RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY (RFE/RL)
Mission/Mandate:
„RFE/RL is a private, nonprofit, U.S. government-funded radio broadcaster to Southeastern and Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Central and Southwestern Asia.“ (BBG Website, http://www.bbg.gov/bbg_aboutus.cfm, accessed on 18 February 2008)
RFE/RL, Inc. was formed in 1975 as a merger of two corporations – Free Europe and Radio Liberty Committee, both created to broadcast news to Soviet countries and funded principally by the US Congress, through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Today, RFE/RL is under the oversight of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) – an independent federal agency responsible for all US government and government-sponsored, non-military, international broadcasting (RFE/RL Website, http://www.rferl.org/about/organization/history.asp, accessed on 18 February 2008).
Target group:
General public and policy makers in selected countries in Southern, Central and Western Asia, Eastern and Southern Europe. According to RFE/RL, countries for which broadcasting services are provided are those where “free and independent media are not permitted, or not yet fully established“.
Objective:
„Based on the conviction that the first requirement of democracy is a well-informed citizenry, […] RFE/RL aims to empower people in their struggle against autocratic institutions, violations of human rights, centralized economies, ethnic and religious hostilities, regional conflicts, and controlled media.“ (RFE/RL Website,http://www.rferl.org/about/organization/brief.asp, accessed on 18 February 2008).
RFE/RL’s objective is to
- provide objective news, analysis, and discussion of domestic and regional issues;
- promote democratic values;
- strengthen civil societies;
- combat ethnic and religious intolerance;
Funding:
Scope of reporting:
Geographic focus: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation including North Caucasus, Bashkortostan and Tatarstan, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
Thematic scope: News on political, security, economic and other important developments in the region, human rights violations, conflicts, ethnic and religious hostilities.
Reporting methodology:
RFE/RL disposes of a network of 19 bureaus and over 750 freelancers. Broadcast headquarters are in Prague (Czech Republic). RFE/RL's 18 services broadcast programmes in 28 languages.
Authors of articles and analysis are experts for particular regions (correspondents, analysts, coordinators, broadcasters,). The list of experts is provided on the RFE/RL Website at http://www.rferl.org/about/experts.aspx (accessed on 20 February 2008).
Publication cycle:
News are up-dated daily.
RFE/RL Newsline is published daily.
Reports are produced in general on weekly or biweekly basis.
Languages:
English; regional news available in 28 languages (Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Avar, Azeri, Bashkir, Belarusian, Bosnian, Chechen, Circassian, Crimean Tatar, Croatian, Dari, Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Pashto, Persian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Tajik, Tatar, Turkmen, Ukrainian, and Uzbek).
Navigation of website:
Home:Contains the latest information.
News & Analysis: Contains the latest information as well, and possibility to search for information in archive (by date, country or subregion).
RFE/RL Newsline: Compilation of information on major political events in selected regions.
Reports: Review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about selected countries or regions.
Specials:Focus on the most serious crisis and current common talks (eg Iraq in Transition, Crisis in Chechnya, Iran’s Nuclear Programme, Fighting Terror and others).
Additional references:
IPS - Inter Press Service: Neo-cons Spinning Hearts and Minds, 24 June 2007 (published on Center for Media and Democracy/PR Watch.org)
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6205) (accessed on 20 February 2008)
