Restore the mandates that our elected officials and news media outlets must be truthful to the American people. The Obama Smith-Mundt modernization has cause more confusion and division among the citizens of this great nation. We must demand honest representation from our elected officials and remove news agency status from outlets who misrepresent and mislead for partisan politics on all sides of the political spectrum. Additionally impose fines and potential legal actions at the federal level on offenders.
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Sorry, there is not, and never has been, a legal mandate, other than the will of the people, to force Politicians or News media to be honest. If a Politician lies to you, get a new Politician. If a News outlet lies to you, get your news from somewhere else. The problem is that the majority of the population gets their information in news “bites”, and is unwilling, or unable, to do the research to find the truth.
- There are already over 50+ posts concerning the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act.
Search results for 'Smith-Mundt' - Policies for the People
- The public is misinformed. It does not allow the Government to use propaganda against the Citizen, legally. What they do behind closed doors is a different question.
“Facts About Smith-Mundt Modernization – USAGM”
The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act was part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. The U.S. government produces and distributes programming in both TV and Radio formats, using six entities, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to reach foreign audiences. The function of the old law was to restrict Americans’ access to that programming. Content produced by Voice of America, for example, was exempt from FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. The only organization governed by the law and amendment is the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the arm of the State Department that operates Voice of America and other foreign-oriented broadcast services. Under the amendment, it is required to make its programming available to Americans “upon request" – in other words, to those who ask for it.
- How are you going to get around the First Amendment?
The Obama ADMIN gave them the right to LIE & to receive their “COMMENTARY” from the Government. That isnt free speech thats parroting. Restoring the SMITH-MUNDT ACT cuts out the GOVERNMENT which is also supposed to give equal time on opinions if its advertising which TV is and or reporting in WEB Media. Restoring the ACT didnt remove free speech in the first place otherwise it wouldnt have passed. Its about backing out the GOVERNMENTS ROLE IN PROVIDING WRITTEN & DISTRIBUTED MATERIALS for PROVIDERS of supposed Journalism. There is no JOURNALISM when its pre-written or pre-recorded. EACH so titled Journalist is to provided what they experienced or heard or saw, otherwise as stated: ITS INDOCTRINATIONAL PROPAGANDA. The USAGM is a Fascist Liberal Org trying to provide obstacles. IT doesnt remove free speech it prohibits PROPAGANDIZING THE NEWS TO GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION MOUTH PIECES
Wrong. It did not.
WRONG ^5 IT DID 
Yup they lie as do Islamics and its approved of as long as they gain the advantage. BUT then what else would you expect from Barack Barry Sotero Hussein Obama
This certainly is a topic to be discussed. Showing other countries propaganda isn’t exactly a freedom of speech issue but lying to America is. And even though some may say it is ok to lie to other countries (a debate for another time) Lying to us is a whole different story.
The real problem is we do look a news in bite size chunks. In my opinion that is why we are so divided as a nation. And I also think that the lies fed to other nations is being skewed by the news here at home.
If our news networks were held accountable for all the lies that we have been fed there would be a whole different atmosphere here in the U.S.
I think the debate here should be more about “NEWS” having to be proven fact. If they don’t see it hear it for themselves they should be held accountable if it is a lie. Huge fines, 60 days in a federal prison??? something to make the want to be a reliable truth.
That is what everyone really wants is FACTS not your truth or my truth but just FACTS. We can debate how we feel about those facts but lets be real we aren’t getting all the facts as they are. We are being lied to most of the time and a lot of folks only get bits and peices to make their own opinion and it’s based on propaganda that is really meant for other countries and it is enfluencing us and has given our own news networks the willingness to lie to us in the name of this particular law under scrutiny.
Anyways just thought I would add my 2¢.
So my question is at what point does a fact becomes a fact? Are you, and most people, going to wait until the subject if fully investigated? Dan Bongino, the current Deputy FBI Director had a saying on his podcast, The Bongino Rule, that you should give 24-72 hours before accepting the left-wing MSM narrative when news breaks, and it is more relevant now. With AI becoming more available, I would say ALL news should be considered a lie until YOU investigate it and decide YOU believe it is a fact. But you also need to be honest and when your fact is discredited, your need to own your mistake. As we can see in the news everyday, facts from years ago were lies then, but different facts emerge today.
I do not remember which national newspaper said it, but it went something like “they printed what they knew today and if it was wrong they will fix it tomorrow.”. New Your Times, the newspaper of record, maybe?
Also, unless you prove malice, or something similar, you would have a hard time getting around the First Amendment. Most “news” shows and not fact shows but opinion shows that people take as faces.
It is an interesting time to be alive, and extremely sad at the same time. We have current citizenship that can tell you more about the backstabbing on Survivor, the current TicTok fad, or the cheat codes for the latest video game, but can’t tell you anything about history, or why we have the First Amendment, or the Second, or anything else about the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
And the Baby Boomer generation is no better. We, yes I am one, grew up with 3 or 4 news shows with “trusted” newscasters so today we find one or two of the tens of thousands of “news” outlets and wholeheartedly believe what they say. Very, very, few people take the time to actually research an item using many different sources but rely on 1 or two “trusted” sources. Exciting but sad.
Bob, I hate to admit it but you are so right. I guess honesty is truly becoming a lost art. I myself decided when I was 27 yrs old that I had apsolutely no reason to lie about anything and haven’t lied about anything since. I live an honest life and only mean well towards others so I have apsolutely no skelitons in my closet(at least since I matured out of my rough and tumble teenage yrs.lol but we won’t go there) I am not flawless or holier than thou by no means I am full of faults but I am not a liar and it is really hard for me to understand why it is so hard to just be honest.
You don’t have to be perfect but to out and out lie to the public the way we are being lied to is just hard for me to wrap my head around. And why are people so filled with hate and self absorbancy today.
I don’t know what the answers are but I believe that if they get caught lieing to us to make us vote a certain way or respond a certain way as a society than there should be accountability and punishment to follow. No matter who they are. Protecting our nations best intrest, isn’t done by collapsing our democracy.
However I do agree, who decides the truth? True again…Exiting but sad.
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To this point, it may not have given them the right but I think it has beholden them to do so.
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