U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans

By EmmaZahn on Mon, 07/15/2013 - 12:02pm |

For decades, a so-called anti-propaganda law prevented the U.S. government's mammoth broadcasting arm from delivering programming to American audiences. But on July 2, that came silently to an end with the implementation of a new reform passed in January. The result: an unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption in a reform initially criticized as a green light for U.S. domestic propaganda efforts. So what just happened?

URL:

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/12/us_backs_off_propaganda_ban_spreads_government_made_news_to_americans

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Not as bad as the headline and lead make it sound.

by EmmaZahn on Mon, 07/15/2013 - 12:03pm

Government funded (not run) media might actually be more responsible and less insane and headline grabbing than well, the sort of thing you're seeing above. Check out the CBC in Canada or the BBC in the United Kingdom. Almost all media in America is tabloid trash in comparison.

by Orion on Wed, 07/17/2013 - 5:59am

The situation is worse, only in terms of what a disaster Voice of America and IBB have become. They're too incompetent to draw a US audience to even influence - as it is they've reduced themselves to just reprinting Reuters feeds half the time - but certainly would love the chance to waste more money.

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/17/2013 - 8:27am

Beneath the headline, it tells that money is already being spent on the programming but because of an old regulation, it is not broadcast domestically. At least by changing that more people will be able to see what they are getting for the money.

Now if we can just get the Library of Congress to open access to it Congressional Research Service reports....

by EmmaZahn on Wed, 07/17/2013 - 11:30am

Most of it's on the internet - just click on the links and watch/listen. voanews.com, rferl.org, rfa.org, alhurra.com, martinoticias.com, radiosawa.com

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/17/2013 - 12:10pm

So? Because it's on the internets, there's no reason to include it in cable offerings along with all the other dreck there?

And I know that. It is also available via shortwave.

by EmmaZahn on Wed, 07/17/2013 - 1:05pm

I'm saying you can already easily get it on internet. I don't know anyone who owns shortwave. But it makes little difference if it's on internet on-demand or played on cable TV or radio. Quite frankly it's boring as shit. In a parallel universe, it might be relevant or abused to manipulate people. At the moment it's moribund.

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/17/2013 - 5:07pm

The Case for American Propaganda - By Rosa Brooks | Foreign Policy

Prior to the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act, Somalis in Somalia could watch and listen to BBG-produced shows critically discussing Somalia's Al Shabab terrorist group, but when Somali-American radio stations wanted permission to re-broadcast the same shows in Minneapolis, the official answer had to be: "Sorry, no, you can't do that. If you want to access this programming, you need to submit a Freedom of Information Act request, or get a Somali friend to record it for you -- but you still can't rebroadcast it." In other words, Somali-Americans could access al Qaeda's Inspire magazine with ease (or, as John Hudson's piece notes, Al Shabab news or Russia Today), but they had to jump through multiple hoops to listen to Voice of America.

by EmmaZahn on Wed, 07/17/2013 - 6:59pm

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