The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a rule change that would require a station to publicly disclose if any of its content is sponsored by a foreign government.
The FCC announced the decision Monday (Oct. 26). The Commission’s statement said, “When a foreign government pays for programming or provides programming for free, the American people deserve to know so that viewers and listeners can better assess the value and accuracy of such programming.”
Under the new requirement, radio and television stations must disclose direct or indirect sponsorship by foreign governments when they broadcast their programs. The FCC currently has a number of disclosure rules regarding sponsorship, but does not specifically require when and in what manner foreign government sponsorship is disclosed to the public. These existing rules date back to the Broadcasting Act of 1927, pre-dating the creation of the FCC agency, which was designed to prohibit stations from passing off advertising as program content.
In a written statement, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said, “Currently, we are surrounded by reports of foreign actors attempting to influence our political process and America’s democratic elections. However, it is mind-boggling that the FCC has yet to update its policy …… to ensure that the public is informed when foreign actors who may have the intent to harm us pay to enter our airwaves and influence our citizens.”
Last month, Ajit Pai, a Republican appointed by President Trump to chair the Federal Communications Commission, proposed rule changes that he asked the commission to approve. He cited Chinese and Russian sponsorship of the content as a reason to “update our rules and bring more visibility to these practices.
In her statement, Rosenworcel said, “Today we set out to remedy this situation. We are proposing specific disclosure requirements for broadcasts paid for or provided by foreign governments and their agents. This is about basic transparency, and frankly, we shouldn’t have delayed it this long.”
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