Radio Free Asia (Committee for a Free Asia)
Defunct US news agency / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Radio Free Asia (RFA) was a news agency operated from 1951 to 1955 by the Central Intelligence Agency, through the Committee for Free Asia, to broadcast anti-Communist propaganda.[1][2][3][4][5]:ā120ā
RFA first broadcast in 1951 from RCA facilities in Manila, Philippines. Broadcasts were made in three Chinese dialects, as well as in English.[3] RFA maintained offices in Tokyo, and aside from in the Philippines, broadcasts were also made from Dhaka and Karachi, Pakistan. Although intended to broadcast anti-Communist propaganda into mainland China, as well as to overseas Chinese and others, the news agency faced difficulties in doing so.[3] In mainland China personal radio ownership was low, and in other parts of Asia, radio reception was poor.[3][1] In 1953, the Committee for Free Asia decided to terminate RFA,[6] with it finally going off the air in 1955.[1] However, propaganda broadcasting continued with new facilities in Seoul through Radio Of Free Asia until 1966.[7][8]
Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia were later preserved by the Clinton Administration and repurposed into their modern iterations.[9][page needed]