Rfe-Rl Inc

Russian language content: rfe/rl's russian service, radio svoboda, is a trusted source of balanced information about political, social, civic, cultural, and human rights issues that are unreported or under-reported in russia. It also provides a forum for discussion and debate on these topics. Radio svoboda focuses on producing a range of integrated multimedia contentaudio, video, and social mediathat connects target audiences across russia and enhances the impact of its journalism. The service runs two regional reporting projects: siberia.realities (sibreal.org) is aimed at residents of the trans-urals region of russia and north.realities (severreal.org) aimed at northwestern russia. Rfe/rl also launched systema, its russian-language investigative unit, in 2023, which exposes corruption, illicit behavior, and malign narratives pursued by the russian government and elites. Despite being forced to suspend operations within russia following the february 2022 start of the full-scale invasion of ukraine, russians continued to flock to rfe/rl's online video reporting from both sides of the front linesfor example during ukraine's surprise august 2024 offensive into russia's kursk region. Owing to longstanding political pressures within russia, illustrated by the russian government's designation of the service as a "foreign agent" in 2017 and an "undesirable organization in february 2024, rfe/rl is restricted from local radio and tv rebroadcasting and therefore primarily relies on digital distribution platforms. According to results from a nationwide survey commissioned by usagm in 2023, 4.2% of adults in russia consume radio svoboda content each week. In fy 2024, the service saw 1.4 million average weekly website visits and 20.8 million weekly video views across digital platforms.

Radio farda: rfe/rl's persian service, known as radio farda, offers a persian language alternative to government-controlled media in iran, reporting on local, national, and world events. Radio farda breaks through government censorship, providing accurate news and a platform for informed discussion and debate to audiences in iran on domestic topics such as iran's 2024 presidential election as well as global issues including the october 2023 hamas attack on israel, israel's war in gaza, and armed hostilities between iran and israel. The service stands out for its coverage of human rights and political and societal issues otherwise underreported or taboo in iran, including the "women, life, freedom" protest movement. Radio farda's website has been blocked in iran since 2003, but iranian users are able to access it using circumvention technology. Additionally, despite a government ban blocking instagram, facebook and youtube in iran, radio farda has seen significant online audiences on those platforms as well as on whatsapp which was unblocked recently and where radio farda now has over 320,000 followers. According to the results of a usagm-sponsored nationally representative survey in 2021, radio farda journalism is used by 6.4 million iranian adults each week, or 10% of iranian adults. In fy 2024, the service garnered 5.9 million average weekly website visits and 47.1 million weekly video views across digital platforms. On instagram alone, radio farda videos and reels recorded 2.4 billion views during fy2024.

Ukrainian service: rfe/rl's ukrainian service, known as radio svoboda, is a trusted, award-winning outlet with a growing audience in ukraine that provides comprehensive coverage of russia's full-scale invasion from bureaus in kyiv, lviv, and the front lines of the war. The service also extensively covers political and economic developments in ukraine, including groundbreaking reporting on official corruption and human rights issues. A 2024 investigation by radio svoboda's investigative project "schemes" uncovered corruption in the office of the deputy prosecutor general of ukraine, which led to an internal investigation and his resignation. "schemes" also conducts wide-ranging investigations into russian war crimes. Based on radio svoboda's investigative film list of 31, the office of the prosecutor general of ukraine charged the leader of the unrecognized "donetsk people's republic" (dnr) and two other dnr officials with violating the "laws and customs of war" by deporting children from eastern ukraine to russia. Films silent deportation and bring me back home document the stories of crimean tatars expelled from their homes and ukrainian prisoners deported from russia, respectively. According to a 2024 survey commissioned by usagm, 92% of radio svoboda's audience trusts its coverage, making it one of the most trusted media outlets in ukraine. Radio svoboda's content in ukrainian reaches 25.8% of the adult population in ukraine on a weekly basis. In 2024, the service earned 2.9 million weekly page views and 12.5 million video views across digital platforms.

Other program services:rfe/rl journalists report the news in 23 countries where free press is banned by the government or not fully established. We provide what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion and open debate. We broadcast in 27 languages to 23 countries with over 700 full-time journalists, 1300 freelancers and 21 local bureaus. Rfe/rl is one of the most comprehensive news operations in the world. Our journalists are on the front lines in the fight for media freedom in their countries and often put themselves at great risk to do their jobs.