Trump Administration Freezes Funding for Media Organisations Including Voice of America and Radio Free Asia
特朗普政府凍結資助《自由亞洲電台》及《美國之音》等傳媒機構
The Trump administration ordered on Saturday (March 15) the suspension of funding for several broadcasting organisations, including Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Radio Free Europe (RFE). Employees of the organisations told the BBC they had “long expected” the move. Hundreds of staff members at Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other broadcasters received company emails over the weekend saying they were barred from entering their offices and had to surrender press passes and equipment issued by their offices. The organisations’ operations were brought to a halt. According to an email viewed by BBC Chinese and sent by RFA president Fong Pui to staff on Saturday U.S. Eastern Time, all RFA employees were expected to report to work as normal on the next working day, the coming Monday. “Last night, the White House issued an executive order affecting multiple organisations, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Please note that we are all working together to assess how the executive order will affect RFA. This morning, RFA and other sister media organisations received notification from USAGM stating that our grant agreements had been suspended. RFA’s leadership is assessing this disappointing development to determine what it means and its potential impact on our organisation.”
特朗普政府週六（3月15日）下令暫停資助包括美國之音（VOA）、自由亞洲電台（RFA）、自由歐洲電台（RFE）在內的多家廣播機構，有這些機構的員工向BBC表示他們「早有預期」。 數百名美國之音、自由亞洲電台、自由歐洲電台等廣播電台工作人員在週末時收到公司電郵稱他們被禁止進入辦公室，且必須上交記者證、辦公室發放的設備等，公司進入停擺。 根據一封BBC中文瀏覽過的、由RFA台長方貝在美國東部時間週六發給員工的郵件，該機構全體員工在下一個工作日，也就是即將到來的星期一，應該正常到崗上班。 「昨晚，白宮發出波及包括美國全球媒體總署（USAGM）在內的多個機構的行政令。請注意我們都在協作處理這項行政令將如何影響RFA。今晨，RFA和其他姊妹媒體都收到來自USAGM的通知，表示中止我們的補助協議。RFA的領導層正在評估這一令人沮喪的進程，以確定這究竟意味著什麼，以及它對我們機構的潛在影響。」