Freedom Asia Radio (RFA) announced on Wednesday, October 29th that it will cease all news content production starting from October 31st amid budget cuts by the Trump administration and the government shutdown in the United States.
The media outlet, funded by the U.S. Congress and providing news to several Asian countries, had once become a target of budget cuts under the Trump administration’s “America First” policy and is now facing further challenges due to the government shutdown.
Bay Fang, Director of RFA, stated on Wednesday that they will temporarily suspend all news content production starting from October 31st, marking the first time in its 29-year history.
In a statement, Fang mentioned that RFA would begin closing its overseas offices and formally lay off staff members who are on forced leave. She described this move as a way to “save limited existing resources and retain the possibility of restarting operations once continuous funding is acquired.”
The overseas offices being closed include those in Dharamsala, Taipei, Seoul, Istanbul, Bangkok, and Yangon.
RFA lost congressional funding in March this year when the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) terminated its assistance based on an order from the Trump administration. Subsequently, the news organization was forced to put employees on leave and reduce its operational scale.
Since returning to the White House in 2025, the Trump administration has been significantly cutting foreign aid and public broadcasting budgets, implementing the “America First” policy, and emphasizing efficiency enhancement and waste reduction.
The Trump administration has been pushing for cuts in funding for media outlets under the USAGM umbrella. Government officials explicitly pointed out that some of these organizations were deemed to have a negative stance towards the U.S. government and its policies, showing “political bias” or “radical propaganda,” and failing to fulfill their statutory requirement of neutrality.
Therefore, the government aims to correct the deviation in domestic political positions of these organizations through budget cuts and redirect resources towards projects that are considered more aligned with the national strategic objectives of “America First” and are more objectively efficient in their editorial work.
RFA lost congressional funding in March this year. At that time, the government further froze funding for entities like Radio Free Europe and RFA among other foreign media organizations.
On July 24th, Trump signed the “Budget Rescission Act of 2025,” officially revoking $9 billion in federal budget expenditures, including approximately $1.1 billion that was originally intended to be allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
The White House believes that the public media system is politically biased and constitutes unnecessary expenditure, especially as conservative individuals have long been dissatisfied with the liberal-leaning reporting of National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
As an extension of the “America First” policy, on January 25th this year, Trump signed an executive order halting all non-emergency foreign aid programs, retaining only military aid to Israel and Egypt and some emergency medical assistance.