Dear Newsline Subscriber: (((Yo!)))
The weakening U.S. dollar is placing our company, which broadcasts in 28 languages to 21 countries, under enormous budgetary pressure. Recently, I was faced with the difficult choice of scaling back RFE/RL's broadcasting efforts or making cuts to our research and analysis capabilities. Because our core mandate is to broadcast uncensored information to parts of the world where free and independent media are fragile or nonexistent, I chose the latter.
As a result, I deeply regret that we are no longer able to produce "RFE/RL Newsline." (((Wait a minute – those are *email newsletters.* What on earth could be cheaper than email newsletters? Oh wait – they "cut the research and analysis capabilities"? They fired the reporters.)))
However, in the next few months, we will be launching a newly designed English-language website (www.rferl.org) dedicated to translating and highlighting the best RFE/RL content from our broadcast services.
The new site will feature more video, blogs, and interactive content along with continued in-depth reporting from our broadcast regions. Budget permitting we also hope to launch a headline service in the near future and will keep you apprised of progress on this new project.
I want to thank the many analysts and researchers whose excellent work over the years made "RFE/RL Newsline" one of the most influential and well-regarded reports from our broadcast regions. (((Well, there was never a lot of news out of Eastern Europe's and the former-former's deepest-darkest – and now there's even less.)))
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Gedmin
President, RFE/RL, Inc.
Prague, Czech Republic
(((In a "post-american world", the impoverished American media can't afford to cover you.)))
