The outlet is one of several media services that have been cut in funding by the Trump administration amid aggressive downsizing efforts.
The European Union is planning to step in to save the longtime media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after President Donald Trump’s administration suddenly halted funds.
Bloc’s foreign policy director Kaja Karas told reporters after a meeting with the EU foreign minister in Brussels on Tuesday that 5.5 million euros ($6.2 million) would be offered to “support important jobs in radio-free Europe.”
“It’s a short-term emergency fund designed as a safety net for independent journalism,” she added.
Trump suspended all RFE/RL funds in March to cut government spending.
Critics of the administration said cuts were also politically motivated and part of a push to control and restrain news media that do not respect the outlook.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to cut federal grants to two U.S. public broadcasters, PBS and NPR, accusing them of spreading biased reporting and “left” propaganda.
Lawyers for RFE/RL, which has been operating for 75 years, secured an order from a US federal judge in the Trump administration to restore the $12 million allocated by Congress.
As long as the lawyer says services must be shut down in June without funds, no money has been sent.
Crows said Tuesday that EU funds will not cover outlet jobs around the world, but will focus on profits that are closer to the bloc’s agenda.
“So our focus is really helping Radio Free Europe work and function in a country that is in our neighborhood and is highly dependent on external news,” she said.
The top EU diplomat said they hope that 27 EU member states will provide more funding to support radio-free Europe over the long term. Crows said Brock is looking for a “strategic field” that will help as Washington cuts life-saving foreign aid.
The outlet’s headquarters are located in Washington, DC, and its journalistic headquarters is based in the Czech Republic. The service airs the program in 27 languages in 23 countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, and has a staff of over 1,700 people.
The outlet has been heavily criticized and banned by Russia for reporting on the war in Ukraine.
Radio Free Europe began airing in 1950 in the early days of the Cold War to several Eastern European countries that became satellites of the Soviet Union. Radio Liberty began airing in Russia a few years later. Both were initially funded by the US Congress through the Central Intelligence Agency.
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