Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) delivers radio, television, and Internet content to unfree or newly free countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East.

Audiences depend on RFE/RL to provide coherent, objective news and in-depth analysis of events in their countries, their regions and the world that are not available from, or are underreported by, domestic media. RFE/RL broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of programming a week from its operations center in Prague, Czech Republic, and 19 bureaus in its broadcast region.

Its corporate headquarters are located in Washington, D.C. In October 2006, RFE/RL broke ground for a new, state-of-the-art broadcast center in Prague, scheduled for completion in 2008.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS:

•In August, when Russia invaded Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia, RFE/RL increased broadcasts to the region, dispatched correspondents and offered listeners interviews with high ranking officials. International media frequently cited RFE/RL's in-depth coverage of the Russia-Georgia conflict such as its correspondents’ blogs from two Russian-occupied cities with some of the only up-to-the-minute reporting from those locations.

•When Radio Farda, RFE/RL's Persian Service, launched a new roundtable program in April inviting listeners to freely express their views on social and political issues, the first group of callers criticized the Iranian government for mismanaging the economy. In December, one of four student protestors arrested and subsequently released by authorities credited Radio Farda's extensive coverage of their plight for helping secure their release.

•RFE/RL responded to the unprecedented global interest in the U.S. presidential election by providing comprehensive, multimedia coverage from the Iowa caucuses to the party conventions to the victory and concession speeches. Much of the coverage was live with simultaneous translations. Reporting gave audiences comprehensive explanations of how the American election process works starting from the party primaries and continuing through the transition. Experts in RFE/RL’s target countries provided analysis of what to expect if either candidate won.

RFE/RL's news reports often draw the ire of repressive governments who seek to deny their citizens access to free and independent media:

• In December, the Azeri government took RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service off the FM airwaves along with VOA, BBC, and other foreign broadcasters.

• In October, state-owned radio and television networks removed RFE/RL's popular Kyrgyz Service programs from the airwaves.

• In April, RFE/RL's Belarus Service suffered a massive cyber attack as it was preparing live coverage of a rally commemorating the 22nd anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

• In June, the Kazakh government-owned Internet service provider shut down RFE/RL's Kazakh Service Web site for seven weeks

• In March, Armenian authorities blocked access to the RFE/RL Web site and affiliate radio stations took its programs off the air. RFE/RL restored shortwave broadcasts to Armenia and added more news to its Web site. The number of visitors tripled.