- Thread starter
- Staff
- #1
Dadparvar
Staff member
- Nov 11, 2016
- 9,721
- 0
- 6
Amnesty International condemned Monday President Donald Trump’s executive order that significantly reduced funding for US-backed media outlets, including Radio Free Asia (RFA). The organization said that the reduced funding effectively amounted to a closure and the surrender of “a tried-and-tested tool of soft US power.”
The statement highlighted RFA’s instrumental role in providing a free speech alternative to state-controlled media in Asia. Amnesty claimed that without RFA, authoritarian regimes will be able to “maintain control over the news and the narrative,” and eliminate the possibility of dissent. RFA-covered stories such as alleged human rights abuses of Uyghurs in China, state corruption in Vietnam and airstrikes in Myanmar were provided as examples of news that would otherwise go unreported in the place the stories occur.
Amnesty also claimed that authoritarian regimes in Asia celebrated RFA’s closure. The organization cited a statement from a Chinese state-run newspaper that claimed that the RFA and its counterpart Voice of America (VOA) were being “discarded by its own government like a dirty rag.” Additionally, a Cambodian politician said the order was a “big contribution to eliminating fake news.”
The defunding of RFA stemmed from a March 14 executive order directing numerous agencies to eliminate personnel and activities to the “maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The directive included the United States Agency for Global Media, which controls RFA, VOA, and numerous other media outlets.
Terminated VOA employees filed a motion on March 26 to obtain a temporary restraining order to halt the Trump administration’s efforts to implement sweeping cuts at the federally funded broadcaster. RFA employees who were terminated filed a complaint on Friday a request to halt further terminations. RFA has already furloughed 75 percent of its US-based staff and suspended over 90 percent of its freelance journalists.
The post Trump defunding global media leaves human rights violations unchecked: Amnesty International appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.
The statement highlighted RFA’s instrumental role in providing a free speech alternative to state-controlled media in Asia. Amnesty claimed that without RFA, authoritarian regimes will be able to “maintain control over the news and the narrative,” and eliminate the possibility of dissent. RFA-covered stories such as alleged human rights abuses of Uyghurs in China, state corruption in Vietnam and airstrikes in Myanmar were provided as examples of news that would otherwise go unreported in the place the stories occur.
Amnesty also claimed that authoritarian regimes in Asia celebrated RFA’s closure. The organization cited a statement from a Chinese state-run newspaper that claimed that the RFA and its counterpart Voice of America (VOA) were being “discarded by its own government like a dirty rag.” Additionally, a Cambodian politician said the order was a “big contribution to eliminating fake news.”
The defunding of RFA stemmed from a March 14 executive order directing numerous agencies to eliminate personnel and activities to the “maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The directive included the United States Agency for Global Media, which controls RFA, VOA, and numerous other media outlets.
Terminated VOA employees filed a motion on March 26 to obtain a temporary restraining order to halt the Trump administration’s efforts to implement sweeping cuts at the federally funded broadcaster. RFA employees who were terminated filed a complaint on Friday a request to halt further terminations. RFA has already furloughed 75 percent of its US-based staff and suspended over 90 percent of its freelance journalists.
The post Trump defunding global media leaves human rights violations unchecked: Amnesty International appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.