United States Agency for Global Media

‘Burma, Belarus testify to the power and perils of free media’: RFA and RFE/RL Presidents

June 14, 2021

This joint op-ed by Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Presidents Bay Fang and Jamie Fly on the role of a free press in Burma and Belarus amid disruption was published in The Hill. The piece, titled, “Burma, Belarus Testify to the Power and Perils of Free Media,” identifies ways to strengthen local media, including internet freedom, and support journalists under threat in both countries. It also illustrates how the Burmese and Belarusian people have turned to RFA and RFE/RL for timely, unbiased journalism during media blackouts enforced by the authoritarian regimes of Burma’s General Min Aung Hlaing and Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenka. Read More