For World Radio Day, RSF has highlighted the dangers facing radio broadcasters worldwide by drawing attention to a number of symbolic attacks carried out against them in recent years.<\/p>\n
Philippines: 90 radio journalists killed in 40 years, including Erwin Segovia last July<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Philippines<\/a> remains one of the most\u00a0dangerous countries<\/a> in the world for radio journalists, even though these broadcasters are an irreplaceable source of information for a population dispersed across the archipelago, including in isolated areas. Out of the 148 journalists killed while carrying out their work since 1986, 90 of them worked in radio, revealing a pattern of systematic violence against professionals in this sector across the country. Among the most recent victims is\u00a0Erwin \u201cBoy Pana\u201d Segovia, an anchor on\u00a0Radio WOW FM and station manager of the\u00a0Radyo Gugma station, who was\u00a0shot dead<\/a> on 21 July 2025 by unidentified assailants. While the motive for the murder has not yet been confirmed, Erwin Segovia had just finished his programme and was on his way home when two individuals on a motorbike followed him and shot him in the head in the city of Bislig, on the east coast of the island of Mindanao. He was known for his forthright commentary on political and social issues in his programme \u201cDiritsahan!\u201d<\/p>\n Community radio stations targeted in the DRC<\/p>\n Based at the heart of conflict zones, often in rural or remote areas of North Kivu, South Kivu and the eastern province of Ituri \u2013 where the state\u2019s presence is limited and numerous armed groups operate \u2013 community radio stations have become direct\u00a0targets<\/a> in the fighting, caught between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the coalition of armed rebels Congo River Alliance (AFC)\/March 23 Movement (M23). Between January 2024 and January 2025, more than 25 community radio stations were\u00a0looted<\/a> or forced to close, and RSF recorded over 50\u00a0attacks<\/a> on newsrooms and journalists. Two radio journalists were killed in 2024 in circumstances that remain unclear: the body of community radio presenter\u00a0Yoshua Kambere Machozi\u00a0of\u00a0Radio Mpety was found in November after he had been abducted by M23 rebels, and\u00a0Edmond Bahati Monja, coordinator of the Catholic radio station\u00a0Radio Maria, was shot dead in Goma, a city in the east of the country, on 27 September as he was returning home.<\/p>\n The Sahel\u2019s community radio stations also face the front line<\/p>\n From Mali to Chad, the deterioration of the security situation in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa is severely\u00a0affecting<\/a> journalists and presenters of community radio stations, who face abductions by armed groups, attacks and the destruction of their premises. In Mali, on 7 November 2023,\u00a0Abdoul Aziz Djibrilla, a 28-year-old journalist for the community radio station\u00a0Naata in the village of Labbezanga near the Mali\u2013Niger border, was\u00a0killed<\/a> when the vehicle taking him to Gao \u2014 a city in eastern Mali \u2014 for a journalism training workshop was attacked. Two other journalists,\u00a0Saleck Ag Jiddou, the director of\u00a0Radio Coton Ansongo\u00a0also known as\u00a0Zeidane, and presenter\u00a0Moustapha Kon\u00e9, were abducted during the attack and are still missing. The RSF documentary\u00a0Community Radios: The Fight to Keep the Sahel Informed<\/a> highlights the crucial role of these outlets and the growing threats they face.<\/p>\n Afghanistan: radio stations censored and women\u2019s voices banned<\/p>\n In Afghanistan\u2019s Khost province, in the east of the country,\u00a0local radio stations<\/a> have been targeted by repression based on \u201cmorality\u201d rules imposed by the Taliban. Three stations were temporarily banned from broadcasting in 2024, and their return to the air was made conditional on restrictive rules: no more music and no more calls from female listeners. In\u00a0Helmand province<\/a> in the south of the country, women\u2019s voices are entirely banned from the radio, both as presenters and callers. The iconic Afghan women\u2019s station\u00a0Radio Begum<\/a> was suspended on 4 February 2025 by the Taliban Ministry of Information and Culture, before being allowed to resume broadcasting 18 days later. The station had been accused of \u201cmultiple violations,\u201d including providing content to a television channel based abroad. After serving six-month prison sentences, two of its journalists were released in July 2025.<\/p>\n The United States: national and international public radio targeted by the Trump administration<\/p>\n Since the start of his second term as President of the United States, Donald Trump has been waging a relentless\u00a0war<\/a> against journalism, and public service radio stations have not been spared. In May 2025, he signed an\u00a0executive order<\/a> ending funding by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for the two main US public broadcasters \u2013 the\u00a0Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and\u00a0National Public Radio (NPR). In January 2026, the CPB \u2013 which supported a network of 1,216 local public radio stations, many of which were vital news sources in rural regions \u2013 announced its closure following these budget cuts. Although most local\u00a0NPR and\u00a0PBS stations\u00a0remain operationa<\/a>l for now thanks to donations and grants, the threat of widespread closures looms. As for international public broadcasters, the Trump administration has repeatedly sought to\u00a0dismantle<\/a> the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees public funding for US international broadcasters, including\u00a0Voice of America\u00a0(VOA),\u00a0Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty (RFE\/RL) and Radio Free Asia (RFA). These broadcasters represent a rare source of reliable information in places where journalism is criminalised, such as Belarus, North Korea, Russia and China. The disappearance of many of these stations has seriously\u00a0weakened access to trustworthy news<\/a> for thousands of people, especially in areas where this information can be lifesaving.\u00a0<\/p>\n Financial and logistical obstacles for radio stations in the Brazilian Amazon<\/p>\n Producing news from and about the Brazilian Amazon \u2013 a territory spanning nine states and that suffers from limited access and connectivity \u2013 is a daily challenge: lack of public support, limited infrastructure and vast distances that make field reporting costly. Nevertheless, 49 radio stations operate in 38 municipalities, according to the local digital media organisation\u00a0InfoAmazonia. These stations cover issues such as deforestation, climate change, land conflicts and the rights of indigenous people and traditional communities. However, reporting on these topics can expose journalists to political and financial pressure \u2013 notably from groups linked to agribusiness and local interests \u2013 threatening both editorial independence and the\u00a0safety<\/a> of media professionals investigating sensitive issues, particularly environmental ones.<\/p>\n Europe: threats to public radio<\/p>\n While the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) requires EU Member States to guarantee the independence, pluralism and economic viability of media outlets, European public service radio stations\u00a0continue to face persistent threats<\/a>. Their funding is regularly called into question, their role weakened by competition from online platforms and their editorial independence often undermined by political interference. In Lithuania, the ruling majority is\u00a0pressing on<\/a> with its proposed special law that would expose the public broadcaster\u00a0LRT to political pressure, after freezing its funding. Czech public service media outlets \u2014 including the first radio service to broadcast on the European continent in 1923 \u2014\u00a0risk<\/a> the abolition of their licence fee, which guarantees their independence. The license fee in Switzerland, a non-EU country, is also at risk of being\u00a0drastically reduced<\/a> by a popular initiative on 8 March. In Liechtenstein as well, the\u00a0closure of\u00a0Radio Liechtenstein<\/a> in April 2025 is an extreme example of just how fragile European public radio has become.<\/p>\n Ukraine: keeping occupied territories informed via radio despite attacks<\/p>\n