Smith-Mundt: Please just read the legislation.

All hot and bothered about the new "propaganda" law that you've been hearing so much about? Well, let's just discuss what it all really means.

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The 1948 Smith-Mundt Act was intended to shield U.S. citizens from American propaganda, which the State Department has been broadcasting abroad for decades. This month, the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act takes effect, allowing that material to be broadcast stateside. Bob talks with Washington State Democrat and bill co-sponsor Adam Smith who says there is no need to worry.

(via On The Media)

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BBG International Broadcasts Now Available Within the United States - BBG

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This is the BBG's broadcast region. Notice anything?

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"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."

(via NBC)

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But because American citizens largely haven't been able to see what the BBG reports, public oversight of the organization has been limited. "At least now we can access the content, listen for ourselves, and hold the government accountable," Stearns said. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has also come out in favor of the change on the grounds that it should increase government transparency.

(via The Verge)

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WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST HUMAN MEMORY?

The Voice of America went on the air on February 1, 1942, fifty-six days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into WWII. Want to know more? Here is a long history of that first broadcast.