BBC News Burmese launches post-quake direct-to-home video channel

24 April 2025

BBC News Burmese launches post-quake direct-to-home video channel

‘Aimed for an audience in need’: BBC News Burmese launches on direct-to-home video channel in the aftermath of Myanmar earthquake

To ensure audiences can access crucial information in the aftermath of the Myanmar earthquake, the BBC World Service has added a direct-to-home satellite video channel to the platforms delivering BBC News Burmese content.

In the coming four months, the Thaicom 6 satellite, which covers Myanmar, Thailand, and the wider region, will deliver BBC News Burmese TV and audio programming. The channel will also provide access, via a QR code, to the service’s website, bbc.com/burmese.

BBC News Global Director and Deputy CEO, Jonathan Munro, says: “In Myanmar, where press freedom is severely restricted and where a vicious conflict continues, we now have an audience also beset by a natural disaster. During the week of the disastrous earthquake, BBC News Burmese total digital reach quadrupled as people came to the BBC for trusted information. With the launch of this new satellite-based video service, featuring our TV, radio and online output in Burmese, we’ll be offering a critical information stream for an audience struggling to recover from the calamity which took so many lives. Aimed for an audience in need, this is yet another timely and much-needed initiative born from the commitment and expertise of the BBC teams.”

In the aftermath of the disaster that struck Myanmar on 28 March 2025, millions in the country, as well as Burmese-speakers in Thailand, came to the service’s platforms for accurate updates and analysis. BBC News Burmese journalists were deployed to the earthquake epicentre and were reporting from Mandalay, Yangon, and Bangkok, as well as from London. BBC News Burmese extended its daily live radio bulletin from 15min to 30min to include additional reporting and lifeline information. Audiences can also watch the Monday to Friday 15-minute TV bulletin which goes on air at 20.45 local time.

BBC News Burmese channel on Thaicom 6 satellite will run all this programming, with evening repeats of radio and TV bulletins from May 2025. The channel will also visualise the QR code for the website bbc.com/burmese, so the viewers can access the latest news and information online.

Over the next few months, the direct-to-home satellite video channel – formerly used by VOA (currently off the air following the effective closure of Voice of America ordered by President Trump, but subject to court cases) – will add to BBC News Burmese availability via the service’s website as well as its YouTube channel and its Facebook page which has a following of 25m people. BBC News Burmese also connects with audiences via Instagram, Telegram and X. Digital free-to-air TV channel, Mizzima TV, rebroadcasts BBC News Burmese TV programmes.

BBC News Burmese is part of the BBC World Service.

USAGM Rescinds RFE/RL Grant termination

28 March 2025

USAGM Rescinds RFE/RL Grant termination

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On March 26, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) was informed by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) that the Agency is rescinding its letter terminating RFE/RL’s grant agreement for fiscal year 2025, and that the agreement is therefore back in effect.

The notification from USAGM follows a Tuesday ruling by Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granting RFE/RL’s request for a temporary restraining order against USAGM over its unlawful termination of RFE/RL’s congressionally appropriated funding. RFE/RL’s lawsuit seeks to ensure that the nonprofit media company receives the approximately $77 million that Congress appropriated to it.

RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said:

“This is an encouraging sign that RFE/RL’s operations will be able to continue, as Congress intended. We await official confirmation from USAGM that grant funding will promptly resume based on the intention expressed in last night’s letter. We are eager to speak directly with USAGM leadership about the extraordinary and cost-effective work that RFE/RL performs for the American people.

This is not the time for RFE/RL to go silent. Millions of people rely on us for factual information in places where censorship is widespread. We must not cede ground to our adversaries at a time when threats to America are on the rise.”

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach a weekly audience of nearly 50 million people in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM. 

BBC statement on detention and deportation of Mark Lowen

27 March 2025

BBC statement on detention and deportation of Mark Lowen

This morning (27 March) the Turkish authorities deported BBC News correspondent Mark Lowen from Istanbul, having taken him from his hotel the previous day and detained him for 17 hours. Mark Lowen was in Turkey to report on the recent protests. He has been told he was deported for ‘being a threat to public order’.

BBC News CEO Deborah Turness said: “This is an extremely troubling incident and we will be making representations to the Turkish authorities. Mark is a very experienced correspondent with a deep knowledge of Turkey and no journalist should face this kind of treatment simply for doing their job. We will continue to report impartially and fairly on events in Turkey.”

On arrival to London this morning (27 March), Mark Lowen said: “To be detained and deported from the country where I previously lived for five years and for which I have such affection has been extremely distressing. Press freedom and impartial reporting are fundamental to any democracy.”

RFE/RL Sues USAGM to Block Termination of Federal Grant

18 March 2025

RFE/RL Sues USAGM to Block Termination of Federal Grant

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) today (18 March) sued the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), as well as USAGM officials Kari Lake and Victor Morales, to block their attempted termination of RFE/RL’s federal grant.

The complaint makes the case that denying RFE/RL the funds that Congress appropriated for it violates federal laws—including the U.S. Constitution, which vests Congress with exclusive power over federal spending. The case will be heard in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said: “This is not the time to cede terrain to the propaganda and censorship of America’s adversaries. We believe the law is on our side and that the celebration of our demise by despots around the world is premature.”

France Médias Monde and Deutsche Welle express deep concern over the US decision to suspend USAGM employees and funding

17 March 2025

France Médias Monde and Deutsche Welle express deep concern over the US decision to suspend USAGM employees and funding

France Médias Monde (FMM) and Deutsche Welle (DW) are alarmed by the US administration’s decision on 15 March to halt funding for American public international media, including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia. This move threatens to deprive millions of people worldwide of a vital source of balanced and verified information—especially in countries where independent journalism is scarce or nonexistent. By weakening this crucial safeguard against disinformation and manipulation, the decision endangers global media freedom.

This action is particularly concerning given the United States’ long-standing role as a champion of press freedom and professional journalism within the DG8* and beyond. At a time of increasing global polarisation, the need for independent, multilingual, and pluralistic journalism has never been more critical. The abrupt nature of this decision only heightens concerns over its impact.

While FMM and DW remain committed to their mission, they recognise the broader risks posed by the potential loss of their American counterpart in the shared pursuit of democracy and free expression. They stand in full solidarity with their colleagues at the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), many of whom may now face the difficult prospect of leaving the United States and returning to their home countries.

This decision underscores, once again, the urgent need to defend the European model of independent public service media—embodied by the continent’s international broadcasters—and to secure the long-term sustainability of their funding.

*About the DG8

The DG8 comprises eight international public service media organizations from Australia (ABC International), Canada (CBC/Radio-Canada), France (France Médias Monde), Germany (Deutsche Welle), Japan (NHK WORLD-JAPAN), Switzerland (SRG SSR), the United Kingdom (BBC World Service), and the United States (U.S. Agency for Global Media). Collectively, DG8 members generate more than 1.5 billion user contacts every week in more than 75 languages, giving them a significant journalistic impact worldwide.

RFE/RL President: Defunding Would be “Massive Gift to America’s Enemies”

16 March 2025

RFE/RL President: Defunding Would be “Massive Gift to America’s Enemies”

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) was informed today (15 March) by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) that its federal grant agreement, which funds RFE/RL’s global operations, has been terminated.

RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said: “The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies. The Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years. Handing our adversaries a win would make them stronger and America weaker.

We’ve benefitted from strong bipartisan support throughout RFE/RL’s storied history. Without us, the nearly 50 million people in closed societies who depend on us for accurate news and information each week won’t have access to the truth about America and the world.”