Radio Free Asia (RFA) journalists function below situations of utmost private threat and sacrifice, pushed by a way of obligation to ship uncensored information to populations below authoritarian regimes.
On account of unsure funding, Radio Free Asia will pause its editorial operations on Oct. 31, 2025.
These video testimonies for the sequence “We’re RFA” had been recorded in March 2025, within the days following the termination of RFA’s Congressionally appropriated grant. Since then, greater than 90% of the editorial workers was furloughed or laid off.
Truong Son, RFA Vietnamese
Truong Son, director of RFA Vietnamese, has not been capable of return residence since he started working at RFA. For him, this isn’t solely a job but additionally an obligation.
“We bear the duty to inform the reality and break the censorship and propaganda the Vietnamese authorities impose on the complete society,” he stated, including that some individuals have been imprisoned in Vietnam for writing for RFA.
Shedding RFA would imply the communist regime in Vietnam positive factors whole management over data for 100 million individuals, he stated.
Hye Jun Web optimization and Jamin Anderson, RFA Korean
For many years, Radio Free Asia has been a important supply of uncensored information for North Koreans residing below an authoritarian regime with extraordinarily restricted entry to data.
“RFA’s mission is to guard the North Korean individuals’s proper to know and their proper to freedom of speech,” stated RFA Korean reporter Jamin Anderson, who alongside along with her colleague Hye Jun Web optimization have interviewed many North Korean escapees.
“We would like our viewers to listen to their tales.”
Mamatjan Juma, RFA Uyghur
RFA Uyghur journalists and their households have confronted ongoing intimidation techniques from the Chinese language authorities for years.
“China arrested and sentenced no less than 50 of our colleagues’ relations and family members in an try and cease us from what we’re doing,” stated RFA Uyghur’s Mamatjan Juma.
Their job has been reporting on China’s therapy of the Uyghur individuals, which the USA authorities has designated as genocide and crimes towards humanity.
Aye Aye Mon, RFA Burmese
RFA Burmese journalist Aye Aye Mon was pressured to flee Myanmar after the navy coup in 2021. She has risked her life and her freedom to return and report on the civil struggle and its impression on the individuals of Myanmar.
“It’s an honor to offer a voice for individuals who want it most,” she stated.
Eugene Whong, RFA English
RFA podcast host and editor Eugene Whong has been the voice behind many video studies. In 2021, he reported on Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing, the primary peaceable protester killed by the Myanmar junta following the coup in 2021.
“I noticed that at that second these weren’t simply phrases that I used to be studying right into a microphone,” he stated. “It’s an precise account of occasions that occurred to actual individuals.”
Kitty Wang, RFA Mandarin
RFA Mandarin journalist Kitty Wang stated that the Chinese language authorities’s suppression of details about the Tiananmen Sq. bloodbath formed her as a journalist, forging her dedication to defending and upholding freedom of knowledge.
“With out it [information], there will be no freedom of thought. With out it, individuals dwell in darkness. Via my work at RFA, I hope to deliver them gentle,” Kitty stated.
Win Ei San, RFA Burmese
Win Ei San arrived within the U.S. as a refugee and has been working as a graphic designer for RFA Burmese for a yr and a half.
“I’ve realized so many issues in such a short while,” stated San, who has labored on initiatives associated to the continuing civil struggle in Myanmar and its casualties.
“I’ve a lot extra I need to do.”
Vuthy Huot, RFA Khmer
“If we don’t hold combating, we gained’t survive,” stated RFA journalist Vuthy Huot who survived a genocide by the Khmer Rouge. As a journalist with RFA Khmer, he tells tales that matter to native individuals.
“The knowledge will not be filtered, not managed, by the federal government. The knowledge that helps them make the suitable choices.”
RFA Cantonese journalist
“I’ve to cover my id as a result of all Hong Kong persons are below the specter of the Nationwide Safety Legislation,” stated this RFA Cantonese journalist.
Threatened by China’s transnational repression, he needed to go away his residence in pursuit of a protected area to apply impartial journalism.
“If I keep in Hong Kong and bow to the federal government, we’ve got to sacrifice our ideas as impartial journalists.”
Tashi Wangchuk, RFA Tibetan
Radio Free Asia’s Tibetan Service has served as a bridge connecting individuals residing below Chinese language rule in Tibet with the skin world. Nevertheless, this function comes with vital dangers, stated Tashi Wangchuk, a journalist for RFA Tibetan Service.
“For me personally, I’ve acquired threats from the Chinese language authorities all through my journalism profession, and these have progressively gotten worse,” he stated, including that such intimidation is not going to deter him from delivering truthful reporting to his viewers.
Souphatta, RFA Lao
RFA Lao journalist Souphatta has been reporting on human trafficking tales for 3 years. She started after a mom contacted her asking for assist in rescuing her daughter.
Within the years since, dad and mom and youthful individuals trapped in rip-off facilities have instructed Souphatta that “with out RFA, they might not have a future.”
Khet Mar, RFA Burmese
The continued civil struggle in Myanmar, which began after the 2021 coup, has killed tens of hundreds of individuals. Throughout that point, RFA journalists have make clear the human value of the struggle and introduced international consideration to the struggle for democracy.
“Whereas our voice has been diminished, our struggle for human rights, press freedom, and a simply future for Myanmar continues,” stated Khet Mar, an RFA Burmese journalist.
Alim Seytoff, RFA Uyghur
For the previous 26 years, Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service has uncovered China’s atrocities towards the Uyghur individuals within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Area. This contains mass detentions, the institution of focus camps, and the horrific therapy of Uyghur ladies, in keeping with Alim Seytoff, the director of RFA Uyghur Service.
“On account of our groundbreaking studies, the primary Trump administration decided that China is committing genocide and crimes towards humanity towards the Uyghur individuals,” he stated.
Thiri Min Zin, RFA Burmese
Thiri Min Zin, an anchor for RFA Burmese, was pressured to go away Myanmar after a 2021 coup put in a ruling junta that has focused journalists. Regardless of the hardships she has encountered, she stays dedicated to her work.
“It’s my superpower—to inform the reality and assist my individuals,” she stated. “What I can do to assist my nation is to share true data.”
Ounkeo Souksavanh, RFA Lao
For RFA Lao journalist Ounkeo Souksavanh, leaving his residence nation wasn’t a selection — he was blacklisted by the communist authorities for his radio present. “In Laos, the reality will not be typically shared. Anybody who criticizes the federal government faces arrest.”
Ounkeo joined RFA to report correct information to the individuals in his residence nation. “RFA was a lifeline to maintain telling the reality,” he stated.
Kim Ji Eun, RFA Korean
As a North Korean escapee, RFA journalist Kim Ji Eun has used her reporting to succeed in residents nonetheless contained in the nation, the place Kim Jong Un’s dictatorship tightly controls all entry to data.
“RFA is really a beacon of hope for individuals who are in deep despair,” Kim Ji Eun stated, including that she had talked to individuals who determined to flee North Korea after listening to RFA broadcasts.
RFA Tibetan journalist
Radio Free Asia has lengthy been a lifeline for audiences in Tibet, in keeping with an RFA journalist of twenty years whose id is being withheld for security.
“RFA sheds gentle on the darkest nook of Tibet,” he stated, “and serves as a window for Tibetans contained in the area to see the world exterior.”
He stays resolute, despite the fact that his work has come at a value.
“My members of the family who stay in Tibet are continuously surveilled,” he stated. “I’m decided to proceed to inform these tales that counter China’s false narratives.”
Zin Mar Win, RFA Burmese
RFA Burmese’s Zin Mar Win turned a journalist after rising up listening to the radio for information. She fled Myanmar after realizing that the ruling junta was concentrating on journalists, herself included. She has continued to inform her nation’s tales.
“Whereas I’ve a voice, I’ll inform the reality. This story isn’t just mine. It’s the story of tens of millions of Myanmar individuals who refuse to be silenced,” she stated.
Chih-Te Lee, Asia Truth Test Lab
Chih-Te Lee is the Director of the Asia Truth Test Lab at Radio Free Asia, the place he fact-checks false and deceptive narratives, together with feedback from officers in totalitarian states like China.
“We imagine that information are essentially the most highly effective antidote to extremism, conspiracy principle and rumour,” he stated, including that “fact-based free speech is the muse of democracy.”
Vuthy Tha, RFA Khmer
Vuthy Tha labored for RFA’s newsroom in Cambodia earlier than it was closed by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s authoritarian regime in 2017.
Vuthy knew he needed to go away Cambodia as a result of the federal government monitored his actions.
It took him seven years to acquire a piece visa and rejoin RFA.
“On my flight to America with my two kids, all I might take into consideration was how America was a protected place for us,” he stated.
Wai Mar Htun, RFA Burmese
In war-torn Myanmar, “entry to data is as vital as meals,” RFA Burmese journalist Wai Mar Htun stated.
“Entry to credible data permits individuals to make important choices,” she stated. With information sources and VPNs restricted by the ruling junta, RFA serves a important function.
Mekong reporter, RFA Lao
For the previous 10 years, this Lao reporter has been masking the Mekong River, which is an important supply of meals, ingesting water, and livelihoods for greater than 60 million individuals.
The river is below vital stress as a result of impression of hydropower dams, that are affecting each the native communities and wildlife, he stated.
“It has meant every little thing to me to deliver these tales of the Mekong to you,” he stated.
RFA Tibetan journalist
Persecution. Harassment. Lack of contact with members of the family.
This RFA Tibetan journalist has risked all of it to report correct, impartial information concerning the atrocities confronted by Tibetans in Tibet. “My members of the family in Tibet had been persecuted on account of my work. … They’re nonetheless – to at the present time – being harassed by the Chinese language authorities,” he stated.
How has RFA’s journalism impacted Tibetans? “From the widespread Tibet protests of 2008 to the wave of self-immolations and China’s systemic efforts to erase Tibetan id, RFA has been instrumental in offering a uncommon window into Tibet,” he stated.
July Myo, RFA Burmese
Dependable information will be onerous to come back by for a lot of in Myanmar, the place web entry is commonly restricted and a civil struggle has claimed hundreds of lives. Younger persons are being forcibly conscripted into the navy, making impartial reporting extra essential than ever.
“I’m proud to share their tales, to offer them a voice,” says July Myo, an RFA Burmese reporter from a city hit by airstrikes.
WHYNOT journalist
What would Chinese language-language journalism seem like in an open and free atmosphere?
WHYNOT, a digital information journal affiliated with Radio Free Asia, has a solution.
“Our uncensored studies not solely inform our viewers of occasions which are taking place now, but additionally doc our time in order that historical past and the reality can’t be erased by the Chinese language authorities,” a WHYNOT journalist stated.
Ye Kaung Myint Maung, RFA Burmese
Ye Kaung Myint Maung, a journalist for RFA Burmese, has devoted years to reporting on Myanmar and stays dedicated to uncovering the reality.
“Journalism doesn’t cease. The reality doesn’t disappear,” he stated.
