US state-funded press places staff on unpaid leave
(MENAFN) Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the US state-funded media outlet, began furloughing staff at its Prague headquarters on Tuesday due to a lack of funds for April. Originally created during the Cold War to spread pro-Western messages in the Soviet bloc and once funded by the CIA, RFE/RL now relies on US government grants.
The financial struggle comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 14 significantly reducing funding for the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees RFE/RL and Voice of America. Despite a Washington DC judge temporarily blocking the defunding on March 25, RFE/RL has not received any new funds since the ruling.
RFE/RL is seeking a temporary restraining order to secure its funding for April and the rest of the fiscal year, with the outlet’s president, Stephen Capus, stating that staff and their families are suffering due to the financial uncertainty. The White House has defended the cuts as part of Trump’s efforts to reduce public spending and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy. Elon Musk, a Trump advisor and leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has called for the shutdown of RFE/RL, claiming that it no longer has significant influence.
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