Category: Regulations

to prevent targeting of Americans with propaganda

Congress exposes repeated violations of Smith-Mundt Act in USAGM agency’s Facebook ads targeting Americans

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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Voice of America management burdens its own broadcasters with getting programs ready for domestic distribution

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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Voice of America partially removes misleading language about domestic use of its programs

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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Much of Voice of America content is third-party copyright-protected and cannot be easily re-used commercially in the U.S.

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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Federal employees identify U.S. stations for government-paid news

Federal employees at the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) were told to identify U.S. stations but not to make offers of government-funded news to domestic media.   Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) internal document, July 2013. FAQs for VOA and OCB for Domestic Program Requests   Can I identify U.S. stations that would be interested…
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Broadcasting Administrative Manual: Policy on Domestic Distribution of Program Material

 Broadcasting Administrative Manual: Policy on Domestic Distribution of Program Material downloaded from the BBG website on July 28, 2013. Link here. For possible updates, check BBG link here.

Regulation on Domestic Requests for Broadcasting Board of Governors Material

Source: BBG website, July 28, 2013. Check here for updates. INTERIM FINAL RULE PART 502 – DOMESTIC REQUESTS FOR BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS PROGRAM MATERIALS Sec. 502.1 Authority and scope. 502.2 Definitions. 502.3 Availability of program materials on public websites. 502.4 Media or organization one-time requests for broadcast quality agency program materials. 502.5 Media or…
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