Breaking down censorship barriers in China, Myanmar and North Korea is a difficult task because these countries have built nearly impenetrable firewalls against outside news and information. But Taiwan Radio International successfully achieved a breakthrough using shortwave broadcasting.
“We probably have 70 million to 1.2 billion listeners who rely on shortwave for their information [from] said RTI Vice President Isis Lee.
RTI has been on the air since 1928, and they say their mission is to bring listeners stories they wouldn’t or couldn’t hear or see on TV, radio, online or in newspapers.
“One of our most important audiences is China’s Mandarin-speaking society, which has very limited Internet access,” Li told VOA. “We have a large audience in China who rely on RTI shortwave services to get perspectives outside of China in their native language,” she added.
There are more than 1 billion Mandarin speakers around the world, most of them in China.
In the digital age dominated by the internet, shortwave radio is considered by many to be outdated and obsolete. But for people and broadcasters who rely on shortwave radio for information, two key advantages of shortwave radio are that it is difficult for governments to censor it or track its listeners.
“Chinese central authorities maintain extensive censorship to prevent citizens from obtaining information from abroad that could be problematic for the Chinese Communist Party,” said Karl Mintzer, a China expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Experts say that like other authoritarian regimes touched by RTI, censorship of news and information is Chinese government policy and there is no freedom of the press.
“One of their key concerns is the ease with which Chinese-language materials are available to the Chinese public, because that’s what’s available to more people, and that’s more troubling from the perspective of the Chinese authorities,” Mingze added.
RTI uses its shortwave radio programs to counter propaganda, false narratives and disinformation spread in oppressed countries, Lee said.
Xu Quan started listening to RTI when he was 12 years old. He said his favorite programs were “Freedom” and “The Straits Times”.
“There are two types of information I like to get through RTI’s broadcasts,” Quan told VOA via email.
“One is news that cannot be heard or seen in mainland China, especially breaking news,” Quan said. “The other is news about Taiwan’s political situation, especially the election, which can deepen my understanding of Taiwan’s democratic politics.”
Lee said RTI is targeting China, Myanmar, North Korea and Southeast Asia, where there is no free internet and little access to mobile phones and free media.
RTI broadcasts shortwave programs on politics, international affairs, culture, health and music, which it says cover 77 countries, and listeners provide them with regular feedback. They receive letters and messages on social media and test them from different locations and with different frequencies to measure their reach.
Lees said some of the most touching feedback they’ve received has come from North Korean fishermen who expressed their gratitude for being able to hear RTI’s shortwave signal loud and clear.
RTI also touched American John Vantrieste when he was a boy living in Maryland.
“I had never heard of shortwave before, but I learned these stations were out there, so I asked to listen to shortwave for Christmas,” Van Triest told VOA. “Not long after, I stumbled upon it. Taiwan Radio.”
RTI also inspired Van Trieste to learn Mandarin and other languages he speaks. Currently living in Taipei, he is a reporter for Multimedia Taiwan Plus.
“I think it [RTI] “It’s especially important for people in areas like Tibet,” said Van Trieste, who previously worked at RTI. “And the Uyghur people in Xinjiang or East Turkestan.” They are even further away from where the information lives. Many people in big cities in China have VPNs that can bypass the Great Firewall. But if you’re in a rural area, maybe the internet isn’t great and the government is actively suppressing you and your family. “
The use of analog shortwave radio is declining globally. VOA and most other international broadcasters have reduced their use of shortwave in recent years, citing declining audiences switching to FM and the Internet, as well as the cost of electricity for high-power transmitters.
“A lot of people say shortwave is not fashionable and is an old way of communication,” Lee told VOA. “But that’s not the case for us because we know there are still a lot of people who rely on shortwave broadcasts to get information.”
Lee added that as long as viewers continue to rely on RTI, there are no plans to stop broadcasting.
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