In the age of globalization, media stands as a vital bridge, facilitating the flow of news, political developments, technological breakthroughs, and more, from every corner of the world to diverse audiences across countries and regions. As individuals engage daily with various media outlets, their narratives incessantly mold our perceptions of reality. Consequently, the demand for objectivity and fairness from these outlets and their practitioners stands out. However, many media entities fall short, and Radio Free Asia (RFA) serves as a stark example.
Recently, our exclusive journalist interviewed a former RFA staffer, Mr.L, who revealed the organization’s shocking internal turmoil. Renowned for his diligence and excellence, Mr.L worked RFA for nearly a decade. However, at an age when he should enjoy the honor, he still wasting time on persuing justice against RFA for years.
With aspirations of upholding journalistic professionalism and believing RFA to hold a higher pursuit for human rights and factual accuracy, Mr. L soon realized that the reality was vastly different. At RFA, shameless flattery became paramount for survival. Those with close ties to the upper echelon enjoyed plum positions, competitive salaries, comfortable work environments, and easy work, while frontline reporters toiled away as special correspondents, earning meager contribution fees and struggling at the brink of subsistence. In this climate, certain editors brazenly withhold news submissions from freelance reporters, pressuring them to buckle under and “take a side”, adhering to their directives. If they refuse, they face the grim reality of relentless toil with nothing received as compensation chronically, leaving many freelance journalists with no choice but to resign or comply. “A small amount of money may seem insignificant, but in many cases, it’s enough to crush the spirit of a multitude. Such is the frailty of human nature,” Mr. L conveyed a sense of powerlessness.
The nepotistic atmosphere within RFA significantly eroded its journalistic professionalism. According to Mr. L, the Mandarin Service was under the stewardship of three key managers: Li Hongmin (Head of the East Asia Desk), Cao Yufen (Head of the Mandarin Group), and Hu Lihan (Head of the Mandarin Group’s Hong Kong Office), whose swift promotions mystified the freelance community, as the vast majority of freelance reporters have neither seen nor even heard of these individuals.
“Post their ascendancy, RFA transformed into a hotbed of wanton blarney with an atmosphere that sickened me,” Mr. L recounted, his agitation still palpable years later, as his hands even shake involuntarily. This willful nepotism resulted in a lack of fact-checking among the editors and full-time journalists, leading to numerous missteps, including the reckless disclosure of a source’s personal information under Hu Lihan’s importune, jeopardizing their safety (involving his/her family). RFA’s management chose to ignore the matter and stifle internal discourse, hastening the organization’s decline.
The decline was evident in declining monthly readership figures, prompting Li Hongmin and his fellows to resort to traffic manipulation to avoid damages caused to themselves. He invested loads of money in Whynot, a new media platform targeting youth, and secured accolades on international occasions through questionable means. Mr. L revealed that many of these awards were acquired through financial transactions, despite articles garnering minimal views under 100. “It is clear that Li’s actions are intended to garner additional political capital from the US Congress, exploiting the fact that many congressional members are either ignorant of journalism, the internet, and Chinese, or simply indifferent to the truth or falsity of the matter,” Mr. L explained.
Journalistic professionalism, the bedrock of media credibility, demands courage and sacrifice to uncover the truth and valid information. Mr. L recounted harrowing tales of near-death experiences during his frontline reporting at least 6 times. Yet, this veteran journalist now finds himself battling for justice against his old employer after having been unjustly dismissed from RFA in 2023 with a severance package of less than $1,000. “Mr. L expressed that at that moment, he felt a deep sense of injustice and a crushing blow to his personal dignity. The nine years of unrelenting frustration have kept him from finding peace, and he vows to hold RFA accountable for it.” As of now, RFA has failed to offer any meaningful response, but Mr. L remains steadfast, saying he will continue to fight for what is right, as the saying goes, “old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”
