Thread: US-funded foreign broadcasts finally available in the US

Taxpayer money at work: US-funded foreign broadcasts finally available in the US

Yuri Gripas / Reuters
Voice of America staff are seen with Myanmar President Thein Sein before a town hall event at the Voice of America headquarters in Washington on May 20. Voice of America is the largest and oldest network of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which will now be allowed in U.S. markets.


By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News
News consumers in the U.S. can now hear and watch reports from one of the largest broadcasting groups in the world — after decades of their taxpayer dollars funding them.

The change is due to a law, which went into effect on July 2, that authorizes an independent network of U.S. government-supported broadcasters called the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to transmit their programs — which include: Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting — to U.S. households.

BBG's mission, according to its website, is to "inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy." Its budget for the 2012 fiscal year, fully funded by taxpayers, was $752.7 million, according to a spokeswoman.

But since 1948, BBG had only been allowed to disseminate its material to foreign listeners — this due to a law called the Smith-Mundt Act passed three years after World War II.

The purpose of the Smith-Mundt Act — also called the U.S. Information and Education Exchange Act of 1948 — was to "promote a better understanding of the United States in other countries, and to increase a mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries."

The law was first challenged in 1972 when J. William Fulbright, D-Ark., declared the U.S. was funding propaganda, and argued Voice of America, BBG's oldest and biggest network, "should be given the opportunity to take [its] rightful place in the graveyard of Cold War relics." Further restrictions on the dissemination of the material were implemented.

"The domestic dissemination ban was not really intended to protect the American public from propaganda," Emily Metzgar, a professor at Indiana University school of journalism and a former U.S. diplomat who supports the change to the law, said. "The historical record suggests it was really more about protecting a nascent broadcast industry in the United States right after World War II, and it was over time that more and more politics got interjected into the discussion."

Last year, two lawmakers proposed the bipartisan Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012.

Introduced by Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, and Adam Smith, D-Wash., the Modernization Act amended the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act so BBG's U.S.-funded, foreign audience-intended broadcasts could finally be heard in the U.S. It became law on July 2.

A spokeswoman for BBG pointed out the broadcast group's content had been available online for years, and that the new law just makes their programs accessible in broadcast quality in the U.S. to anyone who requests them.

She also responded to a slew of recent news headlines that suggested BBG would be spreading propaganda, including one from Foreign Policy magazine, which read, "U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News to Americans."

"Just because a news organization receives government funding doesn't mean it disseminates propaganda," Lynne Weil, director of communications and external affairs for BBG, said, citing Britain's BBC as a government-supported media outlet.

Metzgar, the former U.S. diplomat, was relaxed about the change.

"Everyone who is consuming any news at all should be media-literate, reading from a wide range of sources, triangulating what they can about the truth. In that sense, I'm not particularly alarmed about the government having a new path to propagandize the public," she said.

A State Department official said in an emailed statement to NBC News that "the statutory intent remains for us to focus such materials on foreign audiences and not to pro-actively create materials for domestic audiences or pro-actively distribute our materials domestically."

BBG's journalists risk their lives to report in more than 100 countries and 61 languages, Weil said.

"This is good-quality reporting in places where many U.S. media may not have correspondents. Why shouldn't it be available in the United States?" she said. "U.S. taxpayers should know what they're funding."

Ted Lipien, a former Voice of America employee based in California who retired from the network in 2006, said his biggest concern about BBG expanding into the American market was the quality of their journalism diminishing.

"The agency has been very badly mismanaged in recent years," he said. "What I suspect will happen is that they will de-emphasize providing news and information for foreign audiences, which is their core and primary mission, and they will focus on the domestic market."

Weil denied that will be an issue.

"The target audience for BBG broadcasters will still be international – that is, individuals living in countries where the media are not entirely free. The new law doesn't change the legislation that mandates the BBG to focus on audiences overseas, nor are we seeking to change that," she said.

"It also does not direct or allow the BBG itself to begin broadcasting in the United States, and we do not seek to do that, either. But the new law does mean that the entire range of great journalism that U.S. taxpayer-supported civilian broadcasters produce can now be seen and heard by more people — including the ones who pay for it," she added.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/20/19502580-taxpayer-money-at-work-us-funded-foreign-broadcasts-finally-available-in-the-us?lite

A spokeswoman for BBG pointed out the broadcast group's content had been available online for years, and that the new law just makes their programs accessible in broadcast quality in the U.S. to anyone who requests them.

http://www.bbg.gov/

BBG International Broadcasts Now Available Within the United States

July 1, 2013


Scott Bobb of VOA’s Central News Division received a Burke Award for his comprehensive and courageous coverage of the conflict in Syria.

Washington, DC – Thousands of hours per week of news and information programs in 61 languages that are currently produced for audiences overseas will become available by request in the United States beginning tomorrow, July 2.

The work of news organizations overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the U.S. international media service, is viewed and heard by 203 million people in more than 100 countries around the globe.

And now the BBG will be able to respond positively to requests for this content from U.S.-based media, universities, non-governmental organizations, and individuals. The broader regulations will conceivably allow residents of émigré communities – many from areas in conflict — access to reliable news of their home countries in their native languages. It will also facilitate global connectivity and engagement and provide greater transparency into publicly-funded broadcasting.

The change comes about due to legislation passed by Congress at the start of 2013 that, as of July 2, lifts some of the legal restrictions that kept BBG broadcast material from being seen in the United States.

Broadcasters within the BBG network – Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio/TV Marti, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV & Radio Sawa) – are considered vital, objective news sources and are frequently cited by major media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, and CNN, for their high-quality reporting on topics ranging from the tragic self-immolations in Tibet to human rights issues in Iran.

“The new law will let people across America see and hear the valuable news reported by our accomplished journalists,” said BBG board member Susan McCue, who co-chairs the Board’s Communications and Outreach Committee. “It also takes into account modern content platforms that do not honor national boundaries, such as the Internet, mobile delivery and satellite broadcasting. We will continue to excel at serving overseas audiences in countries that lack a free press – but what we produce can now be viewed and heard by even more people, right here in the United States.”

“We have long advocated this change as a strategic goal for the agency,” said BBG board member Michael Meehan, who chairs the Board’s Strategy and Budget Committee. “We’ll put our resources to even better use by making these materials available within the United States. And this will only enhance our agency’s mission: to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.”

The legislative change updates the U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, known as the Smith-Mundt Act, a section of which prohibited the State Department and U.S. international broadcasting from domestically disseminating any program materials that had been produced using public diplomacy funds. The law makes no change to the BBG’s enabling statute, the U.S. International Broadcasting Act of 1994, which authorizes the agency to create programs for foreign audiences.

For more information on getting access to BBG programming, a program request FAQ has been published here on BBG.gov.
http://www.bbg.gov/blog/2013/07/01/bbg-international-broadcasts-now-available-within-the-united-states/

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Content Requests

Effective July 2, 2013, the Broadcasting Board of Governors may make its program materials available domestically, upon request, whenever doing so is consistent with all statutory authorities, prohibitions, principles, and standards.

Domestic BBG Program Request FAQs

1. How can I get access to BBG programming for personal use?

BBG makes program materials available within the U.S. through the same news and information websites that BBG uses to communicate with foreign audiences. To access currently-available program materials, please visit www.voanews.com and www.martinoticias.com.

The homepages of these websites display a portion of the agency’s most recent news reporting. Additional program materials are available through the websites’ search functions.

Please note that www.voanews.com links to VOA’s many websites in multiple languages. Click the ‘Sites by Language’ tab at the top of the page to see the full range of languages available. Many programs and news stories are only available on the site for the language service which broadcast those materials abroad.

1. What sort of programming is available on VOANews.com and MartiNoticias.com?

Full episodes of all VOA radio and television programs that do not contain license restrictions, and that BBG broadcasts on or after July 2^nd, 2013 are available at www.voanews.com. Similarly, full episodes of all Radio Marti and TV Marti programs that do not contain license restrictions, and that BBG broadcasts on or after July 2^nd, 2013 are available at www.martinoticias.com.

1. How can the media or organizations get access to broadcast-quality copies of BBG programming for a one-time use?

Requests for broadcast-quality copies of BBG program materials should be directed to:
UsageRequest@voanews.com for broadcast-quality copies of Voice of America program materials; and
OCBdomesticrequests@bbg.gov for broadcast-quality copies of Radio or TV Marti program materials.

1. Does the BBG make its programming available to the media or other organization on an ongoing subscription basis?

BBG evaluates ongoing subscription requests based on the Broadcasting principles and standards found in The U.S. International Broadcasting Act. For more information on the criteria used to determine whether BBG fulfills an ongoing subscription request, see BBG’s policy linked here from the Broadcasting Administrative Manual.

1. How can the media or other organizations get ongoing access to BBG programming for professional use?

Media entities, or other organizations, may request ongoing subscriptions by filling out an application form found on the Direct System, the BBG’s professional distribution system. Expect that a representative from BBG to contact you about your application.

1. Will I be charged for accessing BBG’s programming through the Direct System?

BBG may collect a fee for reimbursement of the reasonable costs incurred to fulfill a request for program materials, including ongoing subscriptions for the media and one-time requests for broadcast-quality copies of BBG’s program materials. Any fees will be outlined in an agreement between the media entity, or other organization, and BBG.

1. Are there special terms of use for accessing the BBG’s programming on its websites?

By accessing agency websites, requestors agree to the respective Terms of Use available at:

http://www.voanews.com/info/terms_of...licy/1363.html,

http://www.martinoticias.com/info/policy/50.html, or

http://direct.voanews.com.

1. I can’t find an older episode on BBG’s websites. What happened to it?

From time to time, BBG may have to remove content from its website. For instance, BBG removes program materials from its news websites when required by licensing agreements with third-party copyright holders. Once materials have been removed from one of BBG’s websites, they are no longer available from BBG.
When BBG takes materials off of its website, materials designated as permanent under the BBG’s records schedule will be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Programs designated as temporary under the BBG’s records schedule will be destroyed once they are removed from BBG’s websites, and are no longer available. BBG’s records schedule is published in the Federal Register and is available at NARA’s website, through this link. See Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations, Subpart F for information on how to request BBG program materials that have been transferred to NARA.
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Regulation on Domestic Requests for Broadcasting Board of Governors Material [pdf]

Broadcasting Administrative Manual: Policy on Domestic Distribution of Program Material [pdf]

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