In the last column he wrote for the Washington Post before his death, published posthumously on October 17, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi cited Radio Free Europe (RFE) as a model of the independent media he believed the Arab world urgently needs to help inform citizens about their societies and provide a platform for diverse voices.
Khashoggi’s piece, and his reference to RFE specifically, was elaborated upon in a Post op-ed on October 18 that lamented the prospects for an independent transnational media in the Arab world's current, post-Arab Spring nationalistic landscape.
On October 22, a Boston Globe editorial drew parallels between Khashoggi’s murder and the KGB’s 1978 assassination, by poison, of Georgi Markov, a commentator for RFE’s Bulgarian Service. The Globe asked, “Why were Markov and Khashoggi worth the time of 15-man hit squads and international opprobrium? Because tyrants know their weaknesses. They fear those who speak the truth.”