BBG Watch Commentary The review by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and his committee staff found that insufficient management and devolved operating structures for digital advertising at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA) in the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), previously called the…
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BBG Watch Commentary U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO John Lansing, who had been appointed in 2015 during the Obama administration, had ignored early warnings of taxpayer-funded USAGM media entities such as the Voice of America (VOA) targeting Americans in violation of the Smith-Mundt Act. Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rep. Ed…
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BBG Watch Commentary The review by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and his committee staff found that insufficient management and devolved operating structures for digital advertising at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA) in the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), previously called the…
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BBG Watch Commentary The review by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and his committee staff found that insufficient management and devolved operating structures for digital advertising at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA) in the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), previously called the…
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SMITH-MUNDT NEWS COMMENTARY While “Information intended for foreign audiences” (such as Voice of America – VOA programs) “may, upon request and reimbursement of the reasonable costs incurred in fulfilling such a request, be made available, in the United States,” Section 1078 of National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 (U.S. Public Law 112-239)…
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BBG Watch Commentary It did not occur to International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) bureacrats that Americans might not like the removal of the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act restrictions on domestic distribution of U.S. government-funded news for audiences abroad. They were not prepared for Voice of America (VOA) programs being inaccurately described in media reports as propaganda. They…
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BBG Watch Commentary The Voice of America (VOA), U.S. taxpayer-funded international broadcaster can barely adequately cover news for foreign audiences it is required by law to serve, but top VOA managers are now burdening overworked reporters to get their programs ready for distribution in the United States. Questions are being asked whether assigning such work…
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From BBG Watch Commentary In a victory by critics against government officials trying to claim new powers which they can’t legally claim, the Voice of America (VOA) removed from one of its website pages misleading language suggesting that Americans had to seek “authorization” from the federal government to use VOA programs in the United States.…
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BBG Watch Commentary The Post and Courier, the main daily newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, has called for restoring the Smith-Mundt government propaganda ban on domestic distribution of U.S. international broadcasting programs such as those produced by the Voice of America (VOA) under the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The editorial, titled, Big Brother in…
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BBG Watch Commentary Voice of America (VOA) TERMS OF USE/PRIVACY NOTICE shows much of its content is third-party copyright-protected material and cannot be commercially re-used by others in the United States without violating copyright or securing additional copyrights from others. In the past, most of VOA content, other than music, consisted of original reporting, writing…
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