The Foreign Service Journal, January 2004

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 43 very year, the nonprofit U.S. organization Freedom House publishes a map of press freedom around the world. The map and accom- panying narrative rank countries as “free,” “partly free,” or “not free” — denoted by the colors green, yellow, and purple, respectively. Year after year, the countries of East Asia, comprising the entirety of Radio Free Asia’s target audience, stand out as a broad, bold, violet sweep. From Hanoi to Hohhot, Lhasa to Luang Prabhang, the media are decidedly unfree. Enter Radio Free Asia, a “surrogate” national broad- caster, delivering news and information relevant to listen- ers’ daily lives in a way the local press would if its jour- nalists could report freely. RFA broadcasts in Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu (Shanghainese), Uyghur, three dialects of Tibetan, Burmese, Vietnamese, Korean, Lao and Khmer. Each language service is staffed entirely by native speak- ers, and the programming of each service is unique. Setting an Example Incorporated by an act of Congress as a private non- profit company in 1996 and funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors, RFA employs 256 staff and broadcasts roughly 250 hours every week. All broadcasts originate from RFA’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, with reports from bureaus in Hong Kong, Taipei, Phnom Penh, Dharamsala, Bangkok, Seoul, and Ankara. Broadcasts also include reporting from numerous stringers elsewhere around the world. RFA follows strict journalistic standards of objectivity, integrity and balance. Maintaining credibility among lis- teners is RFA’s top priority. RFA HAS TARGETTED THE SWATH FROM H ANOI TO H OHHOT AND FROM L HASA TO L UANG P RABHANG TO DEMONSTRATE BY EXAMPLE WHAT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION MEANS . B Y R ICHARD R ICHTER F O C U S O N U . S . B R O A D C A S T I N G E RADIO FREE ASIA: A “R ARE W INDOW ” Exiled Chinese dissident Wang Dan and Hong Kong pro-democracy leader Martin Lee take calls from China on June 4, 2003, during one of Radio Free Asia’s toll-free, Mandarin-language hotline programs. Wang and Lee’s visit coincided with the 14th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown and an outcry in Hong Kong over government plans to pass a draconian anti- subversion bill.