Talk:Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Untitled

In 1975, RFE was merged with a very similar Congress funded anti-communist organization called Radio Liberty (RL, founded in 1951 by the American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia) and the group name was officially changed to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

---

As I read in the article about the American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, wasn't Radio Liberty founded in 1953(with its previous name Radio Liberation)? (instead of 1951). Radio Liberation changed its name in Radio Liberty in 1964. Also the CIA funding in RFE was revealed in 1967.

sources: Soley Lawrence C., Radio Warfare, OSS and CIA Subversive Propaganda, Praeger, New York, 1989.

The broadcasts were part of a general CIA psychological warfare campaign directed behind the Iron Curtain.

Maybe, but at the same time it was the best source of information in many Soviet-ocuppied countries, supported by many emigrants. The anti-RFE activities of several US politicians were criticised and still are.

The text is biased. Xx236 12:36, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

In what way do you feel it's biased? I myself think that the only bias here is the lack of clear mention that RFE/RL is no longer a propaganda tool and is now a legitimate news organisation. --Aramգուտանգ 16:18, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

--- Just thought I'd add my 2 cents after discovering this discussion. I live not far from the RFE HQ in Prague, and I know the developers that built the site. Disaster of a project. The funny thing is though that is not 'on the periphery' of the city at all, but right next to a metro station (Zelivskeho), a hotel, next to a bus station, next to a Jewish cemetery and on a street called "Izraelska." The previous HQ caused a totally artificial commotion because some idiot insisted on blocking a major street with tanks and etc to demonstrate the "threat" (which in Prague is totally nonsensical) to the RFE building. Security guards marched around looking bored for a year or two. Finally they got the funds to build a new site about 1km further up the road where I described, and given the location it was probably a bunch of Israelis that orchestrated it just for the real estate deal. I walk past it frequently and there's usually some American spook types walking in and out. It's a blatant CIA substation.FrankSz (talk) 19:56, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

- Your argumentation is extremely funny! I know the new building and it's there were you indicated, but still..if it's a Jewish cemetery nearby and the street name is "Izraelska" than it was "orchestrated" by Jews?? And how do you recognise American spook types? If I walk nearby can I recognize them, as well? Give us some tips! ;) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.113.15.69 (talk) 12:31, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

The article doesn't inform that the RFE informed. (The main goal of propaganda is misinformation.) Nowak-Jeziorański was a very respected man, not a CIA puppet. RFE was better than the majority of commercial stations today, it informed about culture and history.

It does need work

I don't have the time to do the editing, but this article needs some serious work. It helps if you have someone who knows something about internatinal broadcasting, international news and the differences between international broadcasters and the subset of surrogate broadcasters. The best site for information is the Hoover institute at Stamford, which is the repository for RFE-RL. I don't consider RFE-RL to have been guilt of blatant propagandizing in its Cold War period or since. The CIA generally recognized that straightfoward, faactual almost boring news did the job best. That became an issue for critics at the Heritage Foundation, which in 1981 did a report which complained RFE-RL was "too fact neutral" and urged more freedom for non-objectivity by broadcasters. The Hoover URL is hoorferl.stanford.edu/rlexhibit/

Opinion in part -- The crackdown the week of 9July06 represented a serious failure of RFE-RL (and VOA) management. Their affiliates program, started more than a decade ago, in which they pay for the right to broadcast their news on internal affairs within the Soviet Union was controversial at the outset, but critics were stifled. The difficulty is that such an arrangement has long been considered an infringement of national sovereignty -- and provided no backup to the information flow if shut down. Given its then financial constraints, RFE-RL put market share and cost savings ahead of program integrity (not in content but delivery). Expensive transmitters could be shut down and more listeners gained for a fraction of the cost, especially as RFE-RL was reshaped so that it bore little resemblance to its predecessor with the same name. BBG does the same in other countries around the world,but while less controversial by virtue of carrying litttle local news, the practice is unwise. In the case of Russia, an RFE-RL official in effect boasted of disclosing corruption, etc. that would affect local elections. It should be reported, but the Ameircan government would not tolerate the same conduct by the Russians. This happened because no one paid attention or cared what the radios did post-Cold War and still don't. I doubt that belongs in the article, but perspective is needed. Having shut down most of their transmittters, foreign radios cannot act as surrogates in a time of need.

As a factual matter (from Hoover and multiple sites). The facade of private funding, real but completely inadequate, was used from the outset with secret CIA funding. The CIA connection was probably widely suspected.

Ramparts Magazine disclosed in 1967 that the CIA had secretl (and illegally) funded the National Student Association. LBJ ordered a study of CIA funding in a number of areas and the eventual result was the disclosure that the CIA paid for and operated RFE and RL. It would take some research to establish the date that the CIA was linked to RFE-RL, but it was probably later than 1967. The CIA funding was stopped by 1971 with the BIB oversight, but until then it was still secret in the sense it was part of the CIA budget which was not disclosed. The CIA would have required some time to separate its intelligence functions from the radios. Although they remained separate operatins for another five years, most would have conflated the two CIA operations into one -- whether they were merged or not. Both were part of the anti-commnist contrainment policy urged on the US by diplomat George Kennan, whose "long telegram" warned of Soviet intentions.

Radio Free Europe was's cover was established by a committeee for freedom in the "captive states." it first broadcast to czechoslovakia in 1951. It was from the beginning intended for "Captive Nations" rather than the Soviet Union. Those states included the Baltic Republics etc. The central language was English.

Radio Liberty began broadcasting in 1953 and also had a cover group that originally had a name calling for eliminating Bolshevism in Russsia. Liberty was aimed at the Soviet Union itself, broadcasting in Russian and up to 20 other languages within the USSR proper.

There was some crossover, but the organizations were different and operated from different buildings in Munich. The two organizations were merged in 1976 and RL moved into the RFE building after an expansion. Other operations were combined. It was an absolute mess. Beyond language, the pay scales, the pensions and everything else was different - even the spy vs. spy routines. The culture clashes took years to resolve.

RFE was hardly a dull place with things like a bombing and Georgi Markov's killing. and Stasi spies as executive secretaries.

RFE-RL contributed to the Soviet Empire collapsing. But there is NO objective evidence that this is true. As for the broadcasts, while in theory they all followed the same rules and programming guidelines, it is in reality very difficult to follow the output of so many languages unless you are a native speaker. On a given day, a Czech broadcaster might cross a line and be told to shape up, or wherever. But a listener who heard a crossing of the line would remember. Was it common? I doubt it. But it can't be proven in general without a line by line reading of scripts and listening to 50 years of output. Not practical. You have to trust what subjective evidence there is. RFE-RL research was also good (and used by the CIA). I have less trust in RFE-RL assessments about themselves on a corporate level, bbut on a factual or historical level, they're good.

Some writers compare VOA favorably or unfavorably to RFE. The comparison is not valid although criticism may be. As the Cold War neared an end, the two were competing for funds.VOA broadcast nearly full time in Russian, the other major Soviet languages and most of the European as well. These were cut or eliminated as Western Europe stablized. But the two American radios were never intended for the same purpose. In addition, VOA was based in New York (until 1954) and then Washington. Atlhough VOA also had a large operation in Munich during the 1950s, all broadcasts originated from studios in the US. The difference in locations gave a different perspective.

VOA was primarily an International broadcaster while RFE-RL filled a subset called International surrogate broadcaster, i.e. they were intended as surrrogates for radio stations that were not allowed.

Content

This page mentions next to nothing about the general content of Radio Free Europe broadcasts. Was it all a question of news and current affairs? Were there documentaries? Music? Did RFE play an important role in spreading western musical styles behind the Iron Curtain? Obviously this has some baring on the development of youth culture behind the Iron Curtain. Jamrifis 14:27, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Working on article

I'm working on getting more in the article...I just presented my M.A. thesis on the topic of Radio Free Europe and I hope in my free time over the next month or so to really bring this article to life. I will specifically address broadcast content as well Etzler78 18:32, 16 May 2007 (UTC)Etzler78

Internet?

"via shortwave, AM, FM and the Internet" - how did they use the internet? They didn't have the internet in the 50's. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia of lies.

Duh they started on Shortwave. Added Mediumwave. After 1989 they appeared on FM (and satellite) and by the late 1990's were on the internet. 80.229.222.48 (talk) 13:09, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

1956 Hungary error

The Hungarian RFE misinformed Hungarians in 1956. It was probably the only dramatic error of the RFE, so it should be discussed in the article.Xx236 (talk) 13:54, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Could you please expand upon that statement? 128.205.61.32 (talk)SAB —Preceding comment was added at 22:31, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Almost nothing about the programs

The article is written from US point of view, nothing about the contents.Xx236 (talk) 14:00, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Dubious

99% of all claims of CIA being behind something is bullshit. I propose we remove that claim unless a reliable source can be found. --OpenFuture (talk) 17:46, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

You can prove anything with statistics, 60% of the people know this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.175.53.21 (talk) 18:22, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

The CIA's involvment with RFE is very well documented. There are congressional records, declassified documents from the organisation itself and interviews with former employees. What IS dubious is the positive light this article shines on RFE. It sounds like a fluff piece for a media organisation, not a description of a propaganda system.--Senor Freebie (talk) 07:42, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

complete rewrite

Hi everyone,

I have been doing some research on RFE/RL and thought that the current Wikipedia article needed some work. I included a lot of historical information that was not mentioned in the previous version as well as some new information on RFE/RL's activities today. Please let me know what you think, I am open to criticism. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jkos2010 (talk • contribs) 22:34, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

POV 17.03

1. The article is praising RFE from the very beginning till the end. We may or we may not admire RFE, but this WP article clearly gives only one - pro-RFE - POV. The only sentence involving "criticism" is "During the Cold War RFE was often criticized in the United States as not being sufficiently anti-communist." Well, that may be the most obvious reson for criticism to some, probably, but were there no other critics - at all?
2. The article features tons of non-neutral sentences, and tons of claims not supported by any sources (or sources are not mentioned yet?). The examples are: "RFE/RL currently serves as a surrogate free press in regions where uncensored information is often difficult to find," "RFE/RL is often the first to cover key events in these countries and ironically, their governments often receive valuable information through these broadcasts," "RFE/RL continues to struggle with authoritarian regimes for permission to broadcast freely within their countries. Starting January 1,st 2009, Azerbaijan has imposed a ban on all foreign media in the country, including RFE/RL. Kyrgyzstan has also suspended broadcasts of Radio Azattyk, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz language service, requesting that the government be able to pre-approve its programming. Other states such as Belarus, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan prohibit re-broadcasting to local stations, making programming difficult for average listeners to access." (no links given).
3. Description of the object of the article given in the lead is actually a self-description. It's not a direct quote from the RFE site main page, but it links only to this page and gives the same description - independent, international, broadcast organization for countries where media is limited/ banned. However, the article also adds "uncensored" (no links, of course).
4. The article totally lacks any mentions of the audience opinions. Also no external medias opinions, no journalists from outside the West, nothing.

Please don't get me wrong, I do not mean RFE is a U.S. propaganda tool. Of course not, it criticises U.S. as much as any other world media would, one can easily hear that in the broadcasts, or find those RFE articles in the web. However, it's not that obvious for a non-Western user that U.S. government does not influence medias created by the then-time CIA chief and solely funded by the U.S. government ever since.

PS. I do not support any of the claims that CIA still influences RFE broadcasting. It's just that the article lacks any independent sources with outside opinion. We need to get outside POVs added - and then we could well remove the tag. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.85.148.66 (talk) 13:16, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

1. That's not true any more.

2. Only the part about Kyrgystan is left in the article, and that needs sources, yes, but it's not POV.

3. It doesn't say uncensored any more.

4. Well find some then?

In my opinion the problems mentioned has been fixed. --OpenFuture (talk) 05:33, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Kurds incited during the 1st gulf war

An old history teacher of mine claimed convincingly that radio free europe/liberty broadcasted during the 1st gulf war that the US-led coalition was going to proceed to baghdad and topple saddam, thus the kurds and anti-saddam iraqis took arms. Then Bush SR. pulled back coalition forces and the rebelling kurds, iraqis were crushed by remanant forces of saddam. Any truth to this or any sources? I can't find any, it seems outside of RFE's MO, but if it was just one report that had bad information or was influenced by a neocon in or out of Bush's admin it doesn't seem that far-fetched.

129.32.172.106 (talk) 03:49, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Wrong Date?

"On January 31, 2004, RFE/RL launched broadcasts to the former Yugoslavia in Serbo-Croatian (Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Montenegrin). In the late 90's RFE/RL launched broadcast to Kosovo in Albanian and to Macedonia in Macedonian. In 1995, RFE/RL moved its headquarters from Munich to Prague. ..."

(in "Cold War" section -- should the date in the first sentence be 1994?) Blue5732 (talk) 07:31, 24 June 2011 (UTC)blue5732

Freedom House Europe is Propaganda backed by US Government Funding

There should be a whole section about in my opion, there are tons of report out there how they try to influence people they did it during the cold war and they do it now.--Shokioto22 (talk) 02:02, 25 October 2012 (UTC)