site.btaPress under Pressure: US Cuts to Radio Free Europe Mirror Wider European Media Struggles

A funding freeze ordered by US President Donald Trump has left several US-funded foreign media outlets, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, scrambling for survival. The EU has warned that the cuts could benefit authoritarian regimes, while Czech officials push for European support to keep the radio station on air, reads the Key Story of the European News Room this week. The story uses content provided by AFP, ANSA, BTA, CTK, dpa, EFE, Europa Press, MIA and STA.

Media plurality was dealt a severe blow as the United States slashed funding for several global media outlets that are widely regarded as bastions against propaganda. 

Among them is Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which has been seen as a bulwark against disinformation and manipulation in Europe ever since it was founded during the Cold War to counter Soviet propaganda.

The financial crisis was triggered by a decree from President Donald Trump ordering significant budget cuts at the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees all US government-funded foreign media outlets not under military control.

The White House said the cuts would ensure “taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda”, marking a dramatic tone shift towards the networks established to extend US influence overseas.

In addition to RFE/RL, other foreign media outlets hit by Trump’s sudden cuts include Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. 

Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders condemned the decision, saying it “threatens press freedom worldwide and negates 80 years of American history in supporting a free flow of information”.

RFE/RL filed a lawsuit against USAGM arguing that the withholding of funds is unlawful because the money was expressly allocated by the US Congress. The radio network accused its parent agency of violating the US Constitution and is seeking an injunction to block the funding freeze.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was founded in 1950 during the Cold War to broadcast to the communist bloc.  Four decades later, it contributed to the fall of totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe through freely interviewing dissidents as well as critics of the authoritarian pro-Soviet leaderships. 

Originally based in Munich, the radio station moved to Prague in 1995. Today, it still broadcasts in 27 languages ​​to 23 countries, many of which severely restrict media freedom. It has a network of approximately 1,700 journalists, both permanent and freelance, and an audience of nearly 50 million people each week.

The broadcaster has long been a thorn in the side of the Russian leadership. In February 2024, Moscow designated RFE/RL an “undesirable organization”.

Reacting to the US decision, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on X that “from Belarus to Iran, from Russia to Afghanistan, Radio Free Europe and Voice of America remain among the few free sources of information for those living in oppression”.

“It is in our interest not to have totalitarian regimes blossoming around us,” he said on Sunday.

Lipavsky is actively seeking support from the European Union to prevent the station from going silent. The fate of the radio station was also discussed on Monday during the Council of Foreign Ministers of the 27 EU member states.

He said that the total budget RFE/RL requires is “an achievable amount for Europe as a whole”, adding that “for the Czech Republic, it would be beyond our means”.

According to USAGM, the annual budget is around USD142 million (EUR 131 million) a year.

The EU warned the United States on Monday that suspending broadcasts by media outlets it funds, including Radio Free Europe, risks “benefiting our common adversaries”.

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas regretted the cuts but said the EU cannot automatically fill the gap left by Washington.

As an Estonian, the head of EU diplomacy said that coming from a country on the other side of the Iron Curtain, Radio Free Europe was the station through which they obtained “a lot of information [about] what is actually going on”.

Blow to media freedom in Europe

Radio Free Europe’s struggle for survival is not unique. Media outlets across Europe are in troubled waters – not only in terms of funding, but also of the threat to their independence posed by increasing concentration of ownership and government influence, as well as hostile working conditions for journalists.

An annual report on the state of the rule of law in the EU published by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) published this year found continuing threats to media freedom throughout the EU. Many governments maintain direct influence in choosing the leadership of national regulatory bodies, subverting their independence and impartiality, the report said.

Continuing threats to the independence of national media regulatory authorities are observed in Croatia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, Bulgaria, and Malta, according to the report.

The ongoing political instability in Bulgaria, due to the absence of a regular government or properly functioning parliament, has prevented any substantial regulatory changes, including in the media market. 

In its own report on the rule of law in 2024, the European Commission recommended Bulgaria to improve transparency in state advertising allocation, particularly regarding intermediary contracts.

For Italy, the report warned that the government must guarantee independent and adequate funding for the national public broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI). It also highlighted that journalists continue to face a number of challenges in the exercise of their profession and called on the government to continue the legislative process on the defamation reform project.

In its 2024 Enlargement Report, the European Commission recommended that North Macedonia, as a non-EU member, introduce rules on full transparency in media ownership and advertising and promptly address all threats and acts of violence against journalists. 

In Slovenia, the media have not adapted quickly enough to new user habits and technological changes. Media ownership is quite concentrated and in a struggling market, layoffs of journalists have been common. 

In France, some 500 journalists have signed confidentiality clauses that impose silence on them when they leave media outlets bought by conservative French billionaire Vincent Bolloré, Reporters Without Borders claimed in an investigation.

According to Reporters Without Borders, these clauses were put in place starting in 2016, after Bolloré took control of the Canal+ group and its news channel iTélé (now CNews), then of Europe 1 radio, Paris Match magazine (since sold), and Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD).

A notable step taken by Spain was the approval of a law aiming to create a media registry to identify media owners and the advertising they receive. It promises to increase institutional transparency and is committed to combating disinformation with legal reforms.

According to sources from the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Service, media outlets will be required to register their ownership structure and the public funds (national and foreign) they receive in the form of advertising.

While the fate of RFE/RL and other media outlets hangs in the balance, media consumers in Europe and worldwide are increasingly exposed to disinformation. Comprehensive statistics are rare, but according to a 2022 study, over 70 percent of EU citizens state that they regularly encounter fake news. 

As the EU debates whether to step in to save RFE/RL, the broader question remains: can Europe protect independent journalism in an era of rising authoritarian influence and economic uncertainty?