--- Q. What does Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) do?A. RFE/RL serves as a "surrogate" free press in 20 countries where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed. Our journalists provide what many people in those countries cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate (see our Mission Statement).Q. Where does RFE/RL broadcast?A. We broadcast to 20 countries in 28 languages, including Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. You can find more information about all our language services through the links on the left of this page under "Where." An interactive map of the region we cover can be found here.Q. How does RFE/RL reach people?A. RFE/RL operates one of the most comprehensive news operations in the world. In addition to over 300 journalists at our headquarters in Prague, we maintain 19 local bureaus with a total of 400 journalists and over 750 freelancers and stringers.Over 1,000 hours of radio programming are broadcast every week, and listeners can tune in on shortwave frequencies across the entire broadcast region. RFE/RL has also built a network of more than 237 affiliate partner organizations that rebroadcast radio and television programming via 504 transmitters (404 FM) across 11 time zones. Due to current political restrictions, rebroadcasting to local stations is prohibited in Belarus, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and -- most recently -- Azerbaijan. RFE/RL has a weekly radio, television, and Internet audience of over 24 million. Our 19 websites hosted more than 33 million page views and streamed over 1 million hours of audio in July 2009.Many of our language services host call-in shows and place a high priority on interacting with their audiences. Listeners contact the services through web forums, SMS messages, Facebook and Twitter, e-mails, and even old-fashioned letters. But, while the Internet and mobile technology are spreading fast, the radio is still a central medium for news and information in many of our markets.Q. How is RFE/RL funded and managed?A. RFE/RL is funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The BBG is a bipartisan federal agency overseeing all U.S international broadcasting services. In addition to RFE/RL, this includes Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Alhurra, Radio Sawa, and Radio Marti.Under IRS rules, RFE/RL is a private, nonprofit Sec. 501(c) 3 corporation. Chartered in Delaware, it receives federal grants as a private grantee. RFE/RL maintains a corporate office in Washington, D.C.Jeffrey Gedmin was named president of RFE/RL, Inc. on February 2, 2007.Q. If the U.S. government funds RFE/RL, how can it be independent and unbiased? A. This is a very important and crucial point: The U.S. government is not involved in RFE/RL's operational or editorial decisions. Our governing board, the BBG, serves by law as a firewall to protect our editorial independence.RFE/RL journalists provide straightforward, professional journalism, and the results are clear -- our audiences trust us. The popularity of many of our programs reflects this: In Afghanistan, over 50 percent of the adult population listens to our programs, and Radio Farda's website received over 10 million page views in July.Q. Is this still necessary? Isn’t the Cold War over?A. Our mission remains more relevant than ever, though our name might be somewhat of an anachronism.While RFE/RL ended broadcasts to most Central and Eastern European countries as they successfully developed professional local media throughout the 1990s and 2000s, there have also been severe setbacks.Many countries in the former Soviet sphere have recently seen a dramatic reversal of democratic progress. Journalists there are increasingly under threat, and RFE/RL remains a crucial source of accurate information beyond the reach of autocratic governments.RFE/RL has also taken up programming to new countries over the years:
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