(TibetanReview.net, Nov07’26) – Washington-based Tibet advocacy group International Campaign for Tibet (ICT, savetibet.org) has on Nov 6 launched a report urging not only a full restoration but also a technological strengthening of the Tibetan-language Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) broadcast services after they were disrupted early last year.
The report, “Unsilenced Voice: Why American Support for Tibetan Broadcasting Is Essential,” says these broadcast services have been critical sources of independent information for Tibetans in Tibet and vital tools for countering the Chinese government’s extensive censorship and propaganda, both in Tibet and globally.
“The disruptions to the Tibetan-language services of VOA and RFA have created a widening information vacuum in Tibet at a time when Chinese state media is expanding its Tibetan-language programming,” ICT President Ms Tencho Gyatso has said. “Restoring these services is essential both to ensuring Tibetans in Tibet have access to independent, uncensored news and enabling the flow of information out of Tibet for US policymakers, journalists, rights advocates, and the international community.”
The group has urged the US Government to restore these Tibetan-language services to full operational capacity; maintain flagship shortwave broadcasting as a resilient means of reaching audiences in heavily censored and remote areas; and invest in censorship-circumvention technologies and modern digital distribution.
ICT has also urged stronger efforts to counter political censorship embedded in artificial intelligence systems originating from China, with greater emphasis on reporting about freedom of expression and human rights in Tibet and prioritization of Tibetan services in US public diplomacy or any future reforms of federally funded international media.
Government-funded broadcast services in the US suffered severe disruption early last year in the Trump Administration’s move, among others, to save costs and improve efficiency. The result of this, in the case of the Tibetan services which were taken off air in Apr 2025, was that it created an information vacuum that the Chinese state media promptly sought to fill through expanded Tibetan-language programming.
ICT says Tibetans in Tibet have described the loss poignantly as “missing their morning tea,” a metaphor that conveys the sudden absence of daily access to information in their native language from trusted sources amid an environment of heavy surveillance and censorship.
ICT says the US international broadcasting through the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) – which runs broadcast services that include both the Tibetan ones – exemplifies a high-impact, low-cost instrument of public diplomacy, particularly in heavily censored regions like Tibet.
Compared to that, ICT cited independent estimates as saying China’s external propaganda efforts, including paid media inserts, international broadcasting, digital influence operations, and content distribution, was estimated to be in the range of $7-10 billion per year.
On the other hand, the modest US investment in media broadcast services yield high strategic returns. In Tibet, where Chinese authorities enforce near-total information control, even limited independent programming provides highly motivated listeners with rare access to uncensored news, external perspectives, and Tibetan-language content that supports cultural and linguistic preservation. The returns compound through soft power as independent reporting informs diaspora communities, shapes global opinion, and provides US policymakers with ground-truth insights otherwise inaccessible due to Beijing’s information blackout, the group said.