White House nominates new Head for USAGM

The White House has noninated Sarah B. Rogers, currently the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, to be Chief Executive Officer of the United States Agency for Global Media. Her nomination was sent to the Senate on Thursday.

A slightly gleeful Yahoo article notes that

[t]wo-time failed gubernatorial candidate Lake was removed from the role after U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan administration nominee, ruled on Saturday that she had been running the agency in violation of the law, labeling her a “de facto” CEO.

A judge has found that Kari Lake acted unlawfully by appointing herself as the head of the US Agency for Global Media

The decision gives hope to laid off staff that the services provided by the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and other networks can be restored

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/08/nx-s1-5741594/u-s-judge-kari-lake-broke-law-voice-of-america

#uspol #media #journalism #VoiceofAmerica #RadioFreeAsia

Collecting Updates on Radio Free Asia (RFA)

The Independent, on Wednesday, carried a story about the resumption of Radio Free Asia (RFA) programs in Mandarin, Tibetan, and Uyghur, apparently reacting to a "social-media" post by RFA CEO Bay Fang on Wednesday or Tuesday. According to Bay’s post, their programs are

already making waves. RFA’s Uyghur Service aired a report over the weekend about how children of detainees in Xinjiang are being forced into manual labor at a young age instead of going to school.

She links to the article in question – a translation engine should be able to give us an idea about its content.

As far as I can see, this should not be misread as children being detained for forced labor, but as children of detained parents having no other choice than to work to support themselves and their remaining family people. Lack of financial means for paying school fees also seems to play a role.

No frequencies are mentioned by RFA or The Independent, but it seems that Mandarin programs are only available online, while programs in Tibetan and Uyghur programs can be heard both on the internet (if available in the target areas), and on shortwave, from 23:00 to 23:15 UTC on 7620 kHz, and from 01:00 to 01:15 UTC on 7580 kHz respectively, probably Sunday through Friday).

RFA spokesman Rohit Mahajan is quoted as saying a week earlier that the station "partnered with private transmission providers to reach listeners in Tibet, North Korea and Myanmar".

Radio Free Asia returns to Shortwave in Tibetan and Uyghur

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reportedly resumed transmissions in Tibetan and in Uyghur on February 10th, with a program in Tibetan from 23:00 to 23:15 UTC on 7620 kHz, and a program in Uyghur from 01:00 to 01:15 UTC on 7580 kHz. Compared to what may have once been 273 hours per week in Tibetan and 77 hours per week in Uyghur, that’s not a big deal, but it may offer Tibertans and Uyghurs an open window on world affairs. Compared to Voice of America (VoA), RFA has so far managed to maintain its lawful autonomy against the Trump administration, and is likely to get safer funding again, as decided by Congress in January.

Following that, RFA chief communications officer Rohit Mahajan was quoted by Reuters newsagency as saying that Korean programs should be back on January 15, and that Tibetan and Uyghur services would also be restored.

RFA to resume broadcasts to North Korea

https://swling.com/blog/2026/01/rfa-to-resume-broadcasts-to-north-korea/

#RadioFreeAsia #RFA #RichardCuff #ShortwaveRadio

Provisions for US Global Media can be a Turning Point, but only if Congress keeps following up

"Trump sought to eviscerate the Voice of America", writes "The Fiscal Times", "but Congress is providing $653 million for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which operates the international broadcaster. That’s roughly $500 million more than Trump requested."

It’s rather modest funding, compared to the (already reduced) 2024 budgets, but it is remarkable because Congress, less than a year before the midterm elections, has decided to ignore a number of Trump’s 2026 budget request items.

But what does that mean for future USAGM operations, including Voice of America (VoA), Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio Free Europe (RFE), and Radio Liberty (Radio Svoboda, RL)?

Outlook, or speculation 😉

The president can cancel funding, or postpone its use (within the year). However, if the president cancels the funding, but doesn’t get both the Senate’s and the House of Representatives’ agreement for this move, "he has no choice but to release the budget authority to the agency". Congress must actively enact the president’s cancellation (recission), to put it into effect. No enactment, no valid cancellation.
Postponements (deferrals) by the White House are also possible, but only within a year.
This could mean that even with active congressional support, the USAGM may still have to wait for funding, at least for some weeks, and at worst for months. But the White House can’t delay funding forever.

That, of course, is "only" the legal situation. The problem is that the Trump administration doesn’t respect the law. If Congress really wants the USAGM and its external broadcasters to function, it will have to throw its full weight behind them all through 2026.

#broadcasting #foreignRadio #RadioFreeAsia #RadioFreeEurope #shortwave #USA #VoiceOfAmerica

Nueva QSL de RFA para 2009

https://elradioescucha.net/2009/09/16/nueva-qsl-de-rfa-2/

RFA Mandarin ceases Production

Radio Free Asia’s Mandarin service announced a (temporary, if lucky) halt to its productions on Thursday. On their website, they wrote that at a time of sudden and perplexing changes in the international situation, subtle changes in US-China relations and a cross-strait situation (i. e. Chinese-Taiwanese relations) that had an effect on popular sentiment, with issues on RFA’s desks and interview notes just written and videos still being edited, the US government had stopped funding the station. "We never expected this kind of temporary departure!"

Four months ago, RFA’s Cantonese service had bowed out in an address of their own to their audience.
America’s international public-relations disaster continues.

#AsiaPacific #broadcasting #China #foreignRadio #RadioFreeAsia #USA #国际广播