RFE/RL ends Czech broadcasts (10/06/02)

RFE/RL ends Czech broadcasts

RFE/RL Newsline

PRAGUE - In a statement released on September 30, RFE/RL President Thomas Dine said that after 51 years of "devotion in promoting freedom and democracy," the end of broadcasting by the organization's Czech Service, Radio Svobodna Evropa (RSE), is a "sad event."

He added that, "looking back, RFE/RL takes great pride and pleasure in the enormous effort of this service in disseminating truthful news and information to the Czech and Slovak peoples" and to the "great impact" produced by the broadcasts "over the course of half a century."

Mr. Dine said that RSE provided "accurate news and information" during the dramatic days of the Cold War and the Prague Spring, and provided on-the-spot reporting of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism. He said the "eloquent pleas" of "the newly democratic nations of Central Europe" and "in particular Czech President Vaclav Havel" persuaded U.S. authorities not to end RFE/RL broadcasts, adding that Prague became "the new home" of RFE/RL in "a symbolically important situation that remains relevant today."

He said the end of the Czech broadcasts came due to budgetary constraints and that, while there is still a need for the broadcasts in the Czech Republic, "we are now needed more urgently elsewhere." He ended by quoting a Mlada fronta Dnes reader, who wrote on September 27 that "RSE has every right to [pass into history] with its head high because it fulfilled its mission flawlessly."

| Home Page |