Heritage Foundation scholar calls for return to work of fired Radio Liberty journalists
Dr. Helle Dale, the Heritage Foundation
Dr. Helle C. Dale, the Heritage Foundations Senior Fellow in Public Diplomacy studies, has called on the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to reverse the mass firings of Radio Liberty journalists in Moscow without delay and issue a strong reprimand to the leadership of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
“The treatment inflicted on 41 Russian journalists in Moscow’s Radio Liberty office is nothing less than scandalous, and it threatens to silence American broadcasting into Russia for good.
But what is even more scandalous is that it was not the Russian government that, without warning, shut those journalists out of their offices on September 20 and 21 with armed guards, marched them to a lawyer’s office, and demanded they sign away their jobs of many years.
It was the government of the United States.
This action against the journalists by the management of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a U.S.-funded international broadcaster, reflects terribly on the U.S. as a nation that respects human rights and free expression.”
Read more:U.S. Fires Its Own Broadcasters in Russia by Dr. Helle Dale
Unfortunately, you can have every foreign policy expert in the country asking for a reversal of this tragic decision. From academia, a panel of distinguished professors insisting on reconsideration. A petition signed by thousands in Russia demanding that Radio Liberty Russian/Svoboda be restored will land in the trash basket. Even if a bipartisan Congress which funds the Agency demanded a reexamination of the decision, the majority of BBG members, spurred on by their out-of-control Executive Staff, would refuse. They truly believe they are above any law as they trample on their employees and display that they do not have even a shred of human decency – a power unto themselves. The height of arrogance. Staggering.