Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with eight bureaus and offices overseas, RFA is a private, nonprofit, multimedia news corporation. RFA brings award-winning, domestic journalism and uncensored content to people in six Asian countries that restrict free speech, freedom of the press, and access to reliable information beyond their borders. RFA also provides educational and cultural programming, as well as forums for audiences to engage in open dialogue and freely express opinions.
Working in some of the world’s harshest media environments, RFA utilizes on-the-ground reporters and “stringers,” as well as vast networks of cultivated in-country sources, citizen journalists, and eyewitnesses who provide leads, tips, images, and video—often at great personal risk—to ensure that their fellow countrymen and women get accurate, timely news and information about what’s happening in their communities and neighborhoods.
RFA is funded by a grant from USAGM.
Recent Press Releases
‘At All Costs’ – Journalist safety no. 1 priority: RFA President
Marking World Press Freedom Day, Radio Free Asia (RFA) President Bay Fang reiterated the vulnerability of front-line journalists and the shared duty to protect them amid a global rise in attacks on independent media. This year’s theme of freedom of expression as a driver of all rights speaks to RFA’s founding mission and its sustained role as a trusted news source for a weekly audience of almost 60 million in some of the world’s most repressive places.
RFA digital brand 歪脑 | WHYNOT a first-place winner at Human Rights Press Awards
Radio Free Asia’s (RFA) online brand 歪脑 | WHYNOT was today named a first-place winner at this year’s Human Rights Press Awards for its mini-documentary, Surviving Online Abuse. The project, which follows four survivors of online abuse who reflect on their psychological trauma, won in the Documentary Chinese category of the Human Rights Watch and Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications-sponsored competition, which was previously based in Hong Kong.
RFA a five-time winner at 2023 New York Festivals
Radio Free Asia’s (RFA) Mandarin and Korean Services, as well as its online global Mandarin brand 歪脑 | WHYNOT, took home five awards at last night’s New York Festivals Storytelling Gala. RFA’s Mandarin Service and 歪脑 | WHYNOT each received two medals, with RFA’s Korean Service winning one. The recognized projects examine topics such as the trauma women endure under China’s “one-child” policy, the challenges Chinese adopted children face, the physical and emotional scars of Korean War POWs, and the work of Chinese political cartoonists amid the CCP’s crackdown on dissent, among other issues.
Recent Awards
Silver Medal
Project: The CCP Owns Your Womb - Tragedies of China’s Birth Control Policy (2023)
Winner: RFA Mandarin
Presented by: New York Festivals
Bronze Medal
Project: Seeking Love: The Story of Chinese Adoptees in the US (2023)
Winner: RFA Mandarin
Presented by: New York Festivals