.jpg
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Building in Prague-Hagibor, 2008

In January 1950, the NCFE obtained a transmitter base at Lampertheim, West Germany, and on July 4 of the same year RFE completed its first broadcast aimed at Czechoslovakia.[20] In late 1950, RFE began to assemble a full-fledged foreign broadcast staff, becoming more than a "mouthpiece for exiles".[21] Teams of journalists were hired for each language service, and an elaborate system of intelligence gathering provided up-to-date broadcast material. Most of this material came from a network of well-connected émigrés and interviews with travelers and defectors. RFE did not use paid agents inside the Iron Curtain and based its bureaus in regions popular with exiles.[22] RFE also extensively monitored Communist bloc publications and radio services, creating a body of information that would later serve as a resource for organizations across the world.[23]

In addition to its regular broadcasts, RFE spread broadcasts through a series of operations that distributed leaflets via meteorological balloons; one such operation, Prospero, sent messages to Czechoslovakia.[24] From October 1951 to November 1956, the skies of Central Europe were filled with more than 350,000 balloons carrying over 300 million leaflets, posters, books, and other printed matter.[15] The nature of the leaflets varied, and according to Arch Puddington included messages of support and encouragement "to citizens suffering under communist oppression", "satirical criticisms of communist regimes and leaders", information about dissident movements and human rights campaigns, and messages expressing the solidarity of the American people with the residents of Eastern European nations. Puddington stated that "the project served as a publicity tool to solidify RFE's reputation as an unbiased broadcaster".[clarification needed][25]

Radio Liberty

File:Radio Liberty Pals.jpg
Antennas of RFE's/RL's transmission facilities on the beach of Pals (Catalonia, Spain) in 2005

Whereas Radio Free Europe broadcast to Soviet satellite countries, Radio Liberty broadcast to the Soviet Union.[26] Radio Liberty was formed by American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (Amcomlib) in 1951.[27] Originally named Radio Liberation from Bolshevism, the station was renamed in 1956 to Radio Liberation in 1956, and received its present name, Radio Liberty after a policy statement emphasizing "liberalization" rather than "liberation".[28][29]

Radio Liberty began broadcasting from Lampertheim on March 1, 1953, gaining a substantial audience when it covered the death of Joseph Stalin four days later. In order to better serve a greater geographic area, RFE supplemented its shortwave transmissions from Lampertheim with broadcasts from a transmitter base at Glória, Portugal in 1951.[30] It also had a base at Oberwiesenfeld Airport on the outskirts of Munich,[31] employing several former Nazi agents who had been involved in the Ostministerium under Gerhard von Mende during World War II.[32] In 1955, Radio Liberty began broadcasting programs to Russia's eastern provinces from shortwave transmitters located on Taiwan.[33] In 1959, Radio Liberty commenced broadcasts from a base at Platja de Pals, Spain.[34]

Radio Liberty expanded its audience by broadcasting programs in languages other than Russian. By March 1954, Radio Liberty was broadcasting six to seven hours daily in eleven languages.[35] By December 1954, Radio Liberty was broadcasting in 17 languages including Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek, Tatar, Bashkir, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, and other languages of the Caucasus and Central Asia.[28]

List of languages

Service Language[36] Target audience from to Website Remarks
Czechoslovak Czech Czech inhabited lands of File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czechoslovak Republic (1950–1960)
Czech inhabited lands of File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1960–1969)
Template:Flagicon Czech SR (1969–1990)
Template:Country data Czech Republic (1990–1993)		 4 July 1950 1 January 1993 — the Czech desk split from Czechoslovak Service as Czech Service (1993–1995)
operated as RSE Inc. (1995–2002)
Czechoslovak Slovak Slovak inhabited lands of File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czechoslovak Republic (1950–1960)
Slovak inhabited lands of File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1960–1969)
Template:Flagicon Slovak SR (1969–1990)
Template:Country data Slovakia (1990–1993)		 4 July 1950 4 January 1993 — the Slovak desk split from Czechoslovak Service as Slovak Service (1993–2004)
Romanian Romanian File:Flag of Romania (1952-1965).svg Romanian People's Republic (1950–1965)
Template:Country data Socialist Republic of Romania (1965–1989)
Template:Country data Romania (1989–2008, 2019–present)		 14 July 1950
14 January 2019		 1 August 2008
present		 Radio Europa Liberă also covered Template:Flagicon Chernivtsi Oblast (1950–1953), Template:Flagicon Izmail Oblast (1950–1953), Template:FlagiconMoldavian SSR (1950–1953, 1990–1991) and Template:Country data Republic of Moldova (1991–1998)
merged into Moldavian Service in 2008
split from Moldavian service in 2019
Hungarian Hungarian Template:Country data Hungarian People's Republic (1950–1989)
Template:Country data Hungary (1989–1993, 2020–present)		 4 August 1950
8 September 2020		 31 October 1993
present		 Szabad Európa
Polish Polish Template:Country data Polish People's Republic (1950–1989)
Template:Country data Poland (1990–1994)		 4 August 1950 31 December 1994 — operated as RWE Inc. (1995–1997)
Bulgarian Bulgarian Template:Flagicon Bulgarian People's Republic (1950–1989)
Template:Country data Bulgaria (1989–2004, 2019–present)		 11 August 1950
21 January 2019		 31 January 2004
present		 Свободна Европа
Albanian Albanian Template:Flagicon Albanian People's Republic 1 June 1951 1952 —
Russian Russian Template:Flagicon Russian SFSR (1953–1991)
Template:Country data Russia (1991–2022)		 1 March 1953 present Радио Свобода as Radio Liberty
also covered File:Red Army flag.svg Soviet Armed Forces deployed in Eastern Europe and in File:Flag of Cuba.svg Cuba
also covered Template:Flagicon Byelorussian SSR (1953–1954), Template:Flagicon Ukrainian SSR (1953–1954), Template:Flagicon Estonian SSR (1953–1975), Template:Flagicon Latvian SSR (1953–1975), Template:Flagicon Lithuanian SSR (1953–1975) and Template:Flagicon Moldavian SSR (1953–1990)
Turkmen Turkmen Template:Flagicon Turkmen SSR (1953–1991)
File:Flag of Turkmenistan.svg Turkmenistan (1991–present)		 2 March 1953 present Azatlyk Radiosy as Radio Liberty
Georgian Georgian Template:Flagicon Georgian SSR (1953–1991)
Template:Country data Georgia (1991–present)		 3 March 1953 present რადიო თავისუფლება as Radio Liberty
also covered File:Flag of the Abkhaz ASSR.svg Abkhaz ASSR between 1953 and 1991, File:Flag of Abkhazia (GE).svg Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia (1991–2009), Template:Country data Abkhazia (1992–2009, disputed), Template:Flagicon South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (1953–1991) and Template:Country data South Ossetia (1991–2009, disputed)
North Caucasus Adyghe Template:Flagicon Adyghe Autonomous Oblast (1953–1970s) 18 March 1953 1970s — as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service (1970s–2009) and by Ekho Kavkaza Service (2009–present)
North Caucasus Ingush Ingush inhabited lands of the File:Flag of the North Ossetian ASSR.svg North Ossetian ASSR (1953–1957)
File:Flag of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR.svg Checheno-Ingush ASSR (1957–1970s)		 18 March 1953 1970s — as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service (1970s–2009) and by Ekho Kavkaza Service (2009–present)
North Caucasus Karachay-Balkar File:Flag of the Kabardino-Balkar ASSR.svg Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR
Template:Flagicon Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Oblast		 18 March 1953 1970s — as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service (1970s–2009) and by Ekho Kavkaza Service (2009–present)
North Caucasus Ossetian File:Flag of the North Ossetian ASSR.svg North Ossetian ASSR 18 March 1953 1970s — as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service (1970s–2009) and by Ekho Kavkaza Service (2009–present)
Armenian Armenian Template:Flagicon Armenian SSR (1953–1991)
Template:Country data Armenia (1991–present)		 18 March 1953 present Ազատություն ռադիոկայան as Radio Liberty
Azerbaijani Azerbaijani Template:Flagicon Azerbaijan SSR (1953–1991)
Template:Country data Azerbaijan (1991–present)		 18 March 1953 present Azadlıq Radiosu as Radio Liberty
Kazakh Kazakh Template:Flagicon Kazakh SSR (1953–1991)
File:Flag of Kazakhstan.svg Kazakhstan (1991–present)		 18 March 1953 present Azattyq Radiosy as Radio Liberty
Kyrgyz Kyrgyz Template:Flagicon Kirghiz SSR (1953–1991)
File:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.svg Kyrgyzstan (1991–present)		 18 March 1953 present Азаттык үналгысы as Radio Liberty
Tajik Tajik Template:Flagicon Tajik SSR (1953–1991)
File:Flag of Tajikistan.svg Tajikistan (1991–present)		 18 March 1953 present Радиои Озодӣ as Radio Liberty
Uzbek Uzbek Template:Flagicon Uzbek SSR (1953–1991)
File:Flag of Uzbekistan.svg Uzbekistan (1991–present)		 18 March 1953 present Ozodlik Radiosi as Radio Liberty
North Caucasus Avar File:Flag of the Dagestan ASSR.svg Dagestan ASSR (1953–1970s)
Template:Country data Dagestan (2002–2016)		 18 March 1953
3 April 2002		 1970s
31 May 2016		 — as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service (1970s–2002) and Ekho Kavkaza Service (2016–present)
Caucasian Avars
North Caucasus Chechen Chechen inhabited lands of the File:Flag of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1954–1991).svg Stavropol Krai (1953–1957)
File:Flag of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR.svg Checheno-Ingush ASSR (1957–1970s)
Template:Country data Chechnya (2002–present)		 18 March 1953
3 April 2002		 1970s
present		 Маршо Радио as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service (1970s–2002)
Tatar-Bashkir Tatar File:Flag of Tatar ASSR.svg Tatar ASSR (1953–1991)
Template:Country data Tatarstan (1991–present)		 11 December 1953 present Azatlıq Radiosı as Radio Liberty
Belarusian Belarusian Template:Flagicon Byelorussian SSR (1954–1991)
Template:Country data Belarus (1991–present)		 20 May 1954 present Радыё Свабода as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service between 1953 and 1954
Ukrainian Ukrainian Template:Flagicon Ukrainian SSR (1954–1991)
Template:Country data Ukraine (1991–present)		 16 August 1954 present Радіо Свобода as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service between 1953 and 1954
Czechoslovak Rusyn Template:Country data Prešov Region 1954 1955 — covered by the Slovak Desk of the Czechoslovak Service (1950–1954, 1955–1993) and by Slovak Service (1993–2004)
Rusyns
Central Asia Karakalpak File:Flag of Karakalpak ASSR.svg Karakalpak ASSR 1960s 1970s — as Radio Liberty
covered by Uzbek Service (1953–1960s, 1970s–present)
Tatar-Bashkir Crimean Tatar File:Flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.svg Crimean Oblast (1960s–1991)
File:Flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.svg Crimean ASSR (1991–1992)
Template:Country data Autonomous Republic of Crimea (1992–present)
Template:Country data Republic of Crimea (2014–present, disputed)
File:Flag of Sevastopol.svg Sevastopol (1960s–present)		 1960s present Qırım Aqiqat as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service (1953–1954) and Ukrainian Service (1954–1960s)
Uyghur Uyghur Template:Flagicon Kazakh SSR (1966–1979)
Template:Flagicon Uzbek SSR (1966–1979)
Template:Flagicon Kirghiz SSR (1966–1979)		 October 1966 15 February 1979 — as Radio Liberty
covered by Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek Services (1953–1966, 1979–1998)
covered by Uyghur Service of Radio Free Asia (1998–present)
Uyghurs in Kazakhstan
Uyghurs in Kyrgyzstan
Lithuanian Lithuanian Template:Flagicon Soviet Lithuania (1975–1990)
Template:Country data Lithuania (1990–2004)		 16 February 1975 31 January 2004 — as Radio Liberty until 1984, then as Radio Free Europe.
covered by Russian Service between 1953 and 1975
Latvian Latvian Template:Flagicon Soviet Latvia (1975–1990)
Template:Country data Latvia (1990–2004)		 5 July 1975 31 January 2004 — as Radio Liberty until 1984, then as Radio Free Europe
covered by Russian Service between 1953 and 1975
Latvian Latgalian Template:Flagicon Soviet Latvia (1975–1990)
Template:Country data Latvia (1990–2004)		 5 July 1975 31 January 2004 — as Radio Liberty until 1984, then as Radio Free Europe
covered by Russian Service between 1953 and 1975
Latgalians
Estonian Estonian Template:Flagicon Soviet Estonia (1975–1990)
Template:Country data Estonia (1990–2004)		 1975 31 January 2004 — as Radio Liberty until 1984, then as Radio Free Europe
covered by Russian Service between 1953 and 1975
Afghan Dari Template:Flagicon Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1985–1987)
Republic of Afghanistan (1987–1992)
Template:Country data Islamic State of Afghanistan (1992–1993)
Template:Flagicon Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (2002–2004)
Template:Country data Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021)
Template:Flagicon Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (2021–present)		 1 October 1985
30 January 2002		 19 October 1993
present		 رادیو آزادی as Radio Liberty
as Radio Free Afghanistan between 1985 and 1993
Afghan Pashto Template:Flagicon Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1985–1987)
Republic of Afghanistan (1987–1992)
Template:Country data Islamic State of Afghanistan (1992–1993)
Template:Flagicon Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (2002–2004)
Template:Country data Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021)
Template:Flagicon Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (2021–present)		 September 1987
30 January 2002		 19 October 1993
present		 راډیو ازادي as Radio Liberty
covered by Radio Free Afghanistan between 1985 and 1993
Tatar-Bashkir Bashkir Template:Country data Bashkortostan early 1990s present Idel.Реалии as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service (1953–early 1990s)
Czech Czech Template:Country data Czech Republic 1 January 1993 31 January 2004 — activated as Czech Desk of the Czechoslovak Service, between 1950 and 1993
operated as RSE Inc. (1995–2002)
Slovak Slovak Template:Country data Slovakia 4 January 1993 31 January 2004 — activated as Slovak Desk of the Czechoslovak Service, between 1950 and 1993
Balkan Croatian Template:Country data Croatia
File:Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996–2007).svg Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
File:Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg Brčko District		 31 January 1994 September 2018 — Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Balkan Serbian Template:Country data Serbia
Template:Country data Republika Srpska
File:Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg Brčko District
Template:Country data Montenegro
Template:Country data Kosovo
Template:Country data North Macedonia
Template:Country data Croatia		 31 January 1994 present Radio Slobodna Evropa Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Serbs of Montenegro
Kosovo Serbs
Serbs in North Macedonia
Serbs of Croatia
Balkan Bosnian Template:Country data Bosnia and Herzegovina 31 January 1994 present Radio Slobodna Evropa
RWE Inc. Polish Template:Country data Poland 1 January 1995 1997 — as Radio Wolna Europa (RWE Inc.)
activated as Polish Service (1950–1994)
RSE Inc. Czech Template:Country data Czech Republic 1 January 1995 30 September 2002 — as Radio Svobodna Europa (RSE Inc.)
activated as part of Czechoslovak Service (1950–1992) and as Czech Service (1993–1995)
Moldavian Romanian Template:Country data Republic of Moldova 1998 present Radio Europa Liberă covered by the Romanian Service between 1950–1953 and 1990–1998
covered by the Russian Service between 1953 and 1990
Romanian Service merged into it in 2008
Romanian Service split from it in 2019
Radio Free Iraq Arabic Template:Flagicon Iraqi Republic (1998–2003)
Template:Flagicon Iraqi Republic (provisional) (2003–2004)
Template:Country data Republic of Iraq (2004–2015)		 30 October 1998 31 July 2015 إذاعة العراق الحر merged into Radio Sawa
Balkan Albanian Template:Country data Kosovo 8 March 1999 present Radio Evropa e Lirë covered by the Serbian Desk of Balkan Service between 1994 and 1999
Persian Persian Template:Country data Iran 30 October 1998 1 December 2002 — merged into Radio Farda
Latvian Russian Template:Country data Latvia February 2001 31 January 2004 — as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service (1953–1975) and by Latvian Service (1975–2001)
Russians in Latvia
Balkan Montenegrin Template:Country data Montenegro 1 June 2000 present Radio Slobodna Evropa covered by the Serbian Desk of Balkan Service between 1994 and 2000
Balkan Macedonian Template:Country data North Macedonia 1 September 2001 present Радио Слободна Европа
North Caucasus Kabardian Template:Country data Kabardino-Balkaria
Template:Country data Karachay-Cherkessia		 3 April 2002 31 May 2016 — as Radio Liberty
covered by Russian Service (1953–2002) and Ekho Kavkaza Service (2016–present)
Radio Farda Persian Template:Country data Iran 19 December 2002 present فردا رادیو covered by Persian Service between 1998 and 2002
Georgian (Ekho Kavkaza) Russian Template:Country data Abkhazia
Template:Country data South Ossetia		 2 November 2009 present Эхо Кавказа as Echo of the Caucasus
covered by Georgian Service between 1953 and 2009
also covers Template:Country data Adygea, Template:Country data Dagestan, Template:Country data Ingushetia, Template:Country data Karachay-Cherkessia, Template:Country data Kabardino-Balkaria and Template:Country data North Ossetia–Alania
Radio Mashaal Pashto Template:Country data Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 15 January 2010 present مشال راډیو as Radio Liberty

Cold War years

File:Biblis RFE RL 01.jpg
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty transmitter site, Biblis, Germany, 2007

Radio Free Europe

According to certain European politicians such as Petr Nečas, RFE played a significant role in the collapse of communism and the development of democracy in Eastern Europe.[37][38][39] Unlike government-censored programs, RFE publicized anti-Soviet protests and nationalist movements. Its audience increased substantially following the failed Berlin riots of 1953 and the highly publicized defection of Józef Światło.[40] Arch Puddington argues that its Hungarian service's coverage of Poland's Poznań riots in 1956 served as an inspiration for the Hungarian revolution that year.[41]

Hungary

During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, RFE broadcasts encouraged rebels to fight and suggested that Western support was imminent.[lower-alpha 1][43] These RFE broadcasts violated Eisenhower's policy, which had determined that the United States would not provide military support for the Revolution.[44] According to Arch Puddington, a former bureau manager for RFL/RL, a number of changes were implemented at RFE in the wake of this scandal, including the establishment of the Broadcast Analysis Division to ensure that broadcasts were accurate and professional while maintaining the journalists' autonomy.[45]

Romania

RFE was seen as a serious threat by Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu. From the mid-1970s to his overthrow and execution in December 1989, Ceaușescu waged a vengeful war against the RFE/RL under the program "Ether". Ether operations included physical attacks on Romanian journalists working for RFE/RL, including the controversial circumstances surrounding the deaths of three directors of RFE/RL's Romanian Service.[46]

1981 RFE/RL Munich bombing

On February 21, 1981, RFE/RL's headquarters in Munich was struck by a massive bomb, causing $2 million in damage.[47] Several employees were injured, but there were no fatalities. Stasi files opened after 1989 indicated that the bombing was carried out by a group under the direction of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (known as "Carlos the Jackal"), and paid for by Nicolae Ceaușescu, president of Romania.[48]

But, according to the former head of the KGB Counterintelligence Department K, general Oleg Kalugin, the bombing operation was planned over two years by Department K, with the active involvement of a KGB mole inside the radio station, Oleg Tumanov. This revelation directly implicates KGB colonel Oleg Nechiporenko, who recruited Tumanov in the early 1960s and was his Moscow curator.[49][50] Nechiporenko has never denied his involvement. In an interview with Radio Liberty in 2003, he justified the bombing on the grounds that RFE/RL was an American propaganda tool against the Soviet Union.[51] Tumanov was exfiltrated back to the USSR in 1986.[52] Nechiporenko contacts with Carlos in the 1970s were confirmed by Nechiporenko himself in an article published by Segodnya in 2000[53] and by an article in Izvestia in 2001.[54]

Chernobyl disaster

For the first two days following the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986, the official Eastern Bloc media did not report any news about the disaster, nor any full account for another four months. According to the Hoover Institute, the people of the Soviet Union "became frustrated with inconsistent and contradictory reports", and 36% of them turned to Western radio to provide accurate and pertinent information.[55] Listenership at RFE/RL "shot up dramatically" as a "great many hours" of broadcast time were devoted to the dissemination of life-saving news and information following the disaster.[56] Broadcast topics included "precautions for exposure to radioactive fallout" and reporting on the plight of the Estonians who were tasked with providing the clean-up operations in Ukraine.[56]

Poland and Czechoslovakia

Communist governments also sent agents to infiltrate RFE's headquarters. Although some remained on staff for extended periods of time, government authorities discouraged their agents from interfering with broadcast activity, fearing that this could arouse suspicions and detract from their original purpose of gathering information on the radio station's activities. From 1965 to 1971, an agent of the SB (Służba Bezpieczeństwa, Communist Poland's security service) successfully infiltrated the station with an operative, Captain Andrzej Czechowicz. According to former Voice of America Polish service director Ted Lipien:

"Czechowicz is perhaps the most well known communist-era Polish spy who was still an active agent while working at RFE in the late 1960s. Technically, he was not a journalist. As a historian by training, he worked in the RFE's media analysis service in Munich. After more than five years, Czechowicz returned to Poland in 1971 and participated in programs aimed at embarrassing Radio Free Europe and the United States government."[57]

According to Richard Cummings, former Security Chief of Radio Free Europe, other espionage incidents included a failed attempt by a Czechoslovak Intelligence Service (StB) agent in 1959 to poison the salt shakers in the organization's cafeteria.[58]

In late 1960, an upheaval in the Czechoslovak service led to a number of dramatic changes in the organization's structure. RFE's New York headquarters could no longer effectively manage their Munich subsidiary. As a result major management responsibilities were transferred to Munich, making RFE a European-based organization.[59]

According to Puddington, Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa and Russian reformer Grigory Yavlinsky would later recall secretly listening to the broadcasts despite the heavy jamming.[60]

Jamming

The Soviet government turned its efforts towards blocking reception of Western programs. To limit access to foreign broadcasts, the Central Committee decreed that factories should remove all components allowing short-wave reception from USSR-made radio receivers. However, consumers easily learned that the necessary spare parts were available on the black market, and electronics engineers opposing the idea would gladly convert radios back to being able to receive short-wave transmissions.[61]

The most extensive form of reception obstruction was radio jamming.[62] This was controlled by the KGB, which in turn reported to the Central Committee. Jamming was an expensive and arduous procedure, and its efficacy is still debated. In 1958, the Central Committee mentioned that the sum spent on jamming was greater than the sum spent on domestic and international broadcasting combined.[63] The Central Committee has admitted that circumventing jamming was both possible and practised in the Soviet Union. Due to limited resources, authorities prioritized jamming based on the location, language, time, and theme of Western transmissions.[64] Highly political programs in Russian, broadcast at prime time to urban centers, were perceived as the most dangerous. Seen as less politically threatening, Western music such as jazz was often transmitted unjammed.[65]

During and after the Cuban Missile Crisis in late 1962, jamming was intensified. The Cuban Missile Crisis, however, was followed by a five-year period when the jamming of most foreign broadcasters ceased, only to intensify again with the Prague Spring in 1968. It ceased again in 1973, when Henry Kissinger became the U.S. Secretary of State. The end to jamming came abruptly on 21 November 1988 when Soviet and Eastern European jamming of virtually all foreign broadcasts, including RFE/RL services, ceased at 21:00 CET.[66]

United States

During the Cold War, RFE was often criticized in the United States as not being sufficiently anti-communist. Although its non-governmental status spared it from full scale McCarthyist investigations, several RFE journalists, including the director of the Czech service, Ferdinand Peroutka, were accused of being soft on Communism.[67] Fulton Lewis, a U.S. radio commentator and fervent anti-communist, was one of RFE's sharpest critics throughout the 1950s. His critical broadcasts inspired other journalists to investigate the inner workings of the organization, including its connection to the CIA. When its CIA ties were exposed in the 1960s, direct funding responsibility shifted to Congress.[68]

Funding

RFE/RL received funds from the CIA until 1972.[69][70] The CIA's relationship with the radio stations began to break down in 1967, when Ramparts magazine published an exposé claiming that the CIA was channeling funds to civilian organizations. Further investigation into the CIA's funding activities revealed its connection to both RFE and RL, sparking significant media outrage.[71]

In 1971, the radio stations came under public spotlight once more when U.S. Senator Clifford Case introduced Senate Bill 18, which would have removed funding for RFE and RL from the CIA's budget, appropriated $30 million to pay for fiscal year 1972 activities, and required the State Department to temporarily oversee the radio stations.[70]

In May 1972, President Richard Nixon appointed a special commission to deliberate RFE/RL's future.[72] The commission proposed that funding come directly from the United States Congress and that a new organization, the Board for International Broadcasting (BIB) would simultaneously link the stations and the federal government, and serve as an editorial buffer between them.[73]

According to Arch Puddington, a former bureau manager for RFE/RL, though both radio stations initially received most of their funding from the CIA, RFE maintained a strong sense of autonomy; Puddington says that under Cord Meyer, the CIA officer in charge of overseeing broadcast services from 1954 to 1971, the CIA took a position of minimal government interference in radio affairs and programming.[74]

In 1974, they came under the control of an organization called the Board for International Broadcasting (BIB). The BIB was designed to receive appropriations from Congress, give them to radio managements, and oversee the appropriation of funds.[75] On 1 October 1976, the two radio stations merged to form Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and added the three Baltic language services to their repertoire.[citation needed]

1980s: Glasnost and the Iron Curtain's fall

Funding for RFE/RL increased during the Reagan administration. President Ronald Reagan, a fervent anticommunist, urged the stations to be more critical of the communist regimes. This presented a challenge to RFE/RL's broadcast strategy, which had been very cautious since the controversy over its alleged role in the Hungarian Revolution.[76]

During the Mikhail Gorbachev era in the Soviet Union under Glasnost, RFE/RL benefited significantly from the Soviet Union's new openness. Gorbachev stopped the practice of jamming the broadcasts. In addition, dissident politicians and officials could be freely interviewed by RFE/RL for the first time without fearing persecution or imprisonment.[77] By 1990, Radio Liberty had become the most listened-to Western radio station broadcasting to the Soviet Union.[78]

Its coverage of the 1991 August coup enriched sparse domestic coverage of the event and drew in a wide audience.[79] The broadcasts allowed Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to stay in touch with the Russian people during this turbulent period. Boris Yeltsin later expressed his gratitude through a presidential decree allowing Radio Liberty to open a permanent bureau in Moscow.[80]

Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution

Following the November 17 demonstrations in 1989 and brutal crackdown by Czechoslovak riot police, Template:Not translated, a porter at a dormitory in Prague, reported that a student, Martin Šmíd, had been killed during the clashes.[81] The Charter 77 activist Petr Uhl believed this account and passed it along to major news organizations, who broadcast it.[82] After Reuters and the Voice of America (VOA) reported the story, RFE/RL decided to run it too.[83] However, the report later turned out to be false. The story is credited by many sources with inspiring Czechoslovak citizens to join the subsequent (larger) demonstrations which eventually brought down the communist government.[84][85][86]

After 1991

In 1995, RFE/RL moved its headquarters from Munich to Prague, to the building of the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly. It had been vacant since the 1992 dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The Clinton Administration reduced funding significantly and placed the service under the United States Information Agency's oversight.[74]

RFE/RL ended broadcasts to Hungary in 1993 and stopped broadcasts to Poland in 1997. On January 31, 1994, RFE/RL launched broadcasts to the former Yugoslavia in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian languages.[87] In the late 1990s RFE/RL launched broadcast to Kosovo in Albanian and to North Macedonia in Macedonian. Broadcast to the Czech Republic proceeded for three more years under the agreement with Czech Radio. In 2004 RFE/RL stopped broadcasting to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Romania.[citation needed]

File:Vinohradská str, Prague Vinohrady.jpg
In 1994–2008, RFE/RL used the former Federal Parliament building of the abolished Czechoslovakia in Prague New Town. For many years after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 in the US, the building was protected by security concrete barriers. These reduced the capacity of the most frequented roads in Prague center.

RFE/RL Chief Jeffrey Gedmin said in 2008 that the agency's mission is to serve as a surrogate free press in countries where such press is banned by the government or not fully established. It maintains 20 local bureaus. Governments that are subjected to critical reporting often attempt to obstruct the station's activities through a range of tactics, including extensive jamming, shutting down local re-broadcasting affiliates, or finding legal excuses to close down offices.[88]

RFE/RL says that its journalists and freelancers often risk their lives to broadcast information, and their safety has always been a major issue. Reporters have frequently been threatened and persecuted.[89] RFE/RL also faces a number of central security concerns, including cyberterrorist attacks[90] and general terrorist threats.[91] After the September 11 attacks, American and Czech authorities agreed to move RFE/RL's Prague headquarters away from the city center in order to make it less vulnerable to terrorist attack.[92] On February 19, 2009, RFE/RL began broadcasting from its new headquarters east of the city center.[93]

Beyond Europe

File:RFA reporter Helmand.jpg
A reporter for RFE/RL's Afghan Service interviews a citizen in Helmand, Afghanistan.

RFE/RL says that it continues to struggle with authoritarian regimes for permission to broadcast freely within their countries. On January 1, 2009, Azerbaijan imposed a ban on all foreign media in the country, including RFE/RL.[94] Kyrgyzstan suspended broadcasts of Radio Azattyk, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz language service, because it had asked that the government be able to pre-approve its programming. Other states such as Belarus, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan prohibit re-broadcasting to local stations, making programming difficult for average listeners to access.[citation needed]

In 1998, RFE/RL began broadcasting to Iraq.[95] Iraqi president Saddam Hussein ordered Iraqi Intelligence Service, to "violently disrupt the Iraqi broadcasting of Radio Free Europe". IIS planned to attack the headquarters with an RPG-7 from a window across the street. Czech Security Information Service (BIS) foiled the plot.[95]

In 2008, Afghan president Hamid Karzai urged his government to provide assistance to a rape victim after listening to her story on Radio Azadi, RFE/RL's Afghan service.[96] According to REF/RL in 2009, Radio Azadi was the most popular radio station in Afghanistan, and Afghan listeners mailed hundreds of hand-written letters to the station each month.[97]

In September 2009, RFE/RL announced that it would begin new Pashto-language broadcasting to the Afghanistan–Pakistan border region.[98]

The following month RFE/RL introduced a daily, one-hour Russian-language broadcast, broadcasting to the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The program, called Ekho Kavkaza (Echo of the Caucasus), focused on local and international news and current affairs, organized in coordination with RFE/RL's Georgian Service.[99]

On January 15, 2010, RFE/RL began broadcasting to the Pashtun tribal areas of Pakistan in Pashto. The service, known as Radio Mashaal ("Torch"), was created in an attempt to counter the growing number of local Islamic extremist radio stations broadcasting in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.[100] Radio Mashaal says that it broadcasts local and international news with in-depth reports on terrorism, politics, women's issues, and health care (with an emphasis on preventive medicine). The station broadcasts roundtable discussions and interviews with tribal leaders and local policymakers, in addition to regular call-in programs.[101]

2010s

On October 14, 2014, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and the Voice of America (VOA) launched a new Russian-language TV news program, Current Time, "to provide audiences in countries bordering Russia with a balanced alternative to the disinformation produced by Russian media outlets that is driving instability in the region".[102] Over the next two years, Current Time – led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA – expanded to become a 24/7 digital and TV stream for Russian-speaking audiences worldwide.[103][104]

Around 2017, Voice of America and RFE/RL launched Polygraph.info, and the Russian-language factograph.info, as fact-checking sites.[105][106] On July 19, 2018, RFE/RL announced it will be returning its news services to Bulgaria and Romania by the end of 2018 amid growing concern about a reversal in democratic gains and attacks on the rule of law and the judiciary in the two countries.[107] The Romanian news service re-launched on January 14, 2019,[108] and the Bulgarian service re-launched on January 21, 2019.[109] On 8 September 2020 the Hungarian service was also relaunched.[110]

In a response to the United States Department of Justice requesting RT to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Russia's Justice Ministry also requested RFE/RL and Voice of America to register as foreign agents under the law ФЗ N 121-ФЗ / 20.07.2012 in December 2017.[111][112]

2020s

In the aftermath of Belarusian presidential elections of 2020, Radio Liberty and independent media resources experienced significant pressure from the government and law enforcement.[113][114][115][116][117][118] Journalists’ accreditations were cancelled by the authorities on October 2, 2020.[119] On July 16, 2021, the office in Minsk and homes of the journalists were raided by the police.[120][121][122]

In Russia, the government designated radio's website as a "foreign agent" on May 14, 2021. RL's bank accounts were frozen.[123] By that time, Roskomnadzor, the Russian mass media regulator, had initiated 520 cases against the broadcaster, with total fines for the RL's refusal to mark its content with the "foreign agent" label estimated at $2.4m.[124] On May 19, 2021, RL filed a legal case at the European Court of Human Rights, accusing the Russian government of violating freedom of expression and freedom of the media.[125]

In March 2023, criminal case was opened against Moscow resident Yury Kokhovets, a participant in the RFE/RL's street poll.[126] He faced up to 10 years in prison under Russia's 2022 war censorship laws.[127]

In 2022, Radio Free Europe was awarded an Online Journalism Award for the coverage of Russia's War on Ukraine.[128]

In 2023, a court in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, has accepted a request from the Culture Ministry to ban the operations of RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service.[129]

In September 2023, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani service, Radio Azadliq, was revealed to have a leadership with links to Azerbaijan’s ruling authorities, which censored content critical of the Azerbaijani government and instead published content that promoted the government's agendas.[130]

In February 2024, RFE was listed as an 'undesirable organization' by Russia, effectively making it illegal in the country.[131]

Programs

49 Minutes of Jazz

The program was a musical review by Dmitri Savitski[132] from 1989 to 2004. The theme song of the program was "So Tired" by Bobby Timmons. The program was cancelled on April 10, 2004 due to "the change of Liberty's format".[133]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The RFE broadcast's ('notorious', according to Rawnley) role in the crisis was established by a United Nations Committee looking into the crisis in 1957 already.[42]

References

  1. ↑ "Inspection of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty". United States Department of State. 2017. https://www.stateoig.gov/system/files/isp-ib-17-21.pdf. 
  2. ↑ "RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Source description". 26 June 2020. https://www.ecoi.net/en/source/11420.html. 
  3. ↑ "RFE/RL Senior Management". RFE/RL. https://pressroom.rferl.org/management-and-governance. 
  4. ↑ Jump up to: 4.0 4.1 "Management And Governance" (in en). https://pressroom.rferl.org/management-and-governance. 
  5. ↑ Jump up to: 5.0 5.1 "About Us". https://pressroom.rferl.org/about-us. 
  6. ↑ Staff Writer. (1 August 2024). "How To Bypass Blocking". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. www.rferl.org. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  7. ↑ "RFE/RL Language Services". https://pressroom.rferl.org/p/6087.html. 
  8. ↑ Uttaro, Ralph A. (1982). "The voices of America in international radio propaganda". Law and Contemporary Problems 45 (4): 103–122. doi:10.2307/1191297. JSTOR 1191297. https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3648&context=lcp#page=3. 
  9. ↑ Jump up to: 9.0 9.1 Prados, John: Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA (Ivan R. Dee, 2012). ISBN 9781566635745
  10. ↑ Jump up to: 10.0 10.1 Meyer, Cord (2000). "The CIA and Radio Free Europe". Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 1 (1): 127–130. ISSN 1526-0054. JSTOR 43134017. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43134017. 
  11. ↑ Jump up to: 11.0 11.1 Puddington 2003, p. 12
  12. ↑ Weiner, Tim: "Legacy of Ashes", p. 36. Doubleday, 2007. ISBN 978-0307389008
  13. ↑ Hudson, John (14 July 2013). "U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News to Americans" (in en-US). https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-ban-spreads-government-made-news-to-americans/. 
  14. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 24
  15. ↑ Jump up to: 15.0 15.1 15.2 Cummings 2008, p. 169
  16. ↑ Mickelson 1983, p. 18
  17. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 10
  18. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 7
  19. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 14
  20. ↑ Mickelson 1983, p. 30
  21. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 37
  22. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 39
  23. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 40
  24. ↑ Using Balloons to Breach The Iron Curtain, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (August 22, 2016).
  25. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 62
  26. ↑ Johnson 2010, p. 43
  27. ↑ Johnson 2010, pp. 37, 43
  28. ↑ Jump up to: 28.0 28.1 Cummings 2008, p. 170
  29. ↑ Cummings, Richard H. (December 14, 2021). "Soviet Cold War Operations against RFE/RL Ukrainian Service". Kyiv Post. https://archive.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/soviet-cold-war-operations-against-rfe-rl-ukrainian-service.html. 
  30. ↑ Mickelson 1983, p. 48
  31. ↑ Johnson 2010, p. 37
  32. ↑ Johnson 2010, pp. 49–64
  33. ↑ Mickelson 1983, p. 110
  34. ↑ Mickelson 1983, p. 80
  35. ↑ Mickelson 1983, p. 241
  36. ↑ "History". https://pressroom.rferl.org/history. 
  37. ↑ Nečas, Petr (5 May 2011). "RFE demolished the information wall of the communist regime". Government of the Czech Republic. https://www.vlada.cz/en/media-centrum/aktualne/rfe-demolished-the-information-wall-of-the-communist-regime-83925/tmplid-676/. 
  38. ↑ "Sixty years of RFE: 'Best propaganda is the truth'". 16 May 2011. http://ceskapozice.lidovky.cz/tema/sixty-years-of-rfe-best-propaganda-is-the-truth.A110516_085955_pozice_14728. 
  39. ↑ Kasprzak, Michal (2004). "Radio Free Europe and the Catholic Church in Poland During the 1950s and 1960s". Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes 46 (3/4): 315–341. doi:10.1080/00085006.2004.11092362. ISSN 0008-5006. JSTOR 40860045. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40860045. 
  40. ↑ Mickelson 1983, p. 87
  41. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 94
  42. ↑ Rawnsley 1996.
  43. ↑ Griffith, William (4 November 2002). "Policy Review of Voice for Free Hungary Programming, October 23 – November 23, 1956". https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB76/. 
  44. ↑ Byrne, Malcolm. "The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A History in Documents". http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB76/. 
  45. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 117
  46. ↑ Cummings 2008, p. 173
  47. ↑ Cummings, Richard (9 April 2008). "Special Feature: The 1981 Bombing of RFE/RL". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1080043.html. 
  48. ↑ ""Voices of Hope" Hoover Institution exhibit on RFE/RL". hoorferl.stanford.edu. http://hoorferl.stanford.edu/RFE/exhibits_show.php?id=7. 
  49. ↑ "Олег Туманов, "ПРИЗНАНИЯ АГЕНТА КГБ", ЧАСТЬ III – окончание". http://ohranka.com/2013/08/%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B3-%D1%82%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0-%D0%BA%D0%B3%D0%B1-%D1%87%D0%B0/. 
  50. ↑ Oleg Kalugin – Spymaster. My Thirty-two Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West. Basic Books, Philadelphia, 2009 pp. 224–25
  51. ↑ "Радио Свобода: Программы: История и современность: Разница во времени". http://archive.svoboda.org/programs/TD/2003/TD.021603.asp. 
  52. ↑ "The Russian Teddy Bear was a KGB Mole: The Oleg Tumanov Story". https://coldwarradios.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/russian-teddy-bear-was-kgb-mole-oleg.html. 
  53. ↑ Андрей Солдатов – По Чечне шпионы ходят хмуро... Мировые разведцентры изучают Россию через северокавказский бинокль. Сегодня, 24 февраля 2000 (tr. "Andrey Soldatov - Spies are walking around Chechnya glumly... World intelligence centers are studying Russia through North Caucasian binoculars. Today, February 24, 2000")
  54. ↑ Евгений Крутиков – Шпиономания. В Тель-Авиве предостерегают Россию от пакистанской разведки. Известия, 9 июля 2001 (tr. "Evgeny Krutikov - Spy mania. Tel Aviv warns Russia against Pakistani intelligence. Izvestia, July 9, 2001")
  55. ↑ Parta, R. Eugene (2007). Discoverying the Hidden Listener. Hoover Institute Press Publication. p. 57. ISBN 978-0817947323. 
  56. ↑ Jump up to: 56.0 56.1 Sosin, Gene (2010). Sparks of Liberty: An Insiders Memoir of Radio Liberty. Penn State Press. p. 195. 
  57. ↑ Lipien, Ted (23 June 2007), "Old spy scandals still haunting US broadcasters? Archived 2011-06-10 at the Wayback Machine", Spero News.
  58. ↑ "Cummings, Richard, "The Best Spy Stories of the Cold War"". http://www.globeatlantic.org/index.php?option=com_newsfeeds&catid=18&Itemid=49. 
  59. ↑ Mickelson 1983, p. 115
  60. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 310
  61. ↑ Mikkonen 2010, p. 781
  62. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 214
  63. ↑ Mikkonen 2010, p. 786
  64. ↑ Mikkonen 2010, p. 783
  65. ↑ Mikkonen 2010, p. 784
  66. ↑ Johnson, A. Ross; Parta, R. Eugene (2010). Cold War Broadcasting. Budapest: Central European University Press. pp. 51–64. ISBN 9789639776807. 
  67. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 83
  68. ↑ Historical dictionary of American propaganda, Martin J. Manning, Herbert Romerstein. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. ISBN 0-313-29605-7, ISBN 978-0-313-29605-5. p. 51
  69. ↑ A. Ross Johnson (7 September 2021). "Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty". https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/radio-free-europe-and-radio-liberty. 
  70. ↑ Jump up to: 70.0 70.1 Puddington 2003, p. 196
  71. ↑ Mickelson 1983, p. 126.
  72. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 209
  73. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 210
  74. ↑ Jump up to: 74.0 74.1 Puddington 2003, p. 30
  75. ↑ Mickelson 1983, p. 153
  76. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 254
  77. ↑ Puddington 2003, p. 287
  78. ↑ Sosin 1999, p. 209
  79. ↑ Sosin 1999, p. 216
  80. ↑ Sosin 1999, p. 219
  81. ↑ Kenety, Brian (16 November 2019). "1989: the Velvet Revolution in context (or how 'November' began in 'January')". Radio Prague. https://english.radio.cz/1989-velvet-revolution-context-or-how-november-began-january-8115387. 
  82. ↑ Sebestyen, Victor (2009). Revolution 1989: The Fall Of The Soviet Empire. Orion Publishing Group. pp. 370–371. ISBN 9780297857884. 
  83. ↑ "Unraveling the Šmid death story". 16 November 2009. http://www.rferl.org/content/off_mic_smid_death_story/1879520.html. 
  84. ↑ Nelson, Michael (1997). War of the black heavens : the battles of Western broadcasting in the Cold War (1st ed.). Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. pp. 184–186. ISBN 0-585-29377-5. OCLC 45731476. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45731476. 
  85. ↑ Šiška, Miroslav (18 November 2018). "Mrtvý Šmíd z Národní třídy. Stěžejní událost, která se nestala". https://www.novinky.cz/historie/17-listopad/clanek/mrtvy-smid-z-narodni-tridy-stezejni-udalost-ktera-se-nestala-40256470. 
  86. ↑ Ash, Timothy Garton (5 November 2009). "1989!". The New York Review of Books. ISSN 0028-7504. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/11/05/1989/. 
  87. ↑ Shute, Claudia (12 February 2019). "RFE/RL's Vidishiqi Recalls 25 Years, One Mission In The Balkans". https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/arbana-vidishiqi/29766164.html. 
  88. ↑ Geran Pilon, Juliana (December 12, 2008). "An Interview with RFE/RL Chief Jeffrey Gedmin". https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/3039/an-interview-with-rfe-rl-chief-jeffrey-gedmin. 
  89. ↑ "Journalists in trouble". RFE/RL. https://pressroom.rferl.org/journalists-in-trouble. 
  90. ↑ "Cyberjamming". Wall Street Journal. April 29, 2008. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120942466671951083. 
  91. ↑ The Prague Post, interview with RFE/RL President Thomas Dine, January 9, 2002
  92. ↑ "Radio Free Europe opens new headquarters in Prague". San Diego Union Tribune. Associated Press. 12 May 2009. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-eu-czech-radio-free-europe-051209-2009may12-story.html. 
  93. ↑ "First Broadcast From New RFE/RL Headquarters" (Press release). February 4, 2009. https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/First_Broadcast_From_New_RFERL_Headquarters_/1378790.html. 
  94. ↑ Sindelar, Daisy (30 December 2008). "Azerbaijan Bans RFE/RL, VOA, BBC Broadcasts". Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty). https://www.rferl.org/a/Azerbaijan_Bans_RFERL_Other_Foreign_Radio/1364986.html. 
  95. ↑ Jump up to: 95.0 95.1 "Czech Intelligence Reveals Iraqi Plot To Attack RFE/RL". RFE/RL. 30 November 2009. http://www.rferl.org/content/Czech_Intelligence_Reveals_Iraqi_Plot_To_Attack_RFERL/1891512.html. 
  96. ↑ Kathleen Parker "Mightier than the Sword". The Washington Post, November 21, 2008
  97. ↑ "Poetry from Paktia to Prague". RFE/RL. 31 August 2009. https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/poetry_from_paktia_to_prague/1811546.html. 
  98. ↑ "FLASHBACK (Sep. 18, 2009) Holbrooke at RFE Event: 'Deal with Taliban Propaganda Head-On'". RFE/RL. 18 September 2009. https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/Holbrooke_Reception/1826309.html. 
  99. ↑ "RFE/RL Launching Russian-Language Show to South Ossetia & Abkhazia". RFE/RL. 7 October 2009. https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/New_program_to_south_ossetia_press_release/1846174.html. 
  100. ↑ "RFE/RL Launches Radio Station in Pakistan's Pashtun Heartland". RFE/RL. 14 January 2010. https://pressroom.rferl.org/a/Press_Room_Press_Release_Radio_Mashaal_Launch_/1929887.html. 
  101. ↑ "RFE/RL Launches Radio Station in Pakistan's Pashtun Heartland". RFE/RL. 15 January 2010. http://www.rferl.org/content/Press_Room_Press_Release_Radio_Mashaal_Launch_/1929887.html. 
  102. ↑ "New TV Show Brings 'Facts, not Lies', to Russian Speakers". 14 October 2014, RFE/RL
  103. ↑ "Current Time Network Launches Real News, For Real People, In Real Time", 7 February 2017, RFE/RL
  104. ↑ "Настоящее Время – новости и репортажи из России, Украины, стран Азии". https://www.currenttime.tv/. 
  105. ↑ "About Polygraph.info" (in en). https://www.polygraph.info/p/5981.html. 
  106. ↑ "'We got our f**** a***s beat, Yankees made their point': Russian mercenaries in Syria lament U.S. strikes" (in en). Newsweek. 23 February 2018. http://www.newsweek.com/total-f-russian-mercenaries-syria-lament-us-strike-killed-dozens-818073. 
  107. ↑ Tomiuc, Eugen (2018-07-19). "RFE/RL To Launch News Services In Romania, Bulgaria" (in en). https://www.rferl.org/a/rfe-rl-to-launch-news-services-in-romania-bulgaria/29376248.html. 
  108. ↑ "Romania Wakes Up To RFE/RL". 14 January 2019, RFE/RL
  109. ↑ "RFE/RL Returns To Bulgaria". 21 January 2019, RFE/RL
  110. ↑ "RFE/RL Relaunches Operations In Hungary Amid Drop In Media Freedom" (in en). 8 September 2020. https://www.rferl.org/a/rfe-rl-relaunches-operations-in-hungary-amid-drop-in-media-freedom/30826537.html. 
  111. ↑ Stahl, Lesley. "RT's editor-in-chief on election meddling, being labeled Russian propaganda". CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rt-editor-in-chief-on-election-meddling-russian-propaganda-label/. 
  112. ↑ Osborn, Andrew (4 December 2017). "Russia designates Radio Free Europe and Voice of America as 'foreign agents'". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-media-restrictions/russia-designates-radio-free-europe-and-voice-of-america-as-foreign-agents-idUSKBN1DZ0MP. 
  113. ↑ Phillip, Annie (November 23, 2020). "Amidst Political Turmoil in Belarus, a Revival of Trust in Independent Journalism". Nieman Reports Winter 2021. https://nieman.harvard.edu/articles/amidst-political-turmoil-in-belarus-a-revival-of-trust-in-independent-journalism/. Retrieved 27 May 2023. 
  114. ↑ Crouch, Erik (July 16, 2021). "RFE/RL office raided, journalists detained as Belarus crackdown continues". https://cpj.org/2021/07/rfe-rl-office-raided-journalists-detained-as-belarus-crackdown-continues/. Retrieved 27 May 2023. 
  115. ↑ Bogdana Alexandrowskaja (26 November 2020). "Journalism in Belarus: 'Like walking through a minefield'". Deutsche Welle. https://www.dw.com/en/journalism-in-belarus-like-walking-through-a-minefield/a-55742319. 
  116. ↑ "Belarus: Crackdown on Independent Journalism". Human Rights Watch. 29 March 2021. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/29/belarus-crackdown-independent-journalism. Retrieved 27 May 2023. 
  117. ↑ "Belarus: Freedom on the Net 2022 Country Report". https://freedomhouse.org/country/belarus/freedom-net/2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023. 
  118. ↑ Tanya Lokot (5 November 2021). "Belarus authorities block access to more independent media added to extremist list". Advox. Global Voices. https://globalvoices.org/2021/11/05/belarus-authorities-block-access-to-more-independent-media-added-to-extremist-list/. Retrieved 27 May 2023. 
  119. ↑ "Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Russia: Official pressure rising against RFE/RL" (in en). US Agency for Global Media. 2020-10-09. https://www.usagm.gov/2020/10/09/tajikistan-kyrgyzstan-belarus-russia-official-pressure-rising-against-rfe-rl/. Retrieved 2021-08-24. 
  120. ↑ "Belarus expands opposition crackdown with raids on independent media" (in en). Euronews. 2021-07-16. https://www.euronews.com/2021/07/16/belarus-expands-opposition-crackdown-with-raids-on-independent-media. Retrieved 2021-08-24. 
  121. ↑ "Belarus Jails Students and Raids Media in Crackdown" (in en). The Moscow Times. 2021-07-16. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/07/16/belarus-jails-students-and-raids-media-in-crackdown-a74536. Retrieved 2021-08-24. 
  122. ↑ "Belarus conducts new raids on journalists and rights activists" (in en). Reuters. 2021-07-16. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/belarus-police-raid-homes-offices-journalists-rights-activists-2021-07-16/. Retrieved 2021-08-24. 
  123. ↑ "Russia freezes bank accounts of US broadcaster RFE/RL" (in en). Deutsche Welle. 2021-05-14. https://www.dw.com/en/russia-freezes-bank-accounts-of-us-broadcaster-rfe-rl/a-57536932. Retrieved 2021-08-25. 
  124. ↑ "Kremlin bears down on Moscow bureau of US-funded radio station" (in en). The Guardian. 2021-05-05. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/05/kremlin-bears-down-on-moscow-bureau-of-us-funded-radio-station-rfe-rl. Retrieved 2021-08-25. 
  125. ↑ Balmforth, Tom (2021-05-19). "Radio Free Europe sues Russia at European court over 'foreign agent' action" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/radio-free-europe-sues-russia-european-court-over-foreign-agent-action-2021-05-19/. Retrieved 2021-08-25. 
  126. ↑ "Russian police upgrade charges against Moscow resident in 'fake news' case over comment for Radio Liberty". Novaya Gazeta. 30 April 2023. https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/04/30/russian-police-upgrade-charges-against-moscow-resident-in-fake-news-case-over-comment-for-radio-liberty-en-news. 
  127. ↑ "'I stand by my opinion': Russian on trial for critical Ukraine interview". France 24. 30 August 2023. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230830-i-stand-by-my-opinion-russian-on-trial-for-critical-ukraine-interview. 
  128. ↑ "2022 Online Journalism Awards Winners" (in en-US). https://awards.journalists.org/entries/russias-war-on-ukraine/. 
  129. ↑ "Bishkek Court Approves Ministry Request To Shut Down RFE/RL's Operations In Kyrgyzstan". Radio Free Europe. 29 April 2023. https://www.rferl.org/a/kyrgyzstan-rferl-shut-down/32381981.html. 
  130. ↑ Adilgizi, Lamiya; Rowley, Tom (8 September 2023). "Former Radio Free Europe staff demand probe over 'pro-Azerbaijan content'". https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/rfe-rl-radio-free-europe-liberty-azadliq-azerbaijan-investigation/. 
  131. ↑ "Radio Free Europe named 'undesirable organisation' by Russian government". Novaya Gazeta Europe. 20 February 2024. https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/02/20/radio-free-europe-named-undesirable-organisation-by-russian-government-en-news. 
  132. ↑ Yakovlev, Denis (22 April 2006). "Дмитрий Савицкий: "Я был антисоветчиком с младых ногтей"". http://www.knigoboz.ru/news/news3193.html. 
  133. ↑ says, Piotr. "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Has Lost Its Uniqueness Warns Former Director of Radio Liberty's Russian Service | Free Media Online" (in en-US). http://freemediaonline.org/freemediaonlineblog/2009/05/19/radio-free-europeradio-liberty-has-lost-its-uniqueness-warns-former-director-of-radio-libertys-russian-service/. 

Bibliography

  • Puddington, Arch (2003). Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 
  • Sosin, Gene (1999). Sparks of Liberty: An Insider's Memoir of Radio Liberty. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. 
  • Urban, George R. (1997). Radio Free Europe and the pursuit of democracy: My War Within the Cold War. Yale University Press. Urban was the director of RFE in the 1980s.

In other languages

External links

  1. REDIRECT Template:U.S. Agency for Global Media

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