Radio Free Asia (RFA) announced that it had ceased all news production on Friday due to “uncertain funding” after 30 years of broadcasting. RFA scaled back its language services in Burmese, Tibetan, Uyghur, and English in May after nearly 90 percent of its U.S.-based staff were laid off following a major funding cut in March.
“[The end of RFA funding] forced the suspension of all remaining news content production – for the first time in its 29 years of existence,” Bay Fang, the RFA President and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement on Oct. 29.
RFA began closing overseas bureaus, laying off staff, and paying severance to journalists—many of whom have been on unpaid leave since the U.S. President Donald Trump’s March 14 executive order to terminate government funding for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the body that oversees RFA, as well as the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
“RFA was once a prestigious and respected news organization. I feel deeply saddened, both as a long-time follower and as a former staff member,” a former Burmese language journalist at RFA told DVB on condition of anonymity.
The journalist added that only about 30 out of the 100 permanent staff in the RFA Burmese language service received compensation, while contract workers—those hired on short-term agreements, often renewed every few months or annually—and freelancers received no compensation.
“As most of us are contract workers, we don’t get anything,” the journalist told DVB.
Media watchdogs and press freedom groups have condemned the RFA shut down as a “devastating blow” to independent media and a win for authoritarian regimes in Asia.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stated in September that since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, seven journalists have been killed, over 200 have been detained, and at least 51 remain imprisoned.
Myanmar ranks 171 out of 180 countries, at the bottom of the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, and has become one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists, second only to China, according to RSF and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Fifteen media organizations, including DVB, had their publication licenses revoked by the regime, which seized power during the coup, in March 2021.
RFA Executive Editor Rosa Hwang said in a press release that the loss of the Burmese language service would leave Myanmar’s people without an independent watchdog as the regime elections is scheduled to begin on Dec. 28.
“In Myanmar, where later this year the military [junta] is staging long-promised elections largely condemned as a sham, there will be no RFA Burmese journalists scrutinizing the junta’s promise of a free and fair vote,” Hwang said.
Founded in 1996 to broadcast independent news to countries under authoritarian rule, RFA has reported on repression in China, North Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar.
“Authoritarian regimes are already celebrating RFA’s potential demise,” Hwang added.
The halt to RFA’s operations comes as other U.S.-funded broadcasters, including VOA and RFE/RL, also face layoffs and reduced programming.
“I believe that RFA will not be able to come back, whether funding is restored during the current president’s term or whether funding is restored after the current president’s four-year term ends,” the Burmese language journalist told DVB.
