House Passes Bill to Overhaul US International Broadcasting
12 replies, posted
[QUOTE]The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would overhaul U.S. international broadcasting, including this agency, the Voice of America, four other government-financed broadcasters and the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversees all of them. [B]Supporters of the bipartisan bill say the United States needs to fight back more effectively in the war of information against countries like Russia and China. [/B]But some opponents of the bill say they fear it would undermine VOA's journalistic integrity and its reputation.
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce says international outrage over recent events in Ukraine shows how important it is for [B]the United States to counter what he called continuous Russian propaganda in the region.[/B]
“Who is going to offset that propaganda? Our best weapon in this informational battle, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the BBG, is totally defunct," said Royce.
Former VOA deputy director Alan Heil says those changes would be devastating.
Some media advocacy groups also have expressed alarm. Reporters Without Borders Secretary-General Christophe Deloire issued a statement in May urging U.S. authorities not to transform media such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia into diplomatic communication tools. [B] Deloire said “adopting the attitudes of information warfare” would be extremely regrettable. [/B]
A similar U.S. broadcasting bill would have to pass in the Senate, and then be signed by President Barack Obama in order to become law. It is not clear when or if the Senate will take up the issue.
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- [url]http://www.voanews.com/content/house-passes-bill-to-overhaul-us-international-broadcasting/1967013.html[/url]
Fuck me, we are starting to get McCarthy like again.
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;45544873]Fuck me, we are starting to get McCarthy like again.[/QUOTE]
[I]Better dead than red![/I]
Alright. So when do we vote on things that actually matter?
They want to wage information warfare, yet we have the internet and social media. Anyone with half a brain won't blindly believe what the mass-media tells them.
[QUOTE=Zero-Point;45545414]They want to wage information warfare, yet we have the internet and social media. Anyone with half a brain won't blindly believe what the mass-media tells them.[/QUOTE]
The thing is, there's still a lot of people who do rely on information dissemination via mass media here in the United States today, and they'd be willing to believe it. Or at least constantly blaring it at them might influence them in some way or another. In any case, it won't hurt to try.
We need to get on the ball though and do what Russia and China have both done with the Internet and social media; you know, start forming groups of people directly working for the state to spread favorable propaganda on forums, Facebook, YouTube, etc. That's a fun information war tactic. Propaganda in general is fun.
Maybe we've already started doing this and have been for some time, and I'm just not current with how things are being done these days. But it would make sense in any case. "We can use your tactics too" approach.
[QUOTE=Govna;45547685]The thing is, there's still a lot of people who do rely on information dissemination via mass media here in the United States today, and they'd be willing to believe it.[/QUOTE]
I know this all too well. My poor grandmother actually believes everything she hears on Fox News and won't watch any other news source besides local.
[QUOTE=Medevila;45546260]neither of these posts can be parsed as relevant to the article
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That sounds like a [I]commie[/I] thing to say, GET HIM!!
[QUOTE=Zero-Point;45549482]I know this all too well. My poor grandmother actually believes everything she hears on Fox News and won't watch any other news source besides local.[/QUOTE]
fuck me, my brother only listens to what he sees on yahoo news and from rush limbaugh, its rediculous the crap he spouts sometimes
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