>>111395 Reformulation of the Smith-Mundt Act in 2012
The key issues used promoting the reformulation of the Smith-Mundt Act in 2012 were national security and government transparency. The reformulation would permit the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to intervene on the occasion foreign propaganda targeted specific communities within U.S. with Anti-American sentiment. Secondly, it would also increase government transparency by allowing citizens to access information on taxes spent on international broadcasting. It appeared a valuable purpose in having researchers, journalists, and academics independently analyze the State Department and the BBG produced programming.
The Smith-Mundt Act authorization in 1948 prevented propaganda from being disseminated within the U.S. and this ban remained in place for sixty years, until July 2, 2013. The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 was enacted and stripped of "meaningful restrictions" which gave immense power to the U.S. Department of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors to anonymously disseminate programming on the American citizens. Although initially it was only intended to be reviewed and modified allowing tax funding of international propaganda to be more accessible in the U.S. public domain, it was unexpected that it was repealed essentially in its entirety._
The results of the repeal of the ban is yet unknown or just visible to a careful observer but what is known is that the original purpose and intention of journalism in the United States is at risk.
Anon/September 2017
Sager, W. R. (2015). APPLE PIE PROPAGANDA? THE SMITH-MUNDT ACT BEFORE AND AFTER THE REPEAL OF THE DOMESTIC DISSEMINATION BAN. Northwestern University Law Review, 109(2), 511-546.
