By Ted Lipien Published July 27, 2013 by Digital Journal Washington – Federal employees were told to identify U.S. stations but not to make offers of government-funded news to domestic media. With the controversy swirling over media reports that after a recent congressional modification in the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act, U.S. officials may try to target Americans with government propaganda, the federal agency…
DigitalJournal.com – 20 hours ago Would government officials resort to deceptive propaganda to help them get Congress to overturn an old law, the Smith-Mundt Act, which prohibited them from distributing government-funded news to Americans? They most certainly did by telling members of Congress that Americans were somehow denied having any kind of access to Voice of America (VOA) news and that great many Americans were demanding that the…
DigitalJournal.com – While I welcome the repeal of the Smith-Mundt restriction on the distribution of VOA news in the United States, I am at the same time concerned, however, what those in charge of these programs are doing and might do in the future. … As John Hudson correctly points out in his his post, “U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans,” The Cable, Foreign Policy,…
By Ted Lipien Published July 15, 2013 by Digital Journal Washington – I am not afraid of taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA) news in the United States, but I’m afraid of government officials who may interfere with the news and mistreat journalists. I am not afraid of Voice of America news being available on radio, TV and Internet in the United States. As…
By Ted Lipien Published July 16, 2013 by Digital Journal Washington – Government officials used deceptive propaganda to get congress to overturn a ban on government news distribution in the U.S. Would government officials resort to deceptive propaganda to help them get the U.S. Congress to overturn an old law, the Smith-Mundt Act, which prohibited them from distributing government-funded news to…
This commentary by Ted Lipien was republished from the Committee for the International Broadcasting (CUSIB) website. Smith-Mundt Act Modifications Lack Protections Against Abuse by Ted Lipien While the independent, nonpartisan Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting supports some changes in the Smith-Mundt Act, we and many other media freedom advocates share grave concerns that officials of the Broadcasting Board of Governors…