Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private, non-profit news organization, operating under a grant from the BBG, broadcasting daily in nine languages to listeners in Asia whose governments restrict media. RFA broadcasts accurate and timely news and information, along with a range of voices and opinions from within Asia, to demonstrate freedom of expression over the airwaves and online.

RFA focuses on news and features of unique and specific relevance to its target areas. Through shortwave, medium wave, satellite transmissions and the Internet, RFA broadcasts in Mandarin, Cantonese, Uyghur, three dialects of Tibetan, Burmese, Vietnamese, Korean, Lao, and Khmer. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., RFA has seven overseas bureaus and a vast network of stringers around the world. Call-in programs and multimedia websites provide listeners and readers with a forum in which they can express views and exchange ideas.

Following strict journalistic standards of objectivity, integrity and balance, RFA serves as a model for its target countries’ emerging journalistic traditions. Reaching Asian listeners from all social strata and maintaining credibility are RFA’s top priorities. RFA’s breaking news coverage has been singled out as authoritative by major media including The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, AFP, NHK, and numerous others.

2009 Highlights

• During the July Uyghur demonstration, RFA closely covered events in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and throughout the mainland. RFA broke the news about the Guangdong factory riot that led to the protests.  Despite the media blackout enforced by Chinese authorities, RFA continued to provide solid eyewitness news coverage cited by The Associated Press, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and South China Morning Post.

• In June the Mandarin Service covered the 20th anniversary of the crackdown of protesters in Tiananmen Square with interviews of survivors and multimedia images and exclusive video online. RFA covered the one-year anniversary of the deadly Sichuan earthquake and questions that remain, as parents of the children who died in a shoddily constructed school building attempt to bring their case before a Chinese court of law.

• In June, the Cantonese Service reported on clashes between Han and ethnic minority Uyghur workers at a dormitory of a Hong Kong-owned factory in Shaoguan, Guangdong, resulting in the deaths of two Uyghurs and detention of hundreds of others. The service produced an exclusive series on child kidnapping in the region.

• The Tibetan Service continued to break news with several stories on ongoing protests and unrest in Tibet, including resistance to Chinese officials’ attempts to organize Tibetan New Year celebrations.

• The Burmese Service provided extensive coverage of the trial of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. RFA interviewed her lawyer, U Kyi Win, whose request for the trial to be open to the public was denied.

• The Korean Service aired an ongoing series of stories about official corruption in connection with the sale and export of North Korea’s mineral resources. They reported extensively on Pyongyang’s missile testing, and recent efforts to strengthen military ties with Burma’s military junta.

• The Vietnamese Service reported on the reaction of the arrest of human rights activist Le Cong Dinh. Coverage of the ongoing dispute between the state and the Catholic Church was reproduced on blogs inside Vietnam with video from citizen reporters.

• In April, the Khmer Service began webcasts of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal along with extended broadcast coverage. The service also reported on the Cambodian government’s ongoing campaign of legal intimidation against the country’s journalists.

• Throughout the year, the Lao Service reported on Thai plans to forcibly repatriate 5,000 Hmong refugees back to Laos. RFA’s reporting included the May pullout of Doctors Without Borders from Huay Nam Khao camp and the swift Thai military operation that emptied the camp.

• In addition to the RFA YouTube channel, all RFA services now have branded Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. RFA introduced cell-phone ready feeds for the Mandarin and Korean services and launched a special, comprehensive video series on the Mekong River ahead of the World Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

 

Awards:

The jury of the 2009 New York Festivals voted RFA ‘Broadcaster of the Year.’ RFA won an unprecedented seven medals for journalistic excellence. Four of Radio Free Asia’s nine language services won top honors for excellence in journalism in the international competition, which included three gold, one silver, and three bronze medals.

 

 

 

 

For more information about RFA, click here.