Smith-Mundt Act

The US Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (Public Law 402), popularly referred to as the Smith-Mundt Act, specifies the terms in which the United States government can engage in public diplomacy, also known as propaganda.

The act was passed by Congress and signed into law by president Harry S. Truman on January 27, 1948.

Provisions

The legislation funds global propaganda outreach using all the latest communication technologies. As a Cold War measure, it was directed particularly against the Soviet Union.

The act also prohibits domestic distribution of information intended for foreign audiences.

It established the programming mandate that still serves as the foundation for U.S. overseas information and cultural programs at the Department of State.

The act expanded the Fulbright Program to include countries other than those Lend-Lease countries originally specified in the original 1946 Fulbright law. It also facilitated the establishment of bi-national centers around the world to coordinate international exchanges between the countries. [http://www.fulbright.org.cy/fulworld.htm]

Excerpt

Section 501(a) of the Act (care of the Voice of America website) provides that

information produced by VOA for audiences outside the United States shall not be disseminated within the United States … but, on request, shall be available in the English language at VOA, at all reasonable times following its release as information abroad, for examination only by representatives of United States press associations, newspapers, magazines, radio systems, and stations, and by research students and scholars, and, on request, shall be made available for examination only to Members of Congress.

Entities Covered by the Act

The following are administered by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an agency of the US government.

*Voice of America, a radio and TV network broadcasting worldwide, outside of the US
*Alhurra, satellite TV broadcasting to the Middle East
*Radio Farda, a radio station targeted at Iran
*Radio Free Asia, a radio network broadcasting in Asia
*Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a radio network based in Europe and the Middle East
*Radio Martí and TV Martí, a radio and TV network broadcasting in Cuba
*Radio Sawa, a radio station broadcasting in the Middle East

Recent Interpretations

A 1998 U.S. Court of Appeals ruling indicated that this act exempts Voice of America from releasing transcripts in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

While the act prohibits the Executive Branch from distributing propaganda at home, it also means that the US taxpayer is not permitted to know how the VOA (and its successor agencies) operate or what their programming content was. The act both protected the American public from government-sponsored information and broadcasting and turned information programs into a Cold War "classified" weapon.

References

* [http://www.voanews.com/english/about/OnlinePressKit.cfm Voice of America] News's online press kit, retrieved March 22, 2005
* [http://www.rcfp.org/news/1998/0223c.html rcfp.org media update] on the Court of Appeals ruling, Feb 23, 1998
* Kenneth Osgood, Total Cold War: Eisenhower's Secret Propaganda Battle at Home and Abroad, (University Press of Kansas, 2005) p. 37.

External links

* [http://vlex.com/source/1021/toc/19 Full text of the Smith-Mundt Act]
* [http://mountainrunner.us/2008/07/rethinking_smithmundt_a_look_b.html Rethinking Smith-Mundt, a look back at the Congressional debates in 1946-1947 that lead to the Act, with mention of the 1972 and 1985 amendments]