A further 5 per cent quit in protest, including me.<\/p>\n
RFE\/RL broadcasts on medium wave will end on 10 November, due to amendments<\/a> to the law on mass media which state a radio cannot broadcast in a primary service area if more than 5 per cent of it is owned by foreign individual or legal entity. RFE\/RL\u2019s broadcasts in Russia will only be available online through its website, which makes the decision to fire web staff especially strange.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a in a statement<\/a> released on 24 September, the service\u2019s American manager Steve Korn stressed changes were made to improve RFE\/RL\u2019s Russian service. Yet in a letter<\/a> to the US Congress Committee on Foreign Relations, notable Russian human rights activists wrote: \u201dThe KGB couldn\u2019t have done worse for Radio Liberty\u2019s image, as well as the image of USA in Russia, than American managers Julia Ragona and Steve Korn have done\u201d. In a letter, the activists claimed:<\/p>\n \u201cProfessionals with irreproachable reputation were fired; while a newly appointed RFE\/RL\u2019s Russian Service director [Masha Gessen] is a person whose managing skills were receiving negative assessments on her previous positions.\u201d<\/p>\n They asked the Congress to create a commission for a thorough investigation into Radio Liberty\u2019s managers\u2019 activities, which they said \u201charmed the USA\u2019s public image in Russia\u201d, and requested they \u201crevise the decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n Gessen, who will oficially take her post of RFE\/RL Russian Service director on 1 October, denies allegations of \u201ccleaning up the media for her new team\u201d.<\/p>\n Korn and Ragona have not commented on the issue.<\/p>\n The switch to online and departure from medium waves will occur without the people who, over past few years, made Radio Svoboda (as it is known in Russian) the second most quoted radio station after Echo Moscow (which has an FM frequency), according to data from monitoring service Medialogia<\/a>. Radio Liberty\u2019s website was very much original. Programme texts formed just a small part of website content. It consisted mainly of informative pieces, blogs and a large multimedia section with video reports, documentaries and live video broadcasts.<\/p>\n The internet team, which I had the honour to be a part of, increased the number of visitors and the core audience tenfold. Radio Svoboda achievements were hailed<\/a> by Broadcasting Board of Governors.<\/p>\n However, the mass dismissals were made.<\/p>\n RFE\/RL was established in the 1950s in the United States as a private non-profit mass media organisation funded by the American Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). RFE\/RL broadcasts in 21 countries and 28 languages. Russian service history began soon after Stalin died in March 1953, but until 1988 its broadcasts were jammed as \u201canti-Soviet\u201d. It was the \u201cenemy\u2019s voice\u201d during the Cold War.<\/p>\n![\"RFE\/RL](\"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/RFElogo.jpg\" "\\"RFE\/RL")
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