Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded media organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says that "the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed". RFE/RL is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an independent government agency overseeing all U.S. federal government international broadcasting services. Jeremy Bransten is acting editor-in-chief of RFE.
RFE/RL official logo | |
| Abbreviation | RFE/RL |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1949 (Radio Free Europe), 1953 (Radio Liberty), 1976 (merger) |
| Type | Private, non-profit Sec 501(c)3 corporation |
| Purpose | Broadcast Media |
| Headquarters | Prague Broadcast Center 50°4′44″N 14°28′43″E |
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Official language | English Programs are also available in Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Bosnian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Chechen, Crimean Tatar, Dari, Georgian, Hungarian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Pashto, Persian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Tajik, Tatar, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Uzbek In the past also Polish, Czech, Slovak, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and various other languages; see this list |
| Owner | U.S. Agency for Global Media |
Acting President | Stephen Capus |
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (Treasurer) | Mark Kontos |
Assistant Secretary and Deputy General Council | Tanya Youngberg |
General Council/Secretary | Benjamin Herman |
Budget (Fiscal year 2021) | $124,300,000 |
Staff | >700 |
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The organization has been repeatedly viewed by scholars as a means of disseminating American propaganda and US interests as a whole.
RFE/RL broadcasts in 27 languages to 23 countries. The organization has been headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, since 1995, and has 21 local bureaus with over 500 core staff and 1,300 stringers and freelancers in countries throughout their broadcast region. In addition, it has 680 employees at its headquarters and corporate office in Washington, D.C.
During the Cold War, RFE was broadcast to Soviet satellite states, including the Baltic states, and RL targeted the Soviet Union; RFE was founded as an anti-communist propaganda source in 1949 by the National Committee for a Free Europe, while RL was founded two years later. The two organizations merged in 1976. Communist governments frequently sent agents to infiltrate RFE's headquarters, and the KGB regularly jammed its signals. RFE/RL was headquartered at Englischer Garten in Munich, West Germany, from 1949 to 1995. Another broadcast site was operated at the village of Glória do Ribatejo, east of Lisbon, Portugal, from 1951 to 1996. European operations have been significantly reduced since the end of the Cold War.