EU warns Trump's freeze of US-funded media risks aiding enemies

Signage for US broadcaster Voice of America in Washington DC, on March 16, 2025. US President Donald Trump's administration on March 15 put journalists at VoA and other US-funded broadcasters on leave, abruptly freezing decades-old outlets. [AFP]

The EU on Monday warned that President Donald Trump's freeze on US-funded media outlets, including Radio Free Europe, risked "benefitting our common adversaries".

Trump's administration at the weekend started laying off staff at Voice of America and other broadcasters including Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL) after freezing their funding.

"We see these media outlets really as beacons of truth, of democracy, and of hope for millions of people around the world," said European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho.

"Freedom of the press... is critical for democracy. And this decision risks benefitting our common adversaries," she said, without naming countries, groups or individuals.

Pinho added that the freeze would be discussed during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

Founded by the United States during the Cold War to counter Soviet propaganda, RFE/RL was banned across the communist bloc including former Czechoslovakia, where regimes regularly jammed its signal.

The US-funded media have since focused on countries like Russia, China and Iran.

Asked whether the European Union would "fill the void" left by the United States, Pinho said it would not always be possible for the bloc to do so.

"We are reiterating our support," she told reporters, adding: "We cannot always step in for the US and for whatever the US stops doing."

Trump has already eviscerated the United States' aid agency and its education department.

The media funding freeze affects many other US outlets besides Voice of America and RFERL, including Radio Farda, a Persian-language broadcaster blocked by Iran's government, and Alhurra, an Arabic-language network established after the Iraq invasion in the face of highly critical coverage by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera.

Iran, China and Russia have all invested heavily in state media outlets created to compete with Western narratives and to push out government lines to foreign audiences.