Radio Free Europe is shutting down; Trump has cut U.S. funding

The team is actively working on a solution that will “allow us to continue serving our audience,” said one radio source, requesting anonymity until an official statement is released.

The director of Radio Free Europe Romania, Elena Vijulie Tănase, also announced on Facebook two weeks ago that it would close on March 31.

“These are certainly bad news. And not just for my colleagues and me,” she wrote, emphasizing that only a “handful of professional journalists” remain, while “these times require our work on so many fronts.”

Trump cuts funding

The RFE management in Prague did not respond to AFP’s inquiries. “We understand that Radio Free Europe had to make cuts to preserve all of its activities, including broadcasting in dictatorships such as Russia,” said Pavol Salaj, director of Reporters Without Borders in the Czech Republic, to AFP.

However, these closures “will endanger citizens’ right to reliable information,” he added, stressing that “the risk is even greater in Bulgaria, which faces elections, as it is a country with already few independent media.”

The closure of the radio in Hungary was also announced at the end of November, by decision of the U.S. government, in order to appease Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Bulgaria and Romania were among the first countries covered by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty when it was founded in 1950.

The radio station, partially funded by the CIA until the early 1970s, played a key role in spreading information beyond the Iron Curtain, despite regular attempts by communist authorities to jam its signal and harass its journalists.