The Voice of America – Burmese (VOA-Burmese) news production programs, which have been familiar to the Myanmar people for over 80 years, ceased operations as of 16 March 2025. Another U.S. government-funded operation, Radio Free Asia (RFA), is also facing the shutdown of all its operations. Since Donald Trump came back to office, the crisis of the Myanmar people’s right to access information has become more pronounced.
In the RFA Chairman’s announcement, he said: “Cutting funding for RFA is a gift to dictators and bad governments around the world, including the Chinese Communist Party, which is expanding its influence unchecked in the information age.” Furthermore, he said this not only neglects nearly 60 million people who are watching and reading to learn the truth but also deprives them of access to real news while benefiting America’s enemies.
For the Myanmar people, they will now lose two major news organizations that have been broadcasting and presenting news content to various segments of society, from grassroots to all social strata, for many decades amidst news propaganda by successive dictatorial governments to this day.
This week’s Burma News International (BNI) – Myanmar Peace Monitor’s Bi-Weekly News Reviews looks into the crisis facing news media that stand independently for the Myanmar people’s right to information, with VOA and RFA among them.
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