A public drama erupted at the beginning of February when Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) released its celebrated Central Asia correspondent and commentator, Bruce Pannier, from his reporting duties, although it kept him on for his podcast.  Praising Pannier, RFE/RL explained that their move was solely a budget decision because of rising costs associated with covering the current turmoil in the former Soviet space, especially most recently Ukraine and Kazakhstan.  RFE/RL is one of the specialized broadcasters in the U.S. Agency for Global Media that includes the Voice of America.

The news about Pannier elicited an immediate reaction, including an international letter of protest to Jamie Fly, the President and CEO of RFE/RL, distributed by the Director of the Central Asia Program at the Davis Center of Harvard University, Nargis Kassenova (herself a Kazakhstani citizen) and, as of late in the day on February 3, already signed by 159 prominent journalists, academics, and former U.S. ambassadors to the countries that fall under the purview of RFE/RL.

This current outpouring of support somewhat masks a problem that RFE/RL has long faced.  Although its self-reported number of users of its radio, TV, and digital services is slightly over 40 million world-wide, the actual number of users in the target countries themselves is relatively small when compared to those who rely on the Russian broadcast and digital media that blanket the region.  Further, RFE/RL has long employed journalists from the region who tend toward political opposition views and report from that perspective.  There’s certainly nothing wrong with that; it’s most definitely needed.  But it does somewhat skew, especially for Western users, the broader view of news from the countries being covered.

That said, we are in an unusual historical moment.  As a result of the prolonged crisis over Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has finally made clear his long-held goals.  To be blunt, he wants a New Cold War.  He wants to draw a New Iron Curtain to separate the West from what he has long called Russia’s “special sphere of influence.”  He wants the independent nations that were once Soviet Socialist Republics to be his vassal states, clearly answering to Moscow and having minimal contact with the West.  That’s not where the world should be at the beginning of the third decade of the 21^st century.

Given the current circumstances, the Biden administration should urgently request, and Capitol Hill should move quickly to grant, an enhanced budget for RFE/RL.  At this dramatic moment in history, we – and especially the people of the former Soviet space – cannot wait for the normal U.S. budget process to play out over the length of a year or more.  It’s time to act now so that experienced and dedicated journalists like Bruce Pannier can continue to give voice to the voiceless.

It’s time to give freedom a voice.