The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced Thursday that U.S. broadcasters must publicly disclose the background and sources of television and radio program content funded or provided by foreign governments, Reuters reported.
The FCC stressed in a statement that the unanimously voted rule aims to improve the transparency of sources and ensure that audiences know the sources when foreign governments and their agents use television and radio to persuade the American public.
The new rule is said to require that in programs involving the leasing of airtime on U.S. radio or television stations by foreign governments and their entities, either directly or indirectly for a fee, a public statement must be made at the time of broadcast. The current rules do not specify when and how the background of the foreign government should be declared.
Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of the FCC, noted that foreign government-sponsored programming and content has multiplied in recent years, and that foreign entities are buying radio and television airtime across the United States, even in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., where programs funded by the Chinese and Russian governments are being broadcast.
She emphasized that when broadcasters rent time slots, they must ask the renter or whether their programming comes from a foreign government entity. If the answer is yes, then their identity needs to be disclosed and documented in public documents. If the answer is no, then the broadcaster will need to independently verify the identity of the renter through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act website, as well as through foreign media reports issued by the FCC. U.S. Congressmen have been pushing the FCC to take these actions for years to counteract disinformation campaigns by foreign governments in the U.S., the report said.
Recent Comments